Lapid, Liberman deride Gantz’s plan to join ‘hostage redemption’ government with PM

The leaders of several opposition parties on Sunday rejected Blue and White-National Unity chief Benny Gantz’s call to form a “government of hostage redemption” and join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to secure a hostage deal and set election dates, calling the move “pitiful” and saying that there was “no reason” to join the government.

In a Saturday evening press conference, Gantz had called on Netanyahu, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman to form a unity government with a six-month mandate, urging his fellow opposition party leaders to join the coalition on a temporary basis to focus on securing the release of hostages held in Gaza and advancing legislation to address ultra-Orthodox enlistment in the military.

The former defense minister also urged Netanyahu to ditch Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who have threatened to bring down the government if he agrees to a ceasefire deal to return the hostages.

As of Sunday evening, Netanyahu had not responded to Gantz’s plea.

For his part, Liberman called it “a pitiful show,” telling Channel 12 that, watching Gantz, he “saw a tired, scared, panicked person there who is begging for his life and taking a ride on the most sensitive issues. The Likud [party led by Netanyahu] does not pay attention to him.”

Liberman told Israel Radio that Gantz was “crawling into the coalition.”

After Gantz said on Saturday night that he hadn’t managed to get hold of Liberman and Lapid before his press conference, Liberman dismissed Gantz’s effort to contact him “an hour before a press conference” as a “cynical attempt” to claim he had tried to speak his opposition colleagues, and indictated that he had simply chosen not to answer the phone.

Liberman’s party also released a statement opposing the plan: “Yisrael Beytenu calls for all the hostages to be returned now, without conditions. The only government that we will be part of is a wall-to-wall Zionist government, and we won’t take part in any spin.”

Responding to Liberman’s remarks, Gantz accused the Yisrael Beytenu leader of offering little more than “empty slogans” while failing to put forward real solutions.

“Unlike you, I succeeded in bringing hostages back — through actions, not words,” Gantz said in a post on X. “I am not afraid, not panicked, and not tired — I am determined. Determined to do what is right for Israel, even when it is politically difficult, even when it comes at a personal cost.”

“Maybe you’ve gotten addicted to shouting from the sidelines,” he continued. “But politics is your profession, not a soccer game you’re watching. And there too, as you know, cursing at the coach and players doesn’t bring solutions.”

Lapid, the head of the Yesh Atid party, said in an interview with Channel 12 that he “doesn’t understand” why Gantz wants to join forces with Netanyahu.

“I will not sit in the government under Benjamin Netanyahu, period. I think he is a person who is not worthy of being the prime minister of Israel,” Lapid declared. “Someone who was the prime minister on October 7 cannot be the prime minister anymore.”

“There is no reason in the world to enter the government,” Lapid said, adding that he has offered his party’s support to ensure that a hostage deal can pass a vote without joining the coalition.

Lapid said that he can provide a “safety net” for the return of the hostages with “a fifteen-minute phone call.”

“You don’t have to enter the government for that,” he said. “Especially a government that you have already entered twice and have twice been deceived.”

The Democrats leader Yair Golan said Gantz did not attempt to contact him, and also dismissed Gantz’s idea. He said his party’s “goal is to save the hostages and save Israel — not to save Netanyahu.”

Gantz has joined two “unity governments” with Netanyahu, one in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which collapsed after less than a year after Netanyahu was widely seen to have wriggled out of his power-sharing agreement with Gantz.

He again joined Netanyahu in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, when his party, now titled National Unity, entered a wartime emergency government. That arrangement ended in June 2024 when Gantz withdrew, citing frustrations with Netanyahu’s management of the conflict and lack of a clear strategy for the war.

Also speaking out against Gantz’s proposal was National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who said: “I expect all the heads of the coalition factions to make it clear unequivocally: Gantz will not enter the government.”

“We achieved achievements without Gantz in Iran, we achieved achievements without Gantz against Hezbollah, we achieved achievements in all kinds of sectors. And if we want to achieve an achievement in Gaza — Benny Gantz must not enter the government,” the far-right minister said.

Gantz’s faction has undergone a string of recent defections and now controls only seven seats in the Knesset, while coordinating with an eighth member who recently left the party. The party’s numbers would not adequately replace the 13 MKs controlled by Smotrich and Ben Gvir, and would not give Netanyahu a majority in the 120-member body.

His party is also struggling in the polls, especially since his key party colleague Gadi Eisenkot resigned almost two months ago, and has lately been predicted to fail to win any seats if elections were held today.

Gantz’s gambit comes as pressure intensifies on the government to reach a deal for the remaining hostages in Gaza, and as the IDF grapples with the long-term sustainability of its reserve system.

Efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza have intensified over the past week, as mediators have scrambled to sign a deal before Israel carries out its newly approved mission to conquer Gaza City and displace the million-plus Palestinians that are currently sheltering in the area.

Fifty hostages remain held captive in Gaza — 49 of the 251 taken hostage on October 7, 2023, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014. Israeli officials have declared that 28 of them are dead, while 20 are believed to be alive and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others.