Lapid warns ‘liberal bloc’ may lose next election if it doesn’t unite – behind him

Polling shows that the “liberal bloc” opposing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may no longer be able to win the next election, and if members of the opposition continue to work at cross purposes, “we will lose,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid warned Monday.

“For almost two years, every time I came in here and you asked me about the next elections, I said we will win. We meaning the bloc, the liberal camp. I can’t say that anymore,” Lapid told reporters ahead of his Yesh Atid party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset.

“Polls that are being published, as well as very worrying in-depth studies that have not been published, show that it is no longer certain that the liberal bloc will win. If we don’t come to our senses, we will lose,” Lapid said.

“If we continue to work against each other, we will lose,” he added, claiming that only his party has the political machinery necessary to get out the vote in the next national polls.

Elections are currently set for October, though they could be moved up if the coalition falls before that time.

Recent polls show the so-called “change bloc” narrowly edging out the Netanyahu-led right-wing bloc, but not quite winning enough seats to form a government without support from the Knesset’s Arab parties.

“This is not the time to gamble,” Lapid asserted. “You need to play it safe.”

“When you vote for Yesh Atid, you are 100 percent sure that we will not bow down and enter another Netanyahu government,” he said.

“We will not bow down and form a government with the Haredim that will continue with the blackmail and [draft] evasion,” Lapid added. “Forming a government is not a hobby, it is a profession. I am the only one in the camp who has done it.”

Recent months have seen tensions between members of the opposition, including between Yashar! party chief Gadi Eisenkot and his former partner, Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, as well as between Lapid and The Democrats head Yair Golan. Tensions within Golan’s party have also reportedly threatened to split the alliance between its constituent Meretz and Labor factions.

“Precisely because the camp is so divided, the key to victory is Yesh Atid. We are not fighting here over the size of parties, we are fighting over the fate of our children, over what kind of country we want to be, and what values ​​it will have,” Lapid said.

Anti-government activist joins The Democrats

The Democrats leader Golan announced Monday that anti-government activist, reservist and bereaved family member Omri Ronen was joining the left-wing party ahead of this year’s elections.

“I look at you, Omri, and I see the entire Israeli story, with all its beauty and all its unimaginable pain,” said Golan, speaking to reporters ahead of the party’s faction meeting at the Knesset, alongside Ronen.

Ronen was born in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on the Gaza border and is the grandson of Nira Ronen, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists in her home in Kfar Aza on October 7, alongside her Filipina caregiver, Angelyn Aguirre, who refused to leave her side.

An officer in the elite Maglan unit, Ronen was called up as a reservist following the attacks, serving more than 350 days of reserve duty. He is also a prominent activist and member of the Brothers in Arms movement, which opposed the government’s judicial overhaul in 2023.

“Omri, I know that someone who stood against terrorists and someone who faced a national crisis will also know how to fight in the Knesset,” Golan continued.

Ronen said that after “three years of fighting for the State of Israel” on the battlefield, in the streets, and in the rehabilitation of the Western Negev, “the next great and important battle is in building public leadership that will be good for Israel. I am excited to stand here today and announce that I am joining The Democrats.”

According to a poll conducted last week for Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, The Democrats are expected to win some eight Knesset seats in the upcoming election.