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Wednesday, October 21, 2026
After public spat, Eisenkot and Liberman jointly urge voters to only back opposition parties set to cross threshold
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot and Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman met yesterday to discuss preparations for the October 27 election, their parties say in a joint statement.
The meeting follows last week’s public spat in which Liberman accused Eisenkot of planning to join Likud in a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the election, dubbing him “Gantz 2” after Blue and White leader Benny Gantz’s past decisions to join Netanyahu-led governments.
Eisenkot and Liberman agree that “the most important effort now is to increase voter turnout,” the statement says.
They also stress “the importance of voting for one of the four parties in their bloc and avoiding votes for parties that do not cross the electoral threshold.”
The bloc also includes former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad and Yair Golan’s Democrats.
Eisenkot and Liberman agreed to “continue their cooperation toward victory and replacing the government of failure” next Tuesday, the statement says.
Recent polls put the four mainstream opposition Zionist parties, together with Yoaz Hendel’s Reservists-Economic party, at around 58 seats, compared with roughly 49 for Netanyahu’s coalition, leaving both blocs short of a 61-seat majority.
Hendel has not said which bloc he’d join, but has made a universal draft law a condition for joining any government, putting him at odds with Netanyahu, whose bloc relies on Haredi parties opposed to conscription.
The Times of Israel Community.