Bennett says he’s working behind the scenes to build ‘Zionist government’

In a message to supporters leaked to the press, B’Yachad head Naftali Bennett says his party is working “quietly” to help bloc leader Gadi Eisenkot build a “Zionist” coalition to replace the current government, without offering details.

“Quietly, we are doing everything, everything, to help Eisenkot to create a Zionist government of repair, in order to bring about as quickly as possible a changing of the guard, and so be able to fix Israel,” Bennett says in the message, according to a recording published by a Kan reporter.

Bennett, who repeats his message to reporters upon entering the Knesset, says the change in leadership is aimed at bringing relief to overburdened reservists, indicating opposition to answering Haredi demands for continued military draft exemptions.

His comments offer little to explain how Eisenkot could build a government without support from anti-Zionist Haredi and Arab parties, though his reference to quiet talks may hint at efforts to reach out to far-right parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corner, particularly Religious Zionism’s Bezalel Smotrich, whom he has allied with in the past and whose voter base includes many reservists.