Eisenkot: Ra’am won’t be part of government I lead; Netanyahu guilty of either borderline ‘treason’ or gross breach of trust over Qatar funding Hamas

In an interview with Channel 12 news, Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot declares that the Islamist Ra’am party will not be part of a government he leads.

Eisenkot says he is working to win 64-65 seats for the Zionist anti-Netanyahu bloc, claiming that internal surveys indicate that “16-18% of our supporters are people who backed the [current] coalition in the previous election.”

He is then asked about polls that consistently show the bloc well short of the 61-strong majority in the 120-member Knesset needed to form a coalition, and about reports that he plans to form a minority government backed by Ra’am.

Eisenkot says that to be included in his coalition, Arab and Haredi parties must support Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, the Declaration of Independence and universal conscription, as well as recognizing Hamas as a terror group that must be destroyed.

“At the moment I don’t see any Arab or Haredi parties who accept these principles, including [Ra’am leader] Mansour Abbas, and therefore he won’t be part of my next government,” he says.

Asked about reports that he is demanding that his party members sign an ethics code requiring them to resign rather than defect to the rival bloc if they disagree with a future move he makes, Eisenkot says he wants to bring in new norms in which people don’t betray their voters, giving as an example Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who joined Netanyahu’s government after repeatedly declaring he wouldn’t do so.

However, he adds that if he breaks an election promise such as the vow not to let Ra’am join his coalition without fulfilling his conditions, “I expect party members to take a stand.”

Eisenkot, a former IDF chief, also hits out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the military campaigns against Hamas and Hezbollah, noting neither terror group has been defeated despite the premier’s vows of “total victory.”

“Netanyahu blindly, arrogantly and irresponsibly led the State of Israel to the greatest disaster in its history,” Eisenkot adds, referring to the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of Israel from Gaza.

Commenting on the transfer of Qatari funds to Hamas following a report that Netanyahu was warned Qatar was funding the Gaza-ruling terrorist organization’s military wing, Eisenkot says the premier is guilty of either borderline “treason” or a gross breach of trust and calls for an investigation.

Additionally, he says he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state and always has done.