Eisenkot vows to thwart Netanyahu from ‘securing a tie,’ as Golan warns against defections

By Ariela Karmel

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Ariela 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.

Opposition party leaders Naftali Bennett of B'Yachad (left) and Gadi Eisenkot of Yashar (right) cross paths in the Channel 12 News on October 24, 2026, three days before elections. (Channel 12 Screenshot)

Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot vows to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from engineering a political stalemate after Tuesday’s election, as Democrats leader Yair Golan warns against defections from the opposition bloc and rejects the possibility of joining a government with Likud, during a series of interviews with party leaders on Channel 12 three days before the national election.

“I promise that we’ll prevent Netanyahu from achieving his goal of securing a tie, winning by not losing, and dragging us into another election with an extremist minority government,” Eisenkot says.

He also backs legislation barring indicted politicians from serving as prime minister, but says it cannot apply retroactively to Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, “because that would be unconstitutional.”

Democrats chairman Yair Golan, asked whether he fears defections from either Yashar or B’Yachad to Netanyahu’s camp, says the concern is justified.

“All the rumors in recent days about ‘We’ll sit with Likud’ or ‘We’ll sit with Netanyahu’ — those things are inconceivable. Our role isn’t to sit with Netanyahu or Likud. It’s to replace them,” he says.

“Are we supposed to believe Yoav Kisch is the ultimate education minister? Or that Israel Katz is a worthy defense minister? Or that Miri Regev has done good things for transportation in Israel? Or that Yariv Levin hasn’t destroyed Israel’s democratic institutions? Why on earth would we cooperate with them?”

B’Yachad head Naftali Bennett, meanwhile, clashes with United Torah Judaism chairman Yaakov Asher, who has conditioned joining a government on the passage of a law enshrining military exemptions for yeshiva students.

Asked whether he would join a government that includes Bennett, who has vowed to draft the Haredim as well as cut all state funding that ultra-Orthodox draft evaders currently receive, Asher responds: “Not someone who lashes out at an entire community just to win a few more votes.”

“He’s wrong. I’m not attacking the ultra-Orthodox. I’m looking out for the soldiers,” Bennett retorts.