Golan calls on Eisenkot to join forces with either his party or Bennett-Lapid slate

Yair Golan calls on Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot to merge with either his Democrats party or former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s Together party rather than attempting an independent run in the upcoming elections.

“This moment is bigger than all of us… Splitting the [anti-government] bloc does not bring new votes; it just disperses the strength we have and weakens our political camp,” Golan declares during a speech at the Berl Katznelson Foundation.

“I call on you not to further divide the bloc and to come to a decision that will allow us to win: join the Bennett-Lapid alliance, or join us, the Democrats, and strengthen the ideological and moral home of the liberal camp. Victory in the elections, and saving the state, depend on our ability to stand strong together,” Golan appeals to Eisenkot.

Last week, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid told Bennett that he was willing to take third place, rather than second, on their joint electoral slate if it would help secure a merger with Eisenkot, a source close to Lapid said.

Eisenkot at the time welcomed Bennett and Lapid’s new union, calling them “allies,” but suggested the union might find it hard to draw votes away from the pro-Netanyahu right. He subsequently invited most of the opposition leaders to convene to coordinate a path to a victory by a “Zionist majority” over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party in October’s election.

According to a Channel 12 poll released last week, in the event that Eisenkot would join Bennett and Lapid on a single ticket, their united party would garner 41 seats, but the overall balance of the blocs would remain unaffected.

While Eisenkot has rebuffed calls to join Together, discussions with Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman have reportedly begun, with no details yet on who would lead a potential joint slate or how seats would be allocated.