Lapid says ‘no chance’ party will block opposition government, but declines to back Eisenkot as PM

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says his B’Yachad party will not block the formation of an opposition-led government, but repeatedly declines to say explicitly that the party will endorse leading candidate Gadi Eisenkot as prime minister.

Lapid is the number-two candidate in B’Yachad, Hebrew for “together,” behind former prime minister Naftali Bennett. Bennett was previously seen as the most credible rival to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has presented himself as a candidate for the job.

But in recent months, his poll numbers have sunk, and he has been eclipsed by Eisenkot, whose party consistently tops election polls.

In an interview on Channel 12, Lapid, who also previously served as premier, is repeatedly pressured as to whether he would endorse Eisenkot for prime minister should current polling numbers hold. He declines to explicitly say he would, but says his party will not pose an obstacle to forming an opposition-led government following the October 27 election.

Asked whether the leader of the anti-Netanyahu bloc’s largest party should become prime minister, Lapid responds, “I want to reassure everyone. We and Gadi Eisenkot will know how to form a government. It isn’t a horse race and it isn’t a competition over numbers.”

He adds, “There’s no chance in the world that Bennett and I will prevent a good, worthy, Zionist government for the State of Israel.”