Report: Eisenkot proposes merger with Lapid, Bennett for mega-slate ahead of next election

Former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot, head of the Yashar! party, has proposed a major merger in the opposition between himself, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid and Naftali Bennett’s new party, Channel 12 reports.

The network says both Lapid and Bennett have courted Eisenkot to join their slates, but that he wants to bring them both together in a joint platform he believes could net some 40 seats in the next general election, to be held later this year.

Bennett’s still-unnamed party has been polling at around 22-24 seats in recent surveys, Yesh Atid at 7-9 and Eisenkot at 9-11 in the 120-member Knesset. However, it is unknown whether a joint slate would be worth more than the sum of its parts, or possibly less — right-wing Israelis who might vote for Bennett may not necessarily be fans of Lapid, the opposition leader.

Channel 12 does not provide sourcing for the report. None of the politicians has commented on it as of yet.