Reports: Eisenkot, Liberman in talks on potential merger

By Ariela Karmel

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4 May 2026, 11:45 am

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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.

MK Avigdor Liberman and MK Gadi Eisenkot at a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, September 9, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu are holding talks on a possible merger ahead of the upcoming elections, Hebrew media reports, citing sources close to the two leaders.

Discussions are reportedly still at an early stage, with no details yet on who would head a joint slate or how seats would be allocated. Eisenkot and Liberman are expected to meet later this week.

Neither side is commenting on the reports.

Yashar has been polling at roughly 15 seats, making it the second-largest opposition party after Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid’s new joint slate called “Together-Led by Bennett,” which is polling at 26 seats.

While Bennett and Lapid invited Eisenkot to join their slate after announcing it last week, he has so far ruled this out, suggesting that the union may struggle to draw votes away from the pro-Netanyahu right.

Polls show Together overtaking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud as the largest party in the Knesset, but failing to shift the overall balance between blocs, even if Eisenkot were to join.

Meanwhile, a union between Yashar and Liberman’s right-wing Yisrael Beytenu — which currently holds six seats in the Knesset but has been consistently polling at about 10 seats — could yield a combined 25 seats, bringing it neck-and-neck with the Together slate and potentially drawing away votes from the coalition.