Yashar No. 2 says party could partner with Likud sans Netanyahu, far-right Smotrich

The number-two candidate in Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition Yashar says the party would be willing to join a coalition with Likud if its chair, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were no longer leading the government, adding that the party would also be open to partnering with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism party.

The comments by former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen, made to Channel 12 last night, suggest that the country’s two political camps, which are split primarily over whether Netanyahu should continue as prime minister, could be remixed. Polls currently show neither bloc attaining a 61-seat majority of the Knesset following next month’s elections.

Likud has been led by Netanyahu for more than 20 years, and Smotrich is considered a close ally of his. Cohen reiterates his party’s position that Netanyahu cannot continue leading the country, but says that if Likud accepted a junior role in the coalition, Yashar could partner with it to form a government.

“When it comes to Likud, and also Smotrich, I would approach them if they accepted our principles,” he says. “They won’t be the ruling party, but they’ll be in the coalition.”

Cohen acknowledges that Netanyahu, who has led Israel for nearly all of the past 17 years, would be unlikely to accept such a scenario. He also notes that as Netanyahu is under indictment, he is barred from serving as a cabinet minister.

Yashar has repeatedly insisted that it is seeking to replace not only Netanyahu but his entire government, which it says cannot be allowed to remain in power following the failures surrounding the October 7 attacks.

“If we want to replace this failed government, then we do not see any situation in which we are in a coalition in which Netanyahu is prime minister,” Cohen says, adding that Yashar views Netanyahu as “illegitimate” following October 7 and that he does not believe party leader Gadi Eisenkot would agree to a rotation with him.

Asked whether Yashar would join a coalition with Likud under another leader such as Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Cohen says: “We don’t rule out Likud voters and I wish they would enter a coalition with us.”

But Cohen rules out governing with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit, calling Ben Gvir a “racist.”

The remarks leave unclear whether Yashar is seriously contemplating governing with major components of the current coalition under different leadership, or is merely seeking to reassure Likud and Religious Zionism voters whom it hopes to attract from Netanyahu’s bloc.

Cohen is not the first opposition politician who has said he would join a coalition with a post-Netanyahu Likud. Opposition Leader Yair Laid has repeatedly made the same pledge. Benny Gantz also did so in 2019, a year before he ended up joining Netanyahu in a short-lived government.