Naftali Bennett

Whereas Rahm are more kind of amenable probably to actually joining a coalition and their demands are a little bit softer on the Israeli government.

But, you know, I think it just says so much, doesn't it, about where the country is post-October 7th, that for the opposition candidates, Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Lieberman, there is a genuine debate between joining with Israeli Arabs or joining with Netanyahu, a man who they've been vilifying for months.

A lot of commentators are saying they might actually find it easier to join a unity government with Netanyahu than to go with the Arabs, even though they've been vilifying Netanyahu.

And of course, Likud emerging as the single largest party makes that... a much bigger dilemma for them because Netanyahu is basically saying, why not come over and join me? We could have a nice big Jewish Zionist government.

Yashar, which is Gadi Eizenkot's party, is at 22 seats.

Bayakhad, which is the Naftali Bennett party, is at 12 seats.

The Joint Arab List, which is the combination of two Arab parties, is at 11 seats.

The Democrats, led by Yair Golan, is at 8 seats.

Sounds like a landslide, right? Only problem is 17 of the opposition seats, 17 within those 66 seats, belong to Arab parties.

Rahm, led by Mansour Abbas, and the joint list.

Since some of the key leaders in the opposition, namely Avigdor Lieberman and Naftali Bennett, have said in no uncertain terms that they would not sit in a coalition with the Arab parties or sit in a minority coalition supported by the Arab parties.

So that means that Eisenhower cannot form a government with the Arab parties if he wants people like Naftali Bennett still in the government.

there because the Eisenkot-led alliance could, as you say, have a route to achieving an overall majority were they to form an alliance with the Arab parties who received unprecedented levels of support from the community that they represent, Palestinian citizens of Israel.

But at the moment, Eisenkot, Bennett, all the members of the opposition-led alliance seem to be ruling that out completely.

Look, Israel politics is even against the real politics of Machiavelli.

Based on Machiavelli, tomorrow, Isingard has to form his government to take the Arabs with him to say, I don't care who you are.

But they can be a major player here.

Esther, one of the other possibilities that could emerge, and I imagine is the subject of a lot of discussions right now behind closed doors, is some of the opposition parties, some of the factions, perhaps even individuals, defecting towards the Netanyahu camp.

Could you envisage something like that happen? Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, perhaps, Lieberman, another one of the leading figures from that camp.

Might they peel away and join some kind of what's at times been termed a unity government with Netanyahu, perhaps at the exclusion of some of his other far-right partners or ultra-Orthodox partners?

But in fact, I would say two of those parties I count as right-wing parties simply based on their ideology.

One is a party... led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who emerged in Israeli politics running to the right of Netanyahu.

And many of his positions have not changed.

He has, you know, in some ways become more moderate over the years, certainly in his tone.

And that, frankly, has become even a more intense sentiment after October 7th.

Some of the opposition leaders have said, after October 7th, we shouldn't do it.

Particularly Naftali Bennett, who was the leader of that change government, who, you know, initiated the, you know, what we call the Rainbow Coalition of different parties of different ideologies, including the Arab Party in 2021.

He was the prime minister for the first part of that government.

Then there is the Ram Party.

And now, for example, Mansour Abbas, who was the leader of the Ram Party, who was actually a member of an Israeli government that was led by Naftali Bennett, which was the last government that replaced a Netanyahu coalition some years ago.

And he has said that, you know, Hamas doesn't represent Arabs, doesn't represent Muslims, that their attack is not representative of, you know, Arab society in Israel.

They're not a Zionist party.

Of course, this is complicated by Eisenkot's coalition partners, which is a recurring theme throughout just about any aspect of Israeli politics.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has argued that Israel should retaliate against Hezbollah attacks by striking Iran directly, while his Be'yachad partner Lapid has gone even further, calling for the destruction of Iran's oil infrastructure on Karg Island.

So, while we can say that an Isengard premiership would be a little less all-out war with Iran all the time, we can't really say that they'd be pushing for a renegotiated ceasefire either.

But at the end of the day, Iran is not the only issue Israel is facing.

There is a pretty massive issue that would face any Eisenkot government, though.

Many of the parties that he would need to support him don't agree on much of anything.

One of the best examples of this is Beercard itself, which, depending on who you ask, is either an inspiring unity party or an awkward marriage between Naftali Bennett's religious nationalist party and Yair Lapid's secular, socially liberal Yesh Atid.

The two have a history, including when they worked together during the coalition that briefly removed Netanyahu back in 2021.

Yashar, which is Gadi Eizenkot's party, is at 22 seats.

Bayakhad, which is the Naftali Bennett party, is at 12 seats.

The Joint Arab List, which is the combination of two Arab parties, is at 11 seats.

The Democrats, led by Yair Golan, is at 8 seats.

Sounds like a landslide, right? Only problem is 17 of the opposition seats, 17 within those 66 seats, belong to Arab parties.

Rahm, led by Mansour Abbas, and the joint list.

Since some of the key leaders in the opposition, namely Avigdor Lieberman and Naftali Bennett, have said in no uncertain terms that they would not sit in a coalition with the Arab parties or sit in a minority coalition supported by the Arab parties.

So that means that Eisenhower cannot form a government with the Arab parties if he wants people like Naftali Bennett still in the government.

Yeah.

well it's an important point it's not it's not your mistake it's it's really because the ten year one and the governing coalition have you know constantly just described them as as left-wing simply because they're not supporting the ten years current government and they have turned everybody else into left-wingers because they believe that that will be legitimize them in israeli society but in fact i would say two of those parties i count as right-wing parties simply based on their ideology one is a party led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who emerged in Israeli politics running to the right of Netanyahu.

And many of his positions have not changed.

He has, you know, in some ways become more moderate over the years, certainly in his tone.

And that, frankly, has become even a more intense sentiment after October 7th.

Some of the opposition leaders have said after October 7th, we shouldn't do it.

Particularly Naftali Bennett, who was the leader of that change government, who initiated the You know, what we call the rainbow coalition of different parties of different ideologies, including the Arab Party in 2021.

He was the prime minister for the first part of that government.

The problem is Netanyahu has said he will not sit in a government with Arab parties, as has Eisenkot.

So there's some talk now about the possibility of a national unity government, possibly Netanyahu's party, Eisenkot's party, and one or two of the smaller parties, maybe Naftali Bennett, who's a former prime minister.

The problem with that is that Netanyahu offered the same thing the last time to another chief of staff named Benny Gantz, and then they were supposed to do a rotation.

Netanyahu did the first two years, and all of a sudden, when it came time for him to give up the job, he didn't want to do that.