Opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Monday that he expects additional political mergers in the near future ahead of the upcoming elections, describing his newly formed Together party, led by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, as a necessary partnership to promote national unity.
Lapid made the remarks at the Guidelines for Jewish-Democratic Policy conference, held at the Judaism and State Policy Center of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. It was also attended by Yisrael Beytenu leader MK Avigdor Liberman.
“I believe there will be more mergers. It was important for me to make the first move, so the country remembers that the organizing principle is that people who disagree with one another know how to work together for a goal greater than themselves,” Lapid explained.
Lapid added: “In a democracy, you can unite only around disagreements.”
Bennett has long been considered a right-wing figure, while Lapid has placed his Yesh Atid Party as centrist on the political spectrum. He spoke on the importance of uniting the blocs.
Lapid said that he cannot unite with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) because “the disagreement is too deep.”
“But I can unite with people like Naftali Bennett and Gadi Eisenkot when there is a shared values-based foundation,” he said.
Bennett, Lapid ask Eisenkot to join party
Bennett and Lapid have called on Yashar! party leader, Gadi Eisenkot, to join their party and receive the second spot on the list.
There have also been reports of a merger between Liberman and Eisenkot, and the two have said they are on good terms and have met to deepen coordination.
Liberman also said on Monday in a party press conference that the two will wait until closer to the election date to see if merging would be the best option for the opposition bloc seeking to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the elections.
Lapid added at the conference that Israel would only be the strongest country in the Middle East if it remains the only existing democracy in the region.
When asked about public transportation on Shabbat, Lapid said he is in favor of it in more secular cities such as Hod HaSharon, but against it in places with a large religious majority, such as Bnei Brak.
“We don’t need to do it in a place where it harms people. Every local authority needs to decide where it is necessary [to have public transport on Shabbat].”
He also said that being secular in Israel doesn’t contradict having faith, and that “Ben-Gvir and [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich won’t tell me how to be Jewish.”
Liberman spoke at the conference on the importance of drafting haredim (ultra-Orthodox) into the IDF, and said that Israel has reached the most major constitutional crisis it has ever seen.
Addressing the ongoing tensions regarding the judiciary, Liberman acknowledged that the system needs tweaking, but that “all of this [the tensions] could’ve been avoided if Israel had legislated a constitution.”
A constitution, he explained, would settle all of the issues that lie at the heart of the conflict of a state that is both Jewish and democratic, and issues of religion and state must also be regulated within that constitution.
“There have been attempts to legislate a constitution – many times they came from the political Right, but they were not successful,” he explained.
He pledged that, in the next government, his party will demand, as a condition for forming a coalition, a constitution for Israel.
Regarding potential coalition partners, Liberman said there was no chance of partnering with parties that do not serve in the IDF.
“Today’s haredi establishment is first and foremost anti-Jewish,” he stated.
“There is nothing Jewish about them; none of them truly cares about the world of Torah study or the yeshiva world, only about power, money, and honor. There is nothing Jewish about demanding that an avrech (yeshiva student) not work.”
“There is no conflict between Judaism and the state. There is an attempt to take over Judaism by anti-Zionist elements,” Liberman explained.
Liberman accused the government of preventing the enforcement of haredi conscription to the IDF. “All I have seen over the years is stalling, evasion, and lies,” he said.
“It cannot continue. If they want to pass a draft law, a decision must be made.”
Regarding the October 7 Hamas attacks, Liberman explained that it was known that Netanyahu held responsibility for them.
He said that Israel needed to conduct a state commission of inquiry to investigate the government failures related to October 7.
“We have gone through the greatest massacre since the Holocaust. Those responsible for security did not take responsibility, did not resign, and are not establishing a state commission of inquiry. The prime minister bears the primary responsibility,” he explained.
“The reserve system is collapsing, and there is a constitutional and deep internal crisis. You cannot demand responsibility from people on the ground without setting a personal example from above. The first decision of the next government must be the establishment of a state commission of inquiry,” Liberman explained.
Leader of the left-wing Democrats party, Yair Golan, also attended the conference, where he advocated for a sharp separation between religion and state.