Political analyst Amit Segal on Tuesday revealed the decisions reached by the leaders of the change bloc at their first meeting since the election, and took a sharp jab at their openness to talks with the chareidi parties.
“The change bloc’s decision: the Knesset speaker will be replaced at the first opportunity. Eisenkot will request the mandate first,” Segal reported.
According to Segal, the bloc agreed to settle on a candidate for Knesset speaker by Monday. He also said Democrats leader Yair Golan was left in the minority in the room on the question of forming a government with the Arab parties.
Segal then mocked the bloc’s willingness to engage the chareidi parties after months of attacking them. “After an entire campaign focused on the chareidim as ‘parasites’ (Golan), ‘draft dodgers’ (Bennett), ‘destroyers of the state’ (Liberman) and ‘non-Zionists’ (Eisenkot), the heads of the change bloc concluded that contacts with the chareidim should not be ruled out,” he wrote.
The meeting in Herzliya brought together Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot, Beyachad leader Naftali Bennett and his number two Yair Lapid, Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Liberman and Golan. Their parties won a combined 48 seats. The leaders agreed that all their parties would recommend Eisenkot to President Isaac Herzog for the first mandate to form a government.
In a joint statement, the parties said they would act immediately to replace what they called “the October 7 government” with a national emergency government, relying on what they described as a clear parliamentary majority.
That majority depends on the Arab parties. Together with their 19 seats, the anti-Netanyahu camp would reach 67, but the change bloc still lacks a 61-seat majority without them. Golan, who has pushed for cooperation with the Arab parties, met with Joint List leaders Ahmad Tibi and Yousef Jabareen earlier on Tuesday. During the meeting, he asked whether the decision not to work with them was final.
The leaders also failed to resolve their dispute over who should replace Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. Liberman has backed Lapid for the post, while senior figures in Eisenkot’s party have said they will not allow Lapid to become speaker. The bloc plans to move against Ohana once the new Knesset is sworn in on November 10. Once a new speaker is elected, removing them would require 90 votes.
