Eisenkot Ally: Smotrich Welcome If He Changes Course

Shaul Mofaz, the newest recruit to Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar! party, made waves in a radio interview on Tuesday when he refused to rule out cooperation with Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, on one condition.

Speaking on Radio 103FM, Mofaz addressed whether Smotrich could join a future government led by Eisenkot. "We're not in the business of disqualifications," he explained. "Any Zionist, statist party that meets our conditions, we'll invite. We'll have core principles. If Smotrich meets the core principles of Yashar!, [then[] Welcome."

But those principles would require a complete reversal from Smotrich. "Our core principles would pursue a policy completely opposite to what he's doing in Judea and Samaria," he said. "Smotrich endangers the Zionist enterprise and the Jewish, democratic state --- we won't operate that way. If Smotrich understands he made a serious mistake and wants to change his policy to align with our core principles, then he's obviously welcome in the government. Is the likelihood of that happening high? That depends on him. We'll form a government, we'll invite every Zionist-statist party that fits our core principles to join. If he repents, we'd be more than happy to host him."

Mofaz also addressed the possibility of a rotation agreement between political blocs, given the deadlock shown in recent polls. "Rotation is a very bad solution to a problem that can be solved through elections," he said. "We're going to the polls, to the voters, to convince them to vote for us. I think we can bring more than 61 Zionist, statist mandates, that's our job. We'll do everything to replace Netanyahu. We believe he's done tremendous damage to Israel, the responsibility he refuses to take but is his for October 7th, the division and fragmentation, the exclusion of those who evade service and the abandonment of those who serve. Rotation is not on the table, Netanyahu needs to go home."