Golan vows to form government with Ra'am; right erupts

Democrats party leader Yair Golan told Meet the Press tonight that he intends to work actively with his political partners to form a future government in full cooperation with the Ra'am party. The direct statement breaks the election-season fog and hands the right-wing camp unprecedented ammunition.

Responses from the political establishment came quickly. Finance Minister and Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich attacked the statement sharply, saying: "Yair Golan is saying out loud again what his partners Eisenkot and Liberman are trying to hide by every means." According to Smotrich, the three are planning to form a "dangerous government" that will rely on the Arab parties and will severely damage the settlements and the laws protecting Israel's Jewish identity, adding that "only a large and strong Religious Zionism will prevent this from happening."

The Likud party also chose to turn up the heat, issuing a sharp and uncompromising condemnation of Golan and his potential partner, Gadi Eisenkot. "Yair Golan is revealing the truth tonight: he and his partner Eisenkot will form a left-wing government with the Arab parties," the Likud charged.

According to sources in the ruling party, the current election campaign centres on a single existential question: "It's either the right or Palestine, only the Likud will prevent the formation of a left-Arab government of Eisenkot, Golan, Liberman, Bennett and the Arab parties." Golan's statement marks the opening shot of a charged election campaign in which the question of partnership with the Arab parties stands at centre stage.

The issue is not new. Ra'am sat in the Bennett-Lapid government, and the right used it again and again as a campaign tool. This time, with elections on the horizon, it returns to centre stage just as the opposition is trying to present a united front.

Golan's statement does not necessarily change the balance of power within the bloc, Eisenkot, Bennett and Liberman continue to set strict conditions, but it gives the right strong propaganda material and places the question of Arab partnership at the heart of the public debate.