Eisenkot Rejects Lapid Prediction: “That Was a Mistake”

Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot rejected Opposition Leader Yair Lapid’s claim that he is expected to join the Lapid-Bennett alliance within weeks, saying the statement was “strange” and likely came from political pressure.

Speaking in an interview with Channel 12’s Meet the Press, Eisenkot responded to Lapid’s prediction that within “two or three weeks” there would be a festive announcement that Eisenkot had joined the joint political camp led by Lapid and Naftali Bennett.

“That is a strange statement,” Eisenkot said. “I assume it comes from pressure. We have not spoken in the past two or three months, except for one short phone call.”

Eisenkot said he had previously tried to advance cooperation among the parties in the opposition bloc, but that the effort did not succeed. He added that his focus is now on looking forward and finding the right way to win with the existing partners, including Lapid, Bennett, Avigdor Liberman, Yair Golan and others.

According to Eisenkot, his contact with Lapid and Bennett had been close until a few months ago, but changed after they decided to form their own alliance.

“We were in close contact until two and a half or three months ago,” Eisenkot said. “Following their decision, the connection was fairly cut off.”

He said he had pushed for a meeting of opposition party leaders months ago in order to present a serious governing alternative to Netanyahu.

“I thought it was right to present a shadow cabinet or an alternative government, and to coordinate basic principles, positions and election preparations together,” he said.

Eisenkot said that both Lapid and Bennett had opposed a broader three-way arrangement at the time, only to later join forces without him.

“I tried to lead it in an orderly way, not by calling people in the middle of the night to come to some fancy apartment and sign an agreement without me being involved,” he said.

He argued that any unity move should have been planned carefully, with thought given to the structure, the people involved and the political effect.

“I thought it was right to do it with orderly thinking, planning and connection, to see who the people are,” Eisenkot said. “It did not succeed because both of them opposed the triple connection, and then suddenly there was a connection between them.”

Eisenkot said he believes the Lapid-Bennett move was a mistake, and that he is now examining whether joining them would strengthen or weaken the broader camp.

“I think that was a mistake,” he said. “That is why I am doing damage control, weighing whether it adds, whether it subtracts, whether it creates a larger bloc.”