The Democrats chairman met opposition leader Yair Lapid on Sunday evening while Likud and Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party held negotiations, hours after urging opposition leaders to court the Arab parties instead.
Democrats chairman Yair Golan met opposition leader Yair Lapid on Sunday evening, November 15, at the same time as negotiating teams from Likud and Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party were meeting for coalition talks.
According to a statement released after the meeting, Lapid and Golan "discussed coordinating moves toward the establishment of a good government for Israel."
Earlier on Sunday, Golan attacked the meeting between the Likud and Yashar negotiating teams, which also included a representative of Naftali Bennett, chairman of the Together party. Golan objected to holding talks on a unity government at all and called instead for cooperation with the Arab parties. In his statement, he argued that the heads of the "change bloc" should stop shying away from criticism by Likud and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's circle and should consider joining forces with the Arab factions as part of the effort to form a coalition.
"The change bloc needs to lead a change in the rules of the game. To meet with the heads of the Arab parties, to examine partnerships on a substantive basis, and to stop letting Netanyahu and the poison machine decide who is legitimate and who is not," Golan wrote, using a term critics apply to pro-Netanyahu messaging networks.
"The path to change does not run through talks on unity with Netanyahu and Likud, those responsible for the October 7 massacre, the regime coup and the crushing of the rule of law," he continued. "It runs through building a partnership that will make it possible to replace them and repair what they destroyed."
Golan closed with an appeal to the heads of the opposition parties to act on the election results without joining Likud. "There is a clear democratic decision. It is time to listen to the will of the voter, and not to dance to the tune of Netanyahu's racism," he wrote.
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