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Leaders of Israel’s opposition bloc vowed Tuesday to "act immediately" to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government with a "national emergency government," agreeing to recommend Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot for the mandate but leaving it unclear how they would reach a majority.
"The party heads are coordinated and will act immediately to replace the Oct. 7 government with a national emergency government and realize the clear parliamentary majority in the Knesset," Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid, Avigdor Liberman and Yair Golan said in a joint statement after their first meeting since last week’s election.
The leaders agreed on the need to form "a Zionist government based on the four principles set out by Eisenkot," including that parties recognize Israel as a Jewish state and denounce Hamas as a terrorist group, conditions that could exclude some Arab lawmakers.
"We have no time; we need to act with great urgency," Bennett said.
"We’ll take the Knesset speakership, take the mandate to form a government and act as quickly as possible to establish a Zionist government of repair," he added.
"We are facing an extreme and dangerous attempt to annul the elections. I was shown all the intelligence material, the elections were proper, there is no reason to cancel them," Lapid said.
Negotiating teams will begin drafting the guidelines of the 38th government immediately, the statement said, adding that the leaders discussed what they called Likud’s "dangerous and unhinged delegitimization campaign" against the election results.
"Just finished a meeting with the heads of the parties in the Change bloc. The atmosphere is positive, but the work is still far from complete. To bring about the change that Israel's citizens are thirsting for, hard work, responsibility, and courage are required. The majority is in our hands, the decisions are in our hands, and the responsibility to fulfill the will of the voters is ours," Yair Golan wrote on X.
"We have no time to waste. I am determined to continue leading the effort to establish a government of chang—a government of salvation that will ensure Israel a future of security, repair, and prosperity. We will continue to work with all our might. I call on the public to continue following, to make their voice heard, and to demand that their elected officials realize the majority in our hands," he added.
Without the Arab parties' 19 seats, the bloc has only 48 of 120.
Golan asked during the meeting whether the decision not to cooperate with Arab parties was final; Liberman answered "yes," and Eisenkot and Bennett nodded in agreement.
"I completely rule out a minority government and Netanyahu," Liberman said. "Even if the U.S. president approaches me and even if the Pope, and even if they approach together, I won’t be there."
The Democrats said they would not join a unity government with Netanyahu. "If it goes to unity, we’re out," the party said.
The leaders failed to agree on a candidate to replace Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. Bennett and Liberman back Lapid, but Eisenkot asked to postpone the decision, which is expected early next week.
Earlier, Golan met Joint List leaders Yousef Jabareen and Ahmad Tibi, who said both sides share an interest "in using the parliamentary majority to bring down the Netanyahu-Ben-Gvir-Smotrich government."
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"While Prime Minister Netanyahu extended a hand to form a broad national government, they intend to form a dangerous government relying on supporters of terror," Likud said.
President Isaac Herzog begins consultations Wednesday, with the bloc’s emergency government plan still lacking a clear path to 61 seats.
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