Former Blue and White minister Chili Tropper, who is running in the upcoming Knesset elections on a joint slate with Yoaz Hendel’s Reservists party, said in an interview aired Saturday that he would “absolutely not” help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu form a government if it comes to it.

“I have a principled, moral statement: Everyone who was in a leadership position on October 7 should end their role,” he told Channel 12’s “Meet the Press” program, referring to the Hamas-led terror invasion in 2023.

He said he would also be unwilling to join a coalition with Arab-majority parties or ultra-Orthodox parties, saying he was “in favor of a Zionist-only government.”

He noted that this set him apart from Gadi Eisenkot, the leader of the Yashar party, who has emerged as a frontrunner in recent polls.

“I really like and appreciate him, and we’re on good terms,” Tropper said of Eisenkot, “but I’m in favor of a Zionist-only government”

He clarified that he wasn’t questioning Eisenkot’s Zionism, “but I’m talking about my position.”

“The ultra-Orthodox and Arab parties chose not to be part of the Zionist story,” he said. “This is as far from hatred as there is, but Israel needs a Zionist government today.”

Hendel expressed similar sentiments earlier this week, telling the Ynet news outlet that under no circumstances would he join a governing coalition that depends on “non-Zionist” elements, including the existing Haredi and Arab parties.

According to Hendel, it would be preferable to trigger repeat elections if the only alternative would be to hand the pro-Netanyahu bloc a parliamentary majority to pass laws enshrining sweeping ultra-Orthodox military exemptions. But he said he would sit with Netanyahu under a broad government that includes both Likud and the parties running against him.

Tropper said the pair were hoping to win the votes of the “300,000 Israelis who say they have no political home.”

Prior to merging his party with Tropper, Hendel’s Reservists........

© The Times of Israel