Yashar party chair and ex-military chief Gadi Eisenkot drew backlash from both the government and members of the opposition on Saturday for appearing to indicate that Zionist opposition parties might rely on the cooperation of Arab parties to form a government after the next elections.

Speaking to Channel 12’s “Meet the Press” on Saturday evening, Eisenkot suggested that the Zionist — meaning, non-Arab and non-Haredi — opposition parties could form a government even if the bloc only wins 58 seats in the next election, two short of a 60-seat majority, as polls have consistently suggested it will.

“We can find a political solution,” he said of the possibility that the parties will fall just short of a minority.

When pushed to answer whether this meant the Zionist opposition bloc could find itself relying on Arab-majority parties Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am to support from outside the formation of a minority government, Eisenkot, an ex-member of Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party, was evasive.

“I don’t know” if they would support such a move, Eisenkot cautioned, adding that he “won’t ask anything of them,” emphasizing that he will not make any deals with Arab-majority parties in exchange for their support for a government.

Despite the polls showing that neither the opposition parties nor the current coalition parties will have a clear majority in the next elections, currently scheduled for October 2026, Eisenket was optimistic that this would not be the case.

“I think [Prime Minister] Netanyahu, after everything he has done, is still reaching a coalition of 52 or 53 seats,” Eisenkot posited, referring to recent polling that has shown the premier’s ruling bloc far behind the Zionist opposition bloc.

“If he believed the polls on Channel 14, he would have already run to elections,” he........

© The Times of Israel