The opposition’s Yesh Atid party could join a future coalition with Likud if it is not led by Benjamin Netanyahu, and would even consider sitting with hard-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, a party lawmaker has said.
Speaking with The Times of Israel in his Knesset office on Tuesday, MK Moshe Tur-Paz called such a move a “political sacrifice we are willing” to make.
The moderate religious Zionist lawmaker said that he sees “a difference” between Smotrich’s party and the further-right Otzma Yehudit, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s ultranationalist party.
“I mean, Bezalel Smotrich is far from my cup of tea, we have big differences, but I could see us working with him, although those differences are there,” said Tur-Paz, an educator who was first elected to parliament in 2021.
It was not clear whether such sentiments were shared by party chief Yair Lapid, who has often spoken out against Smotrich and his policies.
“Otzma Yehudit is out of the question, not only for Yesh Atid but I think for most political parties today. I don’t think any Zionist party should sit with Kahane in the same government,” Tur-Paz said.
Ben Gvir is a disciple of the late far-right Rabbi Meir Kahane, who advocated legislation to expel all Arabs from Israel and the West Bank, though he claims to not subscribe to those beliefs. Prior to entering politics, he was arrested and charged dozens of times for his far-right activism, and was convicted in the past for incitement to violence and supporting a terror group.
“But I think if there will be another leader and there’ll be another coalition and whatever leader of Likud there will be, we’ll come to terms with him — and I don’t think he’ll want Itamar Ben Gvir in his coalition,” Tur-Paz added.
Yesh Atid has long ruled out any cooperation with Netanyahu, accusing him of untrustworthiness and pointing to his ongoing corruption trial.
Netanyahu and his Likud party, already hurt politically by the government’s now-frozen judicial overhaul plans, have seen their popularity reach a nadir following the October 7 Hamas attack and subsequent war, polling at 16-19 seats in recent polls, compared to its current 32 in the 120-seat Knesset.
Addressing Yesh Atid’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset last Monday, Lapid called on National Unity ministers Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot, and Gideon Sa’ar to leave the coalition, declaring that he would be willing to join a new government under Likud leadership other than that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The State of Israel needs another government, and another prime minister. Yesh Atid will provide 24 votes to any move to change the government, either in elections or in a replacement government. It can be headed by Benny [Gantz], Gadi [Eisenkot] or Yuli Edelstein.”
Edelstein, a senior Likud MK, is currently the chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and has previously served as Knesset speaker as well as in several ministerial capacities. He announced several years ago he would take on Netanyahu for the leadership of Likud, but later dropped his challenge.
Tur-Paz also criticized the current government’s conduct in the war with Hamas in Gaza. While he said the military was “doing a good job,” he stressed that, “We need policy, we need diplomacy, and in those two areas we’re not doing well at the moment.”
“I think we have a problem that our current government doesn’t have the trust of the people, certainly those who didn’t vote for it, but even those who did vote for it are not trusting it, and that’s a problem.”