Change Bloc Leaders Meet, Fail to Agree on Bloc Head

Leaders of the "Change Bloc" parties convened for a meeting, their first in nearly a year, but failed to reach an agreement on who would lead the bloc and serve as their joint candidate for prime minister. The issue was raised during discussions but no consensus was achieved. The meeting, held at the home of opposition leader Yair Lapid, included Gadi Eisenkot of the Labor party, Naftali Bennett of the Yamina party, Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beiteinu, and Yair Golan of the Democratic party, alongside Lapid.

Disagreements over strategy contributed to the lack of resolution. Lieberman advocated for focusing on a bloc-wide strategy and deferring the leadership question until after the elections. In contrast, Eisenkot believes the party that achieves the greatest success in the elections should form the government.

A follow-up meeting is scheduled in the coming days. This session will involve the presentation of in-depth research highlighting the relative strengths of each potential candidate, with an expectation that Bennett may have an advantage among religious Zionists and Lieberman among new immigrants. Following this, directives will be issued for party leaders to focus on increasing voter turnout in their respective strongholds.

During the meeting, the leaders signed a principles document stating that "from today until the formation of the government, none of us will attack a partner party in the bloc or its leader." They affirmed that despite ideological differences, their shared primary goal is the establishment of a "reforming and rebuilding, Zionist and state-oriented government."

Eisenkot, in a prior interview, emphasized the shared objective of winning the elections, stating that the thought of a potential alternative government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and others would focus their efforts.