Liberman urges opposition to forge alliances with small parties near electoral threshold

Avigdor Liberman warned Israel’s opposition leaders that parties hovering below the electoral threshold could weaken their bloc if they refuse to join forces before next week’s deadline for submitting party lists.

The Yisrael Beytenu leader called for alliances involving Benny Gantz’s Blue and White, Gilad Erdan’s Unity and Chili Tropper’s The Zionist Home-The Reservists. Those parties have continued to poll below the threshold, Liberman said, and could cost the opposition three or four seats if they run independently.

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They have no chance of crossing the electoral threshold, but they could cost the serving bloc three to four seats.

“I call on the leaders of the serving bloc to act responsibly; we must all make one final effort to try to forge alliances,” Liberman said. He had told The Jerusalem Post in July that running as part of a political alliance was not an option for his own party.

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I call on the leaders of the serving bloc to act responsibly; we must all make one final effort to try to forge alliances.

The appeal has a parallel on the right. Netanyahu called on small right-wing parties to form alliances with parties in his bloc, warning that independent campaigns could also damage his camp. His bloc includes parties led by Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, while the opposition includes Yashar, B’Yachad, The Democrats and Yisrael Beytenu.

Gantz renewed his call for a broad Zionist government that would not rely on extremists or Arab parties. Meanwhile, Smotrich and Zehut leader Moshe Feiglin said they would run together as a technical bloc after the Religious Zionist Party polled near the threshold and Zehut failed to cross it in recent surveys. Netanyahu had also urged Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to run on a joint list, as they did in 2022.

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Faced with either a full-fledged right-wing government or a minority government reliant on the Arab parties, there is only one solution: Only the bloc of the people of Israel will establish a Zionist, cross-bloc government that can pass a genuine conscription law even before the next government is formed; and put an end to bloc-based governments.