The opposition party Yesh Atid would be willing to join the government in order to save the 136 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza if the far-right parties Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionist Party leave the government in opposition of a deal, opposition leader and Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid said in an interview on Channel 12 on Tuesday.
The Likud accused Lapid of “pushing for an immediate end to the war without achieving total victory” in a Wednesday evening statement.
“We will not agree to that.”
Yesh Atid responded, “Former prime minister Lapid is pushing for saving the hostages and bringing them home, and not to save Netanyahu and his extremist partners. The Likud, true to its habit, is confused – total victory means returning the hostages after a historic failure, not to stay in power and cling to one’s seat.”
Ben-Gvir had threatened to leave the government if the proposal for the hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza, which he called “negligent,” would go ahead.
Both National Unity and Otzma Yehudit threatened to leave the emergency government over a possible hostage deal for the release of Israelis being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“A reckless deal equals dismantling the government,” Ben-Gvir wrote on X.
Lapid keen to serve as ‘safety net’ for Gaza hostage deal
Opposition leader and Yesh Atid Chairman MK Yair Lapid said soon after that his party would serve as a “safety net for any deal that will return the hostages to their homes.”
“Yesh Atid will not allow Netanyahu’s political problems to block a hostage deal that would bring them home,” the party wrote on X soon after. “Lapid said from day one that it would back any deal, and it will continue to do so. They must be returned home.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Lapid expressed the urgency for reaching a deal: “The first clause, the first line, in the contract between the state and its citizens, says that the state is responsible for their lives; not only for their health or the education of their children but for life in the most basic and simplest sense.”
“We have no way to bring our dead back to life, but we have to bring the hostages home, otherwise something very basic will crumble in our relationship with each other, in the relationship between a people and their country,” he continued, “certainly, in the fundamental trust between the citizens and the government. This must not happen. Some things are not up for debate.”
The Times of Israel also reported: The Likud offered the opposition party Yesh Atid to place one of its members as justice minister instead of current Justice Minister Yariv Levin in exchange for it joining the government, Kan journalist Ze’ev Kam reported a “senior Likud minister” as saying on Wednesday.
According to the report, Yesh Atid’s joining the government would not entail removing other parties from the government but would entail a redistribution of the government ministries in order to “broaden it even more during the period of the war and afterward.” This would include removing additional ministries from the current coalition members and giving them to Yesh Atid.
A similar offer was made to National Unity if it will commit to staying in the government for a longer period, the report added. National Unity joined the government a few days after the Hamas massacre on October 7. It entered five ministers into the government, but all are currently ministers-without-portfolio. National Unity has said that it plans to leave the government when the security situation stabilizes.
The report concluded that “(The Likud’s) giving up on the justice ministry would mainly be a symbolic act after the difficult struggle during the past year over Levin’s judicial reforms.”
Spokespersons for Yesh Atid, the Likud, and Levin all denied the report.
A brewing crisis within Israel’s coalition
The report came amidst a brewing crisis within the coalition, as far-right Otzma Yehudit chairman National Security Minister MK Itamar Ben-Gvir repeated on Tuesday a threat that he made a number of times this week, to leave the government if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to what Ben-Gvir claimed was a “reckless” deal to free Israeli hostages in exchange for a lengthy ceasefire and release of large numbers of Palestinian terrorists incarcerated in Israel.
Lapid said on Monday that his party would serve as a “safety net” in order to push through a hostage deal if necessary. In an interview on Channel 12 on Tuesday, Lapid clarified that he would agree to enter the government in order to free the hostages – but only if Otzma Yehudit and the Religious Zionist Party would leave it. The Likud said in response that Lapid was “pushing for an immediate end to the war, (but) without total victory – we will not agree to this.”
