Eisenkot denies pledging Ra'am a place in a future coalition

Gadi Eisenkot, the former Israeli military chief of staff who now heads the centrist opposition party Yashar, has rejected a claim that he told Bedouin local authority heads he would bring the largely Arab Ra'am party into a coalition he forms after next month's election. The Times of Israel reported that Eisenkot and Yashar denied the account in the strongest terms, describing it as "a complete lie" and saying the remarks attributed to him "were never made, not even by implication."

The claim originated with Mueid al-Heib, head of the local council of Tuba-Zangariyye, who attended a meeting between Eisenkot and Arab local authority heads. In an interview with Radio Nas, al-Heib said Eisenkot had told the group he would not sit in government with Bezalel Smotrich of Religious Zionism or Itamar Ben Gvir of Otzma Yehudit, both on the far right, and that contacts with Ra'am were under way and he would work to bring the party in. By the evening al-Heib had walked the statement back on Israeli television, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already used the original version against his main challenger.

Who Gadi Eisenkot is, and what Yashar is

Eisenkot served as chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces before entering politics. He now leads Yashar, a centrist party in opposition, and the Times of Israel described him as the frontrunner ahead of the election due next month. His campaign rests in part on the argument that he can assemble a governing majority without the parties furthest to the right, which makes the question of which partners he would accept, and which he would rule out, politically sensitive.

Ra'am, and why Arab parties in a coalition are contested

Ra'am is a largely Arab party led by Mansour Abbas. The prospect of an Israeli government that depends on Arab parties is one of the sharpest dividing lines in Israeli politics, and Netanyahu's Likud has campaigned repeatedly on the argument that his rivals cannot reach a majority without them. Tuba-Zangariyye, the community whose council head made the claim, is an Arab locality in northern Israel. The meeting itself brought Eisenkot together with Arab local authority heads, officials elected to run municipal government in Arab towns and villages.

What the recordings are said to show

Yashar released audio from the meeting, which took place on Tuesday according to the Times of Israel. Ynet reported that the material published by the party shows Eisenkot did not mention Ra'am or Abbas at all, and that he instead restated the conditions he sets for any party joining a government he leads: recognition of the values of Israel's Declaration of Independence and of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, and service for all. The Declaration of Independence is the founding document proclaimed at the establishment of the state; "service for all" refers to the long-running Israeli argument over which population groups are required to serve in the military or in civilian national service.

The retraction

N12, the news division of Israel's Channel 12, reported that al-Heib reversed himself during an interview with its presenter Dafna Liel, saying plainly that Eisenkot had not said he would bring Ra'am into the government. That directly contradicts his earlier remarks to Radio Nas, quoted by the political commentator Amit Segal, in which al-Heib said the council heads had not announced support for Eisenkot but had demanded that Ra'am be added to the next government, and that Eisenkot had promised to do so. In another account attributed to him after the meeting, al-Heib said Eisenkot had spoken of certain contacts with Ra'am and had committed to calling on the party to enter the coalition if he were tasked with forming a government.

The Telegram channel Abu Ali Express, citing the journalist Mohammad Majadleh, said the retraction followed pressure applied to al-Heib. That characterisation comes from a single source and is not corroborated in the other reports, which describe the reversal without explaining it.

Netanyahu's response

Netanyahu responded to the account of the meeting before the retraction. As quoted by Segal, the prime minister said of the gathering that "everyone there is building on a government that relies on the Arab parties." News.co.il reported that Netanyahu also said Eisenkot cannot form a government without the Arab parties and that only Likud, his own party, would prevent that outcome.

Where the accounts conflict

Channel 12 news, as reported by the Times of Israel, said two local authority heads who were present confirmed that Eisenkot made the pledge. Those confirmations have not been reconciled with al-Heib's own retraction or with the recordings Yashar published, and the reports do not say whether the other participants have changed their accounts.

What the reports do not say

The material does not give the date or location of the meeting beyond Yashar's description of it as Tuesday's gathering, nor does it say how many local authority heads attended or who convened it. It does not say whether the recordings cover the full meeting or only part of it, and it does not include any response from Ra'am or from Abbas. The other two council heads cited by Channel 12 are not named. No independent confirmation of the claim that al-Heib was pressured is offered in the reports, and no date for the election is given beyond a reference to next month.