Former MK Gadi Eisenkot has changed the game for the anti-Netanyahu bloc with his recent offer, Channel 12 News analyst Amit Segal noted.
According to Segal, former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid are hesitant to accept the proposal from Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the "Yashar!" party, to run together on a single list in the upcoming elections - despite their supporters wanting such a merger.
"For six months, Bennett and Lapid have been courting Gadi Eisenkot, calling, meeting, sending messages, and saying, 'Come run with us.' Bennett knows that if Eisenkot is with him, he rises and flourishes, and if not, he crashes. Lapid knows exactly the same thing about himself," Segal began.
"Eisenkot tells them, 'Thank you, but I suggest something different: Let's all run together.' The logic behind this is that it would create a giant party with 35 or maybe 40 seats that could run against Likud, with Avigdor Liberman to its right, Yair Golan to its left, and maybe it will bring a victory."
"Bennett doesn't really want that because he wants to ensure that he's at the top, and Lapid isn't sure if he wants it because he would be number three, but their camp really wants a merger at all costs. Therefore, this move by Gadi Eisenkot is significant, with the potential to pull everyone into this new arrangement," Segal concluded.