Bedouin local council heads from northern Israel who met Tuesday with Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot claimed that he promised them he would bring the Ra'am party (United Arab List) into the next government, Channel 12 News reported.
Mu'id al-Heib, head of the Tuba-Zangariyye Council, who attended the meeting with Eisenkot, told Nas Radio: "Eisenkot told the local council heads at the meeting that he does not intend to bring [Religious Zionist Party chairman Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich and [Otzma Yehudit chairman National Security Minister Itamar] Ben Gvir into his government, that negotiations are being held with Ra'am, and that he will work to bring it into the next government under his leadership."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X: "Don't say you didn't know: Eisenkot will establish a left-wing government with Yair Golan, Liberman, and the Arab parties."
Education Minister Yoav Kisch added: "Eisenkot will establish a government with the support of the Muslim Brotherhood party."
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote: "The truth that Gadi Eisenkot is trying so hard to hide has leaked out. Behind closed doors, he promises Bedouin local council heads that he will establish a government with Ra'am and Mansour Abbas, while before the general public he does everything possible to appear 'right-wing.'"
"The truth is one: Eisenkot will establish a dangerous left-wing government with the support of Yair Golan and Mansour Abbas. Such a government would be destructive to security, settlement, the Negev and Galilee, and the Jewish identity of the state."
Yoseph Haddad, a candidate for the Amcha Yisrael party, responded: "After the October 7 massacre that the Hamas terrorist organization carried out against us, after the horrific atrocities, families burned to death, girls raped in their homes, parents who watched their children being tortured to death in their own living rooms - after all this, they actually want to establish a government here with people who are unwilling to call Hamas a terrorist organization? This is beyond delusional."
The Yashar! party rejected the report, saying, "This is completely false. These things were never said, not even by implication. Yashar!'s position on the matter is clear and unambiguous. Partnership in the government will be possible only with parties that meet the three fundamental principles that are well known to the public: recognition of the values of the Declaration of Independence, recognition of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, and service for all."
"We also emphasized the fact that parties which do not recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization that the State of Israel has an obligation to destroy will not be part of the government we establish," the party added.