Israel First Party can unite Netanyahu, Eisenkot to govern together, Haskel tells 'Post'

ByKESHET NEEVJULY 29, 2026 21:47Updated: JULY 29, 2026 21:57Israel First Party leader MK Sharren Haskel said her newly launched party would need only six Knesset seats to reshape the country’s next government after the upcoming elections.She told The Jerusalem Post in a recent interview that her party could allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc and the opposition to form a broad Zionist coalition rather than rely on haredi (ultra-Orthodox) or Arab parties.Haskel’s plan involved a government that could consist of both parties from Netanyahu’s bloc and the opposition bloc seeking to oust the premier in the upcoming elections, set for October 27. The Yashar Party led by Gadi Eisenkot has been the leading party in the opposition bloc in recent polls.“I want to build a bloc of six mandates that will not allow Netanyahu to build a bloc with the ultra-Orthodox and will not allow Eisenkot to build a bloc with the Arabs,” she said. “I’m not in the pocket of either of them, and I’m going to force both of them at the end of the day to sit together. And yes, it is most likely that Netanyahu will get most of the mandates.”“They have to sit together. Otherwise, we continue in the cycle of hatred, of poisoning our people, of division, and of concentrating on one thing: a person instead of security, a person instead of the economy, a person instead of education,” she continued.MK Sharren Haskel speaks to The Jerusalem Post, July 28, 2026. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)“When I see this map, I know we have to stop this political math of camps, and we have to build Israel first as people who want to see security first, the economy first, before personalized politics.”Haskel said that the only option for Israel to have a united Zionist coalition was through a broad government that would not include either the Arab or haredi parties. She also ruled out left-wing Democrats party leader Yair Golan from a coalition, stating that the remarks he had made in the past caused him not to be a viable Zionist partner.Haskel: Golan damaged Israel's global reputation“I’m really afraid that someone like Golan with ... 12, 14 mandates will receive six ministers [in the next government]. He lied about the IDF, about Israeli soldiers. He blackened our name in the international community, in the media. I struggled with it,” she said.“I think there’s no other parliament member – Left, Right, coalition, opposition, or minister – that had more interviews in foreign media than what I did, and I had to deal with the result of his actions, of his lies,” she added.Haskel had announced earlier this month that she was resigning from the government after the Knesset passed legislation freezing the arrests of haredi draft evaders, saying she could no longer stand behind the government’s decisions.She has been a fierce critic of the series of legislation being advanced by the haredi parties – with government backing – which critics argue encourages draft evasion, even amid the IDF’s severe manpower crisis.Following her resignation, she announced that she would be launching her new right-wing political party called Israel First.Haskel’s resignation also came amid reports of various right-wing figures considering joining or creating a new right-wing party ahead of the upcoming elections.Other names raised in connection with talks about forming the alternative party are former Israeli UN ambassador Gilad Erdan and Likud MK Yuli Edelstein.Haskel seeking alliances with those who will govern alongside NetanyahuSpeaking on potential alliances with her party and others, Haskel said that she would consider alliances with those who see themselves as able to be part of a broad Zionist government and would be willing to sit in a government with Netanyahu.“We’ve been discussing that there are many good people who should come and join forces together. I think that ... there’s a lot of good people that need to be in the system,” she said.She said that there should be “no boycotting.”“We cannot continue with this madness. We need to put Israel first, and put security first. Bibi [Netanyahu] is not at the top of our priority. If he’s prime minister, he will be chosen to be a prime minister,” she said.Addressing her resignation, Haskel said that the legislative blitz that passed numerous contentious laws in the Knesset in its last week before the recess was corrupt.“Where we are at war, our soldiers are being stretched to their max.”“They’re paying the highest prices during the last three years. I mean, this is family, economic prices, physical injuries, emotional everything. And for a year and a half, I’ve been at war to make sure that I watch their back.”Haskel explained that she had not resigned earlier throughout the government’s term because she did not think the legislation would be passed, and that she believed it could fight it from within the coalition.Though Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, leader of the New Hope-United Right Party, which she was part of, announced last year that he would return to Likud, Haskel said that joining the party was not an option for her.Speaking on why she could not return to Likud, Haskel said that it was not the party she grew up with and that she could no longer align with its values.“Even Netanyahu knows that the Likud is not the Likud that we knew. He was [even] trying to cancel the primaries,” she said.Speaking on the policies that her party would be pushing for, Haskel said that she was “very hawkish on security. I am extremely liberal on the economic side – less taxes, less regulation, less government involvement, less bureaucracy. And so I know ... my DNA, my philosophy, everything. It’s liberty. It’s freedom. Right. And for me to be able to say that is heartbreaking.”Haskel said her party could function as a new home for right-wing voters.“I know the polls are showing that there’s 10% of Israelis, the vast majority of them are on the Right side of the map, and they feel homeless. They feel deserted. They feel they don’t have a political home. So I said, enough with the talks, enough with everything. I’m building a political home. Israel first,” she shared.“I’m going to run with it. I’m going to get everybody together. I’m going to build the railways. I’m going to build... the train, and we’re going to build all the infrastructure.“We’re going to start with campaigns, and we’re going to call all the good people in the Right to come and join forces together, because I truly believe the next elections are critical,” Haskel said.Follow us on Google