Hours before the deadline for parties to submit final Knesset lists for the April 9 general election, center-left parties Israel Resilience and Yesh Atid announced early Thursday that they had struck a deal to run on a joint list.
Israel Resilience party leader Benny Gantz and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid will share the top spot on the list in a rotation agreement. If the joint list wins the most votes in the election and is tasked with assembling a government, Gantz and Lapid will take turns serving as prime minister, with Gantz the first to step into the role. Lapid would succeed him after two and a half years.
Former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi has officially joined the new list.
The parties put out a joint press release that said: "Out of a sense of national responsibility, Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, and [Telem party leader] Moshe Ya'alon have decided to establish a joint list that will be Israel's new governing party.
"The new party will run a new team of leaders with security and socioeconomic credentials that will guarantee the security of the state and reunite the parts of the fractured Israeli society," the statement read.
The decision marks an about-face from the parties' stance earlier this month, when both Israel Resilience and Yesh Atid were firm in their rejection of the idea of a joint party under a rotating leadership.
Meretz Chairwoman Tamar Zandberg welcomed the announcement that the center-left parties had joined forces: "Congratulations on the center-left merger, which will provide an alternative to the Likud," she said.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak (Labor) also sent a congratulatory message: "Mabruk [congratulations] to Gantz and Lapid, who overcame obstacles, demonstrated responsibility, and joined forces to create a chance for a change of government.
"The choice is between a corrupt government that is in the hands of the Kahanists and racists, or a government that can return us to a strong Israel that is faithful to the Declaration of Independence … They deserve our wishes for their success," Barak said.
Opposition leader Shelly Yachimovich (Labor), however, called the merger a "vague creation of PR and advertising firms. What are their views on the two-state solution? The Supreme Court? Who the hell are they?" Yachimovich asked.
The Right was quick to slam the center-left merger.
"The choice is clear: It's either a left-wing government under Lapid-Gantz with the support of an Arab party bloc, or a right-wing government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," the Likud said Thursday.
The Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas warned that the center-left merger was "a danger to Judaism."
"Gantz, who supports civil marriage and public transportation on Shabbat, has joined Lapid, whose hatred for Judaism and religious Jews are his belief. The Jewish identity of the state of Israel is in danger, and we will fight with all our strength to prevent them from forming a government," Shas said.
