Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can serve "as a minister in our government," B'Yachad party leader and former prime minister Naftali Bennett said at a political conference on Sunday organized by Hador, a weekly publication aimed at religious-liberal Israelis.
Hours later, Bennett walked back this statement in a social media post, saying, "I've said it a thousand times, Netanyahu bears direct and personal responsibility for the October 7 massacre, and therefore he must go. We will not sit [in government] with him in any configuration."
"Anyone who saw my statements today understood they were meant to [be] absurd," Bennett continued, "since Netanyahu is against universal conscription, against a state commission of inquiry, and against a constitution for Israel."
In response to Bennett's initial remarks, Yashar party head Gadi Eisenkot told the Hador conference that he had no intention of joining forces with Netanyahu in any capacity.
"I do not accept it," he said. "Anyone who held a position on October 7 is unfit to serve in command or leadership roles."
Yair Golan, chairman of the Democrats party, issued a statement on social media saying that "Netanyahu will not sit on any government if it is up to the Democrats...We will not sit with Netanyahu and his allies. Period."
Similarly, Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman wrote on social media: "I call upon my colleagues in the Zionist bloc to make it absolutely clear: no matter what, we will not sit [in government] with Netanyahu."
Bennett: Netanyahu can serve as minister in next gov't if he backs opposition's key principles
During the Hador conference, Bennett said, "I have no problem with Netanyahu serving as a minister in our government. Netanyahu was one of the best finance ministers the State of Israel has ever had."
Bennett said this with the caveat that Netanyahu would accept all of the party's central principles, which include "an immediate state commission of inquiry, military enlistment for everyone, and a constitution for Israel; he should pick up the phone."
Bennett also criticized the conduct of the coalition and political discourse, believing that changes were needed and the problem the government is facing is the belief that MKs are not coming to fix things but "coming to poke someone's eye out."
"In Likud, you don't advance by fixing things, but by managing to provoke the leftists," Bennett said.