The upcoming government alliances in Israel have entered a more complex phase, after Hali Troper announced that his party will not participate in a government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, placing the condition of forming a “Zionist government” and siding with the military and servants at the forefront of his electoral commitments, before his partner Yoaz Hendel clarified that the door is still open to a broad unity government that includes Netanyahu along with other figures.
According to a report by journalist Amit Segal on the Israeli “N12” website, Chili Troper, head of the “Zionist House – Reserves,” on Tuesday presented his party’s political commitments, clearly confirming that he will not participate in Netanyahu’s government.
Trooper said in a video clip he posted on the “X” platform: “We will only be part of a Zionist government. We will make a real effort to expand the government as much as possible with parties that accept our principles. We will not sit in Netanyahu’s government.”
Regarding the recruitment file, Trooper pledged that his party would represent the military and those performing service, and said: “We are committed to being the party of servants, the party of soldiers.”
He added: “We will provide excellent solutions for our heroic soldiers who returned wounded from the war.”
He also announced his intention to work to transfer the privileges granted by the state, as he put it, “from evaders to servants.”
Trooper, who comes from the educational field, touched on the education file, which he described as one of the most important issues, pledging that the government would work to educate children “with full force.”
He also addressed the issue of personal security, and said that after “years of widespread TikTok clips and a rise in violence, the time has come for a commitment to restore security to citizens.”
He also touched on the issue of reducing the gaps within Israeli society, considering that the future of a child in Israel today depends to a large extent on the place where he was born and on the income level of his parents.
In this context, he pledged to work to provide good services in the Negev, Galilee, and peripheral areas, giving everyone a chance to succeed.
Concluding his presentation, Tropper stressed that his party is committed to being “worthy” in the way it speaks and acts, and to putting the interest of the state above “everything else.”
But Trooper’s announcement quickly sparked sharp political reactions.
The “Religious Zionism” party attacked its position, and said in a statement: “This is what the false unity of Tropper and Hendel looks like, who declare a boycott of the men of religious Zionism and more than a million Likud voters who see Prime Minister Netanyahu as their candidate for prime minister.”
The party added: “In effect, the troper puts a gun to the head of the National Camp and says: Either Netanyahu will be overthrown, or I will appoint Yair Golan as Minister of Defense and Naama Lazimi as a member of the cabinet.”
The statement continued: “This is not unity. This is free hatred and a return to the October 6 boycotts that provoke division.”
In turn, the head of the “Unity” Party, Gilad Erdan, said: “Now things have become clear: vote for Trooper, you will get Yair Golan.”
He added: “Only the Unity Party will not sit in any narrow government. Rather, it will lead to the formation of a broad unity government that includes both camps. Whoever wants unity, a real right, and real recruitment will find it only with us.”
Following the criticism sparked by the announcement, the head of the Reserve Party, Yoaz Hendel, wrote in an activist group: “My friends, we saw that the video we published today caused some noise. So we will make things clear: we are in exactly the same place, only a Zionist government.”
He added: “We will go with whoever gets the largest number of recommendations from the Zionists. Netanyahu repeatedly announces that he will continue with his coalition, which is a coalition that depends on non-Zionist votes, and therefore it is not on the table for us to be part of it.”
But Hendel kept the door open to another scenario, and said: “If a broad unity government is established that includes Eisenkot, Bennett, Lieberman, Netanyahu and others, we will be part of it.”
He continued: “But that is not in our hands. What is in our hands is for a Zionist government to be established as broad as possible, and we are working for that.”
Hendel concluded by saying: “The simplest thing instead of attacking is to watch the full video. The most important thing is for Netanyahu and Smotrich to announce that the only thing Israel needs is a Zionist government. We are proud of our path and our effort to establish a Zionist government here.”
Thus, Trooper’s position does not completely close the door to sitting with Netanyahu, as much as it draws a difference between joining a government led by Netanyahu with the current composition of his coalition, and participating in a broad unity government of which Netanyahu may be one of its components, a difference that is likely to become an essential part of the calculations for forming the government after the elections.
