Opposition warns Netanyahu may challenge election results, calls for coalition unity ahead of mid-October vote

When the next Israeli election looms, the political climate feels like a storm brewing.

In a televised interview with Ynet’s weekend supplement, opposition Member of the Knesset Naama Lazimi warned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could try to overturn the results of the upcoming vote if he loses. She compared the potential move to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

The election date remains unannounced, but most observers expect a mid‑October showdown. Lazimi cautioned that the 17‑hour confrontation with Iran this week may not be the last military escalation before voters head to the polls.

“I think Netanyahu is capable of anything, including starting a war to postpone the election,” she said. “I think Netanyahu acts out of political motives, but the fact that this question is constantly in the air also says something about the mood in the country, that this man is no longer fit.”

Lazimi accused the prime minister of prioritising his own political survival over national security, citing allegations that aides in his office had worked for Qatar while remaining close to Netanyahu. “This man is truly the greatest cynic we have ever had,” she said. “He puts himself above the state, and that is how he subordinates his entire coalition and government.”

She also slammed lawmakers who backed a bill to subsidise daycare for ultra‑Orthodox men who do not serve in the Israel Defence Forces. According to Lazimi, some voted for the measure despite privately opposing it, arguing that it was against national security, the IDF, and the economy.

“But Bibi‑ism is above everything. If Netanyahu needs the ultra‑Orthodox parties, that comes before the state,” she added.

The opposition lawmaker linked Netanyahu’s continued political survival after the October 7 Hamas attacks to both his lack of moral responsibility and the opposition’s failure to respond quickly enough. “The biggest mistake we made, and my greatest pang of conscience, is that we thought Bibi was finished and that there was no chance they could survive such a disaster,” Lazimi said.

She called for a more unified anti‑Netanyahu bloc, noting ideological gaps but also shared goals such as establishing a state commission of inquiry and ensuring an equal burden of military service.

“I could sit in a coalition with right‑wing figures such as former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman if the shared goal was to replace Netanyahu’s government and rebuild democratic institutions,” Lazimi said. “I am not here to be a purist. I am here to protect the country of your children and mine.”

Lazimi warned that Likud was preparing to challenge the legitimacy of the election process by attacking the Central Elections Committee (CEC) and its chairman, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg. “We have to win by knockout,” she said. “The 61 seats we will get, that is clear to me from the polls, but we need 65. Why? Because then he will not have the ability to do a Capitol Hill. He will not be able to challenge the election results, and then you will see the arrows inside Likud turn against Netanyahu.”

She said the opposition’s task was to win several seats from the pro‑Netanyahu bloc, arguing that some voters who once supported him had not yet freed themselves from his political grip.

“I am not saying I will bring all of Bibi’s 20 seats,” Lazimi said. “But we as a bloc will bring those extra three or four seats. It will happen.”

Lazimi rejected the claim that the left cannot appeal to Likud voters, citing her work on public housing, teachers’ status and early childhood education as having drawn support from communities traditionally identified with the right.

She called for the next government to immediately establish a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding October 7, pass legislation regulating Basic Laws, stop funding schools that do not teach the core curriculum and strengthen the status of legal and democratic gatekeepers.

She also backed party leader Yair Golan’s position that parties in the coalition that governed during the October 7 disaster should not be part of the next government. “This is not a matter of boycotts,” Lazimi said. “It is a matter of national interest. Those who brought us to the hardest place the country has ever known should not be part of the next government.”

The statements come as Israel’s political landscape remains highly fluid. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest‑serving prime minister, has led the country since 2022 after previous terms from 1996‑1999 and 2009‑2021. Likud, the party that brought him to power, is a major right‑wing force, while the Democrats – a merger of the former Labor Party and Meretz – represent the centre‑left.

The Central Elections Committee, chaired by a Supreme Court judge, oversees the electoral process. Its role has become a point of contention as the upcoming election approaches.

The opposition’s warnings highlight the high stakes of the forthcoming vote and the possibility of political manoeuvring that could challenge democratic norms.