השתכנעתי עוד יותר שהוא אינו כשיר להמשיך ולו דקה נוספת בתפקיד.
עלינו לפעול בדחיפות להקמת ממשלת חירום לאומית. המשך שלטונו מפלג את ישראל ומסכן את בטחונה.
@yairlapid @YairGolan1 @AvigdorLiberman @naftalibennett – זה עלינו.
השתכנעתי עוד יותר שהוא אינו כשיר להמשיך ולו דקה נוספת בתפקיד.
עלינו לפעול בדחיפות להקמת ממשלת חירום לאומית. המשך שלטונו מפלג את ישראל ומסכן את בטחונה.
@yairlapid @YairGolan1 @AvigdorLiberman @naftalibennett – זה עלינו.
Meanwhile, Democrats chairman Yair Golan and members of his party walk out of the plenum in protest, while Democrats MK Gilad Kariv shouts: “How much money did you receive from Qatar?”
“Ever since the balcony in Zion Square, you haven’t stopped inciting,” Kariv yells, referring to an October 1995 rally in which Netanyahu supporters chanted “Death to Rabin,” a month before his assassination by a Jewish extremist.
The agreements include committee chairmanships and ministerial positions.
Eisenkot managed to secure the position of Knesset speaker for Yashar, with Elazar Stern, Matan Kahana, and Eisenkot himself in the running.
Eisenkot is expected to meet with Democrats leader Yair Golan to advance negotiations on a coalition agreement, following his meeting with Lieberman.
The Democrats Chairman Yair Golan met this morning (Tuesday, November 3) with Joint List Chairman Yousef Jabareen and Ta’al Chairman Ahmad Tibi, before the meeting of the “change bloc” leaders of the Zionist opposition took place Following its conclusion, Golan met with “Yashar” Chairman Gadi Eisenkot, “Beyachad” Chairman Naftali Bennett, and “Yisrael Beytenu” Chairman Avigdor Lieberman.
(…)
Yesterday, all the newly elected Members of Knesset from the Joint List met for the first time. Additionally, a meeting was held between representatives of the Joint List and representatives of the Islamic Ra’am party, led by Mansour Abbas. A statement released at the conclusion of the meeting read, “Both sides exchanged views on the political developments following the elections and discussed the need to deepen cooperation in order to confront the new challenges and work toward bringing down the fascist right from power.”
The leaders of the Jewish-led opposition alliance met on Tuesday in the city of Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, in their first joint meeting since the October 27 election, which left neither bloc with a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
The agreement comes a day before President Isaac Herzog begins consultations with parties on who should form the next government.
The Democrats party announced on Monday that it would recommend Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot to President Isaac Herzog as its candidate to form the next government, ahead of the president’s consultations with party representatives beginning Wednesday.
The announcement came after the two other party leaders in the bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett (B‘Yachad) and Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu), said they would recommend Eisenkot.
Leader of the Democrats party, Yair Golan, has said that the United Arab List could be part of the governing coalition in Israel, if the opposition bloc manages to oust Netanyahu.
“Mansour Abbas [leader of the United Arab List] could be part of the next coalition. I see no issue with that. After all, Netanyahu himself wanted him in a coalition,” Golan told Israel’s Channel 12.
The party gained four seats in the 120-member Knesset compared with its current representation.
Golan‘s party entered election night projected to secure between eight and ten seats in the 26th Knesset, according to final pre-election polling published ahead of the vote.
(September 27, 2026)
Yair Golan, chair of the left-wing Democrats party, said Sunday that an Arab party could be part of the next government, exposing a fault line among opposition leaders less than a day after they met to coordinate their campaigns and pledged not to attack one another ahead of the October 27 election.
“We believe that an Arab party can be part of the government. It is natural, right, appropriate and democratic,” Golan told the Kan public broadcaster.
Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats in Israel, has condemned Prime Minister Netanyahu following allegations that the premier planned fresh strikes against Iran just weeks before the upcoming Knesset elections.
His remarks came after The Financial Times reported that US President Donald Trump had rejected Netanyahu‘s plan to strike infrastructure and nuclear facilities in Iran, a military campaign that was reportedly set to begin on Oct. 10.
Trump opposes any military escalation ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm congressional elections in the US, fearing negative repercussions for the Republican Party‘s electoral prospects, according to the report.
Golan, also a former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli army, said in a post on US social media platform X: „Netanyahu is a sick and weak leader clinging to power by force, willing to put Israel‘s security at risk to save himself.“
These are the main candidates and their parties.
The meeting brought together Lapid, the leader of Yesh Atid; Gadi Eisenkot, the head of Yashar; Naftali Bennett, the leader of Beyachad; Avigdor Lieberman, the head of Yisrael Beiteinu; and Democrats leader Yair Golan. The meeting focused on coordinating the parties’ election efforts, attracting additional voters to the opposition bloc, and improving its chances of securing a parliamentary majority and forming the next government in place of Netanyahu’s, according to the broadcaster.
When asked if a government could be formed “without the support of MKs Ahmad Tibi or Aida Touma-Sliman” from the Hadash-Ta’al faction, Bennett replied: “We have a large majority even without them.” This statement comes despite a series of recent polls indicating that the Zionist parties opposing Netanyahu are unlikely to secure a majority without the support of Hadash and the Arab parties. (…)
Following the unification, Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the new “Yashar” party, called this morning for a meeting of opposition leaders excluding Hadash and Islamist Ra’am, “in order to ensure victory through Zionist and statesmanlike votes without Arabs.” In his announcement, Eisenkot mentioned the leaders of the “Together” list, Bennett and Lapid, as well as Yisrael Beiteinu chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman and The Democrats leader Yair Golan.
For these three men — Lapid, Golan, and Bennett — no task is supposedly more urgent than replacing Netanyahu’s blood-soaked, Kahanist government, which has led the country to unprecedented depths. They understand how dangerous he is. They know the devastation another term would bring.
Yet the moment the smell of war fills the air, all these insights evaporate, replaced by automatic reverence to the Israeli war machine. It is as if the very idea that a war can be opposed simply does not exist within their cognitive framework.
“Netanyahu wants mouthpieces. He wants media outlets that will applaud him while he evades responsibility, praise him while he sacrifices Israel’s security, and remain silent while he protects advisers and aides who betrayed the state and received money from Qatar, the same Qatar that funded Hamas and the October 7 massacre,” Golan says, referring to the ongoing investigation into senior Netanyahu aides accused of lobbying on behlaf of Qatar during Israel’s war against Hamas while being employed by the premier’s office.
“He knows that a free and independent press poses a real threat to a corrupt government built on cover-ups. That is why he seeks to turn news channels into obedient, hollow mouthpieces that avoid criticizing him and his government,” he says.
(February 5, 2026)
Among other things, he told us that the Democrats already have 60,000 members registered in the party, and are shooting for 100,000 now, which will make us the second-largest political party in Israel in terms of numbers. In addition, he stressed the need to reach out to the Arab citizens of Israel, who make up 22 percent of our population:
There is no future for Israel without Jewish-Arab cooperation in Israeli politics.
This is a critical issue in the political discourse right now, since it is obvious that a new government will not be able to be formed if the so-called “centrist” political parties don’t agree to welcome Arab political parties into the next coalition. So far, only The Democrats have agreed to do so!
(February 2, 2026)
Asked by the media later in the day about his comments, Golan clarified that he was referring to illegal outposts and unauthorized settlement activity.
“The settlement blocs are part of Israel,” he said after leading a faction meeting in the Knesset. “They will be, because there is no other possibility. We will strengthen settlements along the border, but there will be no illegal activity.”
The international community — with the notable exception of the United States under President Donald Trump — considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law.
(February 4, 2026)
We were sitting in his modest office behind a Pizza Hut in a quiet neighborhood in Tel Aviv last September. On the wall was a framed photograph of Rabin shaking the hand of King Hussein of Jordan. I asked Golan whether the rift could be repaired. “We’re like a body that’s been injured. We are going to live with scars. But OK.” He rolled up his shirtsleeves and pointed to a spot where a bullet from the Hezbollah sniper had sliced through his arm. “It’s possible to live with scars,” he said.
(January 28, 2026)
This is a historic event in a volatile political moment. Even before the publication of polls gauging the Joint List’s electoral strength — predicting that it could secure 15-16 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, making it the third largest force in Israeli politics — the popular demand for unity suggests the possibility for unprecedented voter turnout in Arab society.
Israeli news outlets described the renewal of the Joint List as “drama in the political system,” and rightly so. Such a scenario would alter the balance between opposing blocs and force Zionist parties across the spectrum — from Yair Golan’s center-left Democrats to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud — to recalibrate their strategies.
(November 22, 2025)
The protest was organized for the second straight week by the October Council, which is made up of families who lost loved ones in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack and are demanding a state probe.
In attendance was former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who is considered the most credible challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Also at the protest were Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and MKs Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot and Yair Golan, all of whom lead centrist or left-wing parties opposed to Netanyahu.
Yet such promises count for little at a time when Israel’s current government continues to bomb, shell, and starve Palestinians in Gaza, all while taking rapid steps toward formally annexing the West Bank. Nor has the opposition — neither its parliamentary representatives, like the Democrats, or the protest movement in the streets — shown the ability to turn growing discontent over the government’s handling of the war and abandonment of the hostages into a full-throated defense of Palestinians’ humanity.
Until they do, it is hard to imagine just how different the next government, whoever comprises it, will be when it comes to the prospect of peace and equality for all the people in this land.
מפלגת הדמוקרטים בראשות יאיר גולן היא הבית הפוליטי של המחנה הליברלי-דמוקרטי בישראל. המפלגה תאחד את כלל הכוחות והגורמים הדמוקרטיים ותהווה אלטרנטיבה נחושה לממשלה הנוכחית.
“I am joining The Democrats today because it is a party with a backbone and public courage. The party that is leading the most determined struggle against the government and offers a path and real hope for Israel,” Sheffer said in a video announcement.
“Yesterday I heard the prime minister — a corrupt, failed man, who brought upon Israel the worst disaster in its history — declare that he does not accept the High Court of Justice ruling,” he said, referring to the decision that found Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to have been “unlawful” and that barred the premier from involvement in selecting Bar’s successor.