Netanyahu lays out four key principles for post-election government

(Oct. 21, 2026 / JNS)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that, after the Oct. 27 Knesset election, he intends to form a new government based on four guiding principles, including firm opposition to a Palestinian state.

“There is not, and there will not be, a Palestinian state,” Netanyahu said in an interview with i24News. “Period.”

“Second principle: Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people,” he continued. “It is not an Israeli-Palestinian state. It is a Jewish state, our nation-state.”

The third principle is a security policy he called “forceful” and “proactive,” and “not waiting for them to attack us.”

The fourth principle is a free economy, he said.

Asked whether he should seek a broader coalition to secure public consensus, Netanyahu said: “Yes, we need it, but there also needs to be clear leadership.”

He said he would first form “a national government, with our existing composition,” and set out the principles from there.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister further stated that his corruption trial must end “immediately” and that law enforcement officials who took part in the proceedings should face a criminal investigation.

The premier told i24News that the charges against him had “collapsed” after they “embittered my life and the life of my dear wife, my sons and all my relatives.”

“Today it turns out it is simply crude political hunting,” he added.

Netanyahu accused former Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, former State Attorney Shai Nitzan and prosecutors Yehudit Tirosh and Liat Ben-Ari of having committed criminal offenses to put him on trial.

“It turned into shards and then into dust,” Netanyahu said of the case.

Turning next to Iran, he relayed that the Islamic Republic and its proxies want to sway next week’s Knesset vote and may launch an attack against Israel before the election.

“We have clear signs that Iran and its proxies want to influence the elections. They want me to lose,” he continued in the Hebrew-language interview.

The prime minister said possible Iranian action could come “in various arenas,” including through the regime’s terror proxies.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir raised the threat level after intelligence was received from the Mossad, Netanyahu said, adding, “We are preparing for it.”

‘They want Israel’s destruction’

He said Tehran’s allies—including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis—openly say they want him gone.

“They don’t want what is good for Israel. They want Israel’s destruction,” he said.

He then went on to say that in light of the accomplishments of the War of Redemption, started by the Hamas-led invasion into the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023, “most countries in the region” had approached Israel seeking closer ties with it—without disclosing their names.

When asked if he was planning to dismantle the Palestinian Authority after the Oct. 27 election, Netanyahu said that Israeli security forces were preparing for the scenario of the P.A. “turning its guns against Israel.”

“I can say this. About a month ago, at my request, the [IDF] chief of staff and commander of Central Command presented a countermeasure against [that scenario] in Judea and Samaria to the defense minister and myself,” he added. “Summarizing the measure briefly, it is forceful and I wouldn’t advise them to mess with us.”

Earlier in October, Defense Minister Israel Katz told ministers at the weekly Cabinet meeting that should the Palestinian Authority security forces and the Fatah-affiliated Tanzim organization “turn their guns” against Israeli civilians and IDF troops in Judea and Samaria, it would trigger a full-scale Israeli offensive.

“In such a case, war would be declared against the Palestinian Authority, and the IDF would launch a comprehensive offensive in accordance with a detailed plan formulated and approved by Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and by me,” Katz said, adding that the campaign “would be short and forceful” and modeled on the Gaza and Lebanon campaigns.

Eisenkot rules out serving under Netanyahu, even in rotation deal

Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot on Wednesday categorically ruled out serving in a government led by Netanyahu, even under a rotating premiership arrangement, pledging to resign within an hour if he broke that commitment.

“I unequivocally pledge that I will not serve under Netanyahu, not even in a rotation arrangement,” the former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff told Radio 103FM. “If that happens, record this: I’ll resign an hour later.”

Yashar’s candidate list includes former Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Yoram Cohen in second place, followed by former minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen and social entrepreneur Adi Altschuler. Former ministers Matan Kahana and Chili Tropper occupy the fifth and sixth spots, respectively.