Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

i24 News – Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman will call on fellow lawmakers Yair Lapid, Gideon Sa’ar, and Naftali Bennett to join forces and run together on Wednesday, Israeli media reported.

According to Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, Lieberman will begin campaigning Wednesday for a potential bloc that would include Lapid’s Yesh Atid, Sa’ar’s New Hope, and Bennett’s Yamina parties.

News outlet Ynet said Lieberman addressed the three in an open letter, calling on them to challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and ultra-Orthodox parties who are currently allied.

The move comes after Sa’ar came second to Netanyahu in recent polls with 21 seats in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. Likud Knesset member Yifat Shasha-Biton became the first member of her party to defect to Sa’ar’s New Hope after he announced he was leaving the Likud last week.

According to the deal made between Shasha-Biton and Sa’ar, she will be second on the party list. Ynet reported that less than an hour after she tweeted a picture of her and Sa’ar together, the Likud’s Knesset Speaker Miki Zohar removed her from the party’s WhatsApp group.