Eisenkot Wins Backing of 67 Knesset Members as Herzog Sets Sunday Mandate Decision

Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot won the backing of a Knesset majority to be prime minister on Thursday after President Isaac Herzog consulted with party factions. Herzog said parties representing 67 lawmakers recommended Eisenkot, while 46 backed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He called the result "clear" but said he would hold further talks before assigning the mandate to form a government on Sunday.

Yashar urged Herzog to hand Eisenkot the mandate "as soon as possible," noting the 67 recommendations are the most for any candidate since 2015. His path to a coalition remains unclear. Netanyahu and his allies lost their majority in last week's election, and the anti-Netanyahu parties are split between a 48-member Jewish-led bloc and a 19-member Arab-led bloc. Netanyahu leads a 46-member bloc after the seven-seat United Torah Judaism party refused to recommend its longtime ally, apparently opening a path to back Eisenkot in a future coalition.

Channel 12 reported that Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman has lifted his longtime refusal to sit with Haredi parties and is open to partnering with UTJ, seeing ousting Netanyahu as the priority and preferring Haredi factions to Arab-led ones. The report said such a government would include a rotation between Liberman and Eisenkot and talks on a Haredi military draft agreement.

The incoming Knesset, sworn in on November 10, could also elect a new speaker, a post with major sway over the legislative agenda. Ra'am formally joined Yashar, the Joint List, Yisrael Beytenu and the Democrats in calling for an early vote. Speaker Amir Ohana said he will schedule a debate on his replacement if at least 61 lawmakers formally request one.

In his consultation, Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas condemned terrorism and called for Hamas to be disarmed and removed from power, but stopped short of explicitly calling it a terrorist organization, a condition Eisenkot set for would-be partners. Recalling the 2021 coalition he formed with Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, Abbas said "its worst day was infinitely better than the fully right-wing government." Pressed on joining a government that fights terrorism without limits, he said: "To claim that our presence in a government would prevent a cabinet or government from defending Israeli citizens is not right."

Abbas questioned why his party faces repeated "loyalty tests," noting no Ra'am lawmaker has been charged with terrorism offenses while Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir was convicted in 2007 of incitement to racism and support for a Jewish terrorist organization. Ra'am No. 2 Yoav Segalovitz, the party's first Jewish candidate, called the discourse "toxic, and the one who is leading it is Netanyahu," saying the real terror supporter is Ben Gvir, "who sits in his government and was convicted."

Joint List chair Yousef Jabareen said recommending Eisenkot reflects Arab voters' demand for change, citing racism, discrimination, crime and exclusion, while acknowledging "disagreements with Eisenkot on many issues." "We are not choosing between good and better, but between what we see as bad and even worse," he said. MK Ahmad Tibi said the party would support a minority government from outside, unwilling to "give it a safety net only to bring it down" months later, and stressed that with 11 seats, "no parliamentary or political move in the Knesset can happen without the Joint List."

B'Yachad MK Merav Cohen called Eisenkot "an extraordinary person" who "can form a government in Israel," but dismissed a unity rotation with Likud, recalling a past unity government whose "agreements were broken, one after another": "I learned not to do business with scorpions." Yashar's Yoram Cohen, a former Shin Bet chief, said "it would be wrong to ignore the people's desire for change and go to another round of elections." Likud ministers Yoav Kisch and Miri Regev urged a "broad national government," with Regev branding Eisenkot's bloc a "disaster bloc." Herzog shot back: "If you want to extend a hand, you can't call it a 'disaster bloc.'"