JERUSALEM (Azat TV) – Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced on Saturday night, November 7, 2026, that he has designated opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot to form a new governing coalition following the country’s October 27, 2026, parliamentary elections. CBS News reported that the decision deals a major political setback to long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose religious-nationalist bloc fell short of a parliamentary majority.
Neither Eisenkot’s centrist Yashar party nor Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party secured an outright majority in the 120-seat Knesset. However, during marathon consultations with President Herzog, representatives from most of Israel’s main parties recommended Eisenkot for the mandate. Eisenkot now has 28 days to assemble a governing coalition, with a possible 14-day extension providing up to six weeks of complex political maneuvering. Netanyahu remains in office as caretaker prime minister while coalition negotiations unfold.
Coalition Arithmetic and the Role of Arab-Led Parties
The October 27 election left the Knesset deeply deadlocked. Netanyahu’s Likud party won 27 seats, six more than Eisenkot’s Yashar party, but Netanyahu’s broader religious-nationalist bloc captured only 53 seats—short of the 61-seat threshold required for a governing majority. Meanwhile, the four parties comprising the main opposition bloc opposing Netanyahu won 48 seats.
Crucially, Israel’s Arab-majority parties achieved a historic voter turnout, securing an unprecedented 19 seats and placing them in a potential kingmaker role. While most Jewish-led opposition parties vowed before the election not to rely on Arab factions, the heads of the two largest Arab parties indicated willingness to support Eisenkot’s bloc to oust Netanyahu.
Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff who served as top military commander from 2015 to 2019 and later joined Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet before resigning over strategy disagreements regarding Gaza, indicated a willingness to partner with Arab-led parties provided they meet specific conditions. These include agreeing to categorize Hamas as a terrorist organization that must be dismantled. Eisenkot wrote on X following the announcement, “Now is the time to form a national emergency government. I will do everything to ensure we are worthy.”
The process of coalition building promises to be a strenuous task involving unusual political alignments, spanning from ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties to Arab-led factions representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, who comprise approximately 20% of the country’s population. Eisenkot’s personal background, including the loss of his son Gal—a reservist killed in Gaza—during the war, has heavily influenced his public-facing platform, which centers on anti-corruption, government reform, and challenging military service exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox population.
Netanyahu’s Counter-Push and Election Integrity Claims
The presidential designation came shortly after Netanyahu released a video warning against “hastily swearing in a government with terrorist supporters,” referring to the Arab-led parties backing Eisenkot. Netanyahu’s Likud and its allies have repeatedly portrayed these factions as a national security threat and alleged foreign interference and voting irregularities in the election.
However, these fraud allegations have been formally disputed. The acting director-general of the Central Elections Committee, Din Livne, stated in a letter on Thursday, November 5, 2026, that “there is no basis to the claims regarding a systematic compromise of the integrity of the elections.” Additionally, while Likud petitioned the elections committee to investigate, the committee referred unspecified foreign interference allegations to the Shin Bet intelligence service, prompting sharp denials from regional actors such as Qatar regarding funding intended to influence the outcome.
Eisenkot’s Yashar party sharply criticized Netanyahu’s statements in a social media post, urging Likud members to sever ties with radical settler-linked and ultra-Orthodox coalition partners. Once the new Knesset is sworn in, Eisenkot’s bloc and the Arab parties together will control a functional parliamentary majority, enabling them to pass legislation even before a permanent cabinet is finalized. If coalition negotiations fail, Israel faces the prospect of holding a new general election, with Netanyahu maintaining caretaker authority in the interim.