Israel: Herzog Tasks Eisenkot With Forming the Government

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has chosen Gadi Eisenkot, a former chief of staff and leader of the Yashar party, to try to form the new government. The decision was announced on Saturday, November 7, after the October 27 elections left the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, without a clear majority.¹²³ Eisenkot is the main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose religious-nationalist coalition has lost its majority while remaining the largest bloc.¹³

How the mandate works

The president has a largely ceremonial role: after the vote, he assigns a candidate the task of forming the coalition. In Herzog’s case, the choice came at the end of consultations with the parties, during which he also met Eisenkot and Netanyahu.²³ Herzog’s office said that the factions with 67 lawmakers recommended Eisenkot, those with 46 named Netanyahu, while seven lawmakers recommended no one. The official ceremony conferring the mandate is scheduled for Sunday at the presidential residence in Jerusalem.⁴³ Eisenkot has 28 days to succeed, with a possible extension of 14 days. If he fails, another candidate can try, and if that also fails, parliament can designate someone else. The whole process has a limit of about 100 days, after which the country returns to the polls.¹³

What are the numbers in the Knesset?

The Knesset has 120 seats and the majority is set at 61. Netanyahu’s Likud is the largest party with 27 seats, but his coalition has 53 in all. Yashar is the second-largest party with 21 seats, and Eisenkot’s bloc, made up of four Jewish-led parties ranging from center-left to right, stops at 48.³ The two parties representing the Arab minority won 19 seats, a result described as unprecedented. Only once in Israel’s history has an Arab party been part of a governing coalition.³⁵

What routes does Eisenkot have to reach 61?

Eisenkot has ruled out allying with the Arab parties, whose support would give him a majority. Arab leaders nonetheless recommended him to the president, and this gave him the highest number of recommendations. Netanyahu has also said he will not govern with these parties.¹³ Three routes have been described: a minority government with outside support from the Arab parties, a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox parties that he and his allies had so far avoided, or a unity government with Netanyahu. Analysts cited by Reuters consider none of the three likely. Eisenkot’s bloc has nevertheless opened to the possibility of an alliance with the ultra-Orthodox.¹²³ Netanyahu has launched a campaign against an understanding between Eisenkot and the Arab parties, going so far as to claim, without evidence, that those parties would have “stolen” the elections. Shortly before the announcement he called for a “national unity government”.⁵ Eisenkot wrote on X: “It is time to form a national emergency government. I will do everything possible to be up to the task.” He is 66 and, if he became prime minister, would be the first from the Mizrahi community, Jews with roots in the Middle East and North Africa.¹³

What changes

The 67 lawmakers who recommended Eisenkot indicate who received the most endorsements, not a majority willing to support a government led by him: his bloc has 48 seats, and the Arab support, decisive for the count of recommendations, is the very support he says he does not want to accept.¹³ If the 28 days and any extension passed without an agreement, the choice would return to another candidate and then to parliament, with early elections as the final outcome after about 100 days.³

How long does Eisenkot have to form a government?

He has 28 days, with a possible extension of 14, for a total of six weeks.³⁵

This article was written by artificial intelligence from the sources cited, without human review. Automatic newsroom by Redazia.

Sources

Footnotes

1. Israeli president picks Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu rival, to try to form government, The Straits Times · World, 2026-11-07 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Israel’s president taps Eisenkot to form government, in setback for Netanyahu, South China Morning Post · World, 2026-11-07 ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Israeli president picks Netanyahu’s rival Gadi Eisenkot to try to form government, Dawn, 2026-11-07 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

4. Israel’s president picks Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot to form government, The Guardian · World, 2026-11-07 ↩

5. Revés para Netanyahu: Presidente de Israel encarga al opositor Gadi Eisenkot formar coalición de gobierno, El Financiero, 2026-11-08 ↩ ↩² ↩³