Gadi Eisenkot charged with building Israel’s next government as coalition arithmetic deepens the crisis
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Former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot received President Isaac Herzog’s mandate to assemble a coalition, but he still needs more partners to reach a majority in a Knesset fractured by the election results.
Former Israel Defense Forces chief Gadi Eisenkot was handed a mandate by President Isaac Herzog to try to assemble a governing coalition after the October 27 elections left the Knesset without a clear majority. Eisenkot’s Yashar-led bloc holds 48 of the 120 seats, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud bloc secured 53 seats. Even so, Netanyahu’s bloc did not win a governing majority, and Eisenkot received recommendations from parties representing 67 seats, including the Joint List and Ra'am, which together hold 19 seats.
Eisenkot has 28 days, until December 6, to present a coalition capable of surviving a confidence vote. President Herzog may grant a further 14-day extension if needed. If he fails, the mandate will pass to another Knesset member, with later deadlines stretching into 2027 and possibly leading to fresh elections.
To reach the required 61 votes, Eisenkot faces two main paths. One option is to rely on the Arab parties that supported his mandate, but Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman has ruled out any coalition that includes the Joint List or Ra'am. The alternative is to seek the support of the right-wing ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, which together control 13 seats and could bring Eisenkot’s bloc to exactly the majority threshold.
Negotiations are tangled by sharp policy differences. Eisenkot has opposed blanket conscription exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men, a position that could collide with the Haredi parties’ demands. At the same time, aligning with the Haredi bloc could drive away the Arab parties that helped secure his mandate in the first place.
"We will take all measures to keep Netanyahu out, including creative and unconventional political steps to form a national emergency government," Eisenkot said, as reported by The Times of Israel.
The coalition-building process will determine whether Eisenkot can form a stable government or whether some unity arrangement with Netanyahu, which Eisenkot has dismissed, becomes unavoidable.