Overview
- Opposition party leaders met on Tuesday and agreed to recommend Gadi Eisenkot to President Isaac Herzog as the candidate to try to form a new government.
- The Oct. 27 election produced a deadlock with Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc holding 53 Knesset seats and Eisenkot’s bloc 48, leaving neither side with the 61-seat majority needed to govern.
- Eisenkot has set four non-negotiable conditions for formal partners: recognition of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, acceptance of the Declaration of Independence’s values, support for mandatory military or civilian service, and a public denunciation of Hamas as a terrorist organization.
- The Joint List and Ra’am won a combined 19 seats that could hand an anti-Netanyahu majority of about 67 seats if they back Eisenkot; the Joint List prefers outside support while Ra’am is more open to joining under terms.
- Netanyahu and his allies have alleged vote theft and foreign influence but the Central Elections Committee and police report no evidence of systemic fraud, and a surge in delegitimising rhetoric toward Palestinian citizens is intensifying social tensions and complicating coalition talks.