Herzog Taps Eisenkot to Form Government in Setback for Netanyahu

Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced on Saturday night that he is giving opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot the first opportunity to form a governing coalition following the Oct. 27, 2026 election. The decision is a setback for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Herzog will formally give Eisenkot the mandate at 5 p.m. local time on Sunday at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, according to Herzog's office. A spokesperson for the president said: "President Herzog has invited Gadi Eisenkot to the President's Residence, where he will be tasked with forming the government tomorrow."

The numbers behind the decision

Neither Eisenkot nor Netanyahu won a clear majority in the Oct. 27 election. Netanyahu's Likud party won 27 seats, six more than Eisenkot's Yashar party, in the 120-seat Knesset. A coalition needs 61 seats for a parliamentary majority.

In the consultations that followed the vote, Eisenkot secured the support of 67 members of the incoming Knesset, including 19 from the two Arab parties. Netanyahu received 46 recommendations. Eisenkot will have 28 days to put together a coalition government, with a possible 14-day extension. Netanyahu remains caretaker prime minister in the meantime. If Eisenkot fails, the mandate passes to Netanyahu for another four weeks, CNN reported. If those efforts also fail, Israel could face another election.

Who Eisenkot is

Eisenkot, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, was the country's top military commander from 2015 to 2019. He leads the centrist Yashar party, which he founded on an anti-corruption and government reform platform.

Eisenkot joined Netanyahu's emergency war cabinet following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. He left the following year, accusing Netanyahu of failing to make progress toward ending the Gaza war and securing the release of hostages. Eisenkot lost his son, Gal, a reservist killed in Gaza, as well as two nephews during the war. Writing on X on Friday, he said: "A situation in which a caretaker prime minister in the minority, who has lost the trust of the people in such an extreme way, continues to operate the security system and law enforcement authorities, is a dangerous situation that must not continue even for one more day."

A hard coalition to build

Eisenkot wants a national emergency government. The four Jewish opposition parties together hold 48 seats: Yashar; Together, led by former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid; Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beiteinu; and the Democrats, led by Yair Golan.

Eisenkot has set four conditions for joining his government: recognizing Israel as a Jewish, democratic, liberal and egalitarian state; commitment to the values of the Declaration of Independence; universal service, whether military, national or civilian; and recognition of Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Avigdor Liberman has ruled out any government dependent on the Arab parties. Liberman instead proposed forming a coalition of 61 lawmakers with the two ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, and without the Joint List and Ra'am. United Torah Judaism, a traditional Netanyahu ally, declined to recommend Netanyahu during the consultations with the president, which CNN described as a notable crack in his once-loyal bloc.

In a video statement on Saturday, Netanyahu warned that if a minority government is formed with the Arab parties' support, Israel will not survive. He called instead for a national unity government with his entire bloc. The Yashar party answered in a statement: "If the Likud wants a broad unity government, it is more than welcome to announce the dissolution of the alliance with the extremists and enter a government under Prime Minister Eisenkot."

Eisenkot's first test comes on Tuesday, Nov. 10, with the swearing in of the new Knesset, when the opposition intends to replace Netanyahu's Knesset speaker.