Gadi Eisenkot has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister, winning the backing of 67 of the Knesset’s 120 lawmakers after two days of consultations with President Isaac Herzog.
Herzog confirmed the figures on Thursday evening, at the end of talks with every faction elected in the 27 October ballot. Eisenkot, a former military chief who leads the Yashar party, was endorsed by 48 lawmakers from four Jewish-led parties, with a further 19 from two Arab-led parties. Netanyahu, by contrast, was backed by 46 lawmakers.
The arithmetic looks decisive, but Herzog cautioned that it does not settle the question. “The results of the consultations may appear clear, but the authority vested in me by law is to determine who has the ability to form a government, and that is not entirely clear, given the mutual vetoes between the blocs and within the blocs themselves,” he said in televised remarks.
Herzog said he would hold personal talks with some party leaders over the Israeli weekend, which runs Friday to Saturday, and announce his choice on Sunday. Whoever receives the mandate will have 28 days to try to forge a coalition, with a possible 14-day extension.
The October election ended in deadlock, with neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot securing a clear path to a majority. Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats, the largest single grouping, but fell short of the 61 needed to govern. Eisenkot’s support crossed that threshold only with the backing of the Joint List and Ra’am, the two Arab-led parties — even though both he and Netanyahu have ruled out forming a government with them.
The Joint List, which added 11 endorsements on Thursday, said its decision reflected public demands to prevent Netanyahu’s return to power. Its endorsement does not amount to an agreement to join an Eisenkot-led coalition, and several of the parties backing his candidacy are unwilling to sit in government together.
Netanyahu remains prime minister in a caretaker government until a new coalition is formed. The coming days will test whether the broad, unwieldy alliance behind Eisenkot can be turned into a working majority — or whether Israel faces yet another round of political stalemate.
Sources: Reuters (via SRN News), https://srnnews.com/netanyahus-position-weakens-as-rival-secures-broad-backing-to-try-to-form-government/ ; The Media Line, https://themedialine.org/headlines/eisenkot-secures-majority-of-endorsements-as-israeli-president-weighs-next-government/ ; Le Monde, https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/11/06/israel-s-former-chief-of-staff-eisenkot-in-strong-position-to-replace-netanyahu-as-new-pm_6773098_4.html
