Benjamin Netanyahu is set to lose the premiership after Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced he will task opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot with forming a new government, following consultations in which 67 Knesset deputies recommended Eisenkot and 46 backed the incumbent, mediapool.bg reported. The formal handover will take place Sunday at the president’s residence in Jerusalem.
Herzog’s Decision Follows Deadlocked October 27 Elections
The mandate comes after the October 27 vote for the 26th Knesset produced no majority for either major bloc, with turnout at 77.7%, Sega reported. Netanyahu’s Likud remained the largest party with 27 seats but lost nine, while Eisenkot’s Yashar party, competing for the first time, took 21. Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious bloc holds 53 seats — eight short of the 61 needed to govern — down from 68 in the previous Knesset. Eisenkot’s opposition bloc of Yashar, Together, the Democrats and Israel Beiteinu holds 48, and the Arab parties, which nearly doubled their representation, hold 19.
The decisive 19 Arab deputies recommended Eisenkot to Herzog, though that does not mean they will join his coalition, Dnes Plus reported. Eisenkot’s key ally, Israel Beiteinu leader Avigdor Liberman, rejects any cabinet that relies on Arab parties from outside, and Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas supports disarming Hamas and removing it from power in Gaza but has stopped short of labeling it a terrorist organization.
Yashar Urges Netanyahu’s Allies to Break With “Extremists”
Hours before Herzog’s announcement, Eisenkot’s Yashar party called on Likud and its allies to join a broad government under Eisenkot — but only after publicly dissolving their alliance with extremist parties. “If Likud and its allies suddenly show interest in unity and a broad government, they are more than welcome to publicly announce the dissolution of their alliance with the extremists and their willingness to join a government led by Prime Minister Eisenkot,” the party wrote on X, according to mediapool.bg and nova.bg.
Netanyahu, in a video address, called for a national unity government and warned that a coalition between the opposition and the Arab lists would lead to the country’s breakup, mediapool.bg reported.
Eisenkot Has 28 Days, Extendable to Mid-December, to Reach 61 Seats
Under Israel’s Basic Law, Eisenkot has 28 days to form a government, with the president able to grant a 14-day extension — putting the final deadline in mid-December if the full period is used, Sega reported. The arithmetic is tight. A cabinet of Yashar, Together, the Democrats, Israel Beiteinu plus the two ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism would reach exactly 61 seats, but that requires a secular-religious alliance that has never crossed Netanyahu’s bloc, and Shas currently backs Netanyahu. Liberman has signaled readiness to talk to the ultra-Orthodox parties despite their long-running dispute over exempting religious students from military service, Dnes Plus reported. Another discussed option is Likud joining without Netanyahu, since Yashar has ruled out a cabinet with the current prime minister.
From Army Chief to Prime Ministerial Candidate
Eisenkot, 65, led the Israeli army’s General Staff from 2015 to 2019 during one of Netanyahu’s previous terms and commanded the Golani Brigade and Northern Command before that. He lost one of his sons in the Gaza war and founded Yashar in September 2025, building an image as a political outsider and security hardliner. In the campaign, he said the politicians in power on October 7, 2023, should not lead the country, and pledged to seek a change of Hamas’s administration in Gaza within 18 months of taking office, whether through a U.S.-mediated plan or military force, Dnes Plus reported. His modest background and his family’s sacrifice stand in sharp contrast to Netanyahu’s decades in power, marked by corruption cases and investigations, mediapool.bg reported, citing AFP.
If No Coalition Forms, Israel Faces Another Candidate or New Elections
If Eisenkot fails within the allotted time, Herzog can task another deputy, who would get 28 days with no extension. If that fails too, a 21-day window opens in which at least 61 deputies can jointly ask the president to mandate a specific lawmaker, who would then have 14 days. If all attempts fail, the Knesset is dissolved and new elections are called, bTV News reported. Until a new government wins a confidence vote, Netanyahu remains at the head of a caretaker cabinet.
Questions About Eisenkot’s Mandate
Deputies from blocs totaling 67 seats backed him in consultations with Herzog, versus 46 for Netanyahu; the decisive support came from two Arab parties holding 19 seats combined, Dnes Plus reported.
Netanyahu would leave office after his bloc fell from 68 seats in the previous Knesset to 53, ending his current run at the premiership, though he remains caretaker until a new government is sworn in, bTV News reported.
The shift marks the sharpest change in Israeli politics since the October 27 vote: the bloc that held a commanding 68-seat majority a single term ago now sits eight seats short, while a party founded just two months earlier holds the mandate to replace it.