Israel President taps Eisenkot to form coalition, but path remains fraught

JERUSALEM, Israel 

Israel President, Isaac Herzog, announced Saturday evening that he would task Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot with forming Israel’s next government, as the so-called change bloc Eisenkot leads continued to attempt to line up potential future coalition partners, including ultra-Orthodox parties, Arab-led parties, and even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud. 

This handout photo released on November 7, 2026, shows President Isaac Herzog (R) meeting Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot at his official residence in Jerusalem. 

Eisenkot will formally receive the mandate at a ceremony at the President’s Residence on Sunday at 5 p.m. He will then have 28 days to form a government, with Herzog authorized to grant him an extension of up to 14 days if necessary. 

If he fails, Netanyahu could next be given the chance to do so.

Herzog said he had informed Eisenkot and Netanyahu of his decision earlier in the evening, after holding consultations Wednesday and Thursday with all the Knesset parties and further talks over the weekend with figures across the political spectrum, including the two rivals.

During Herzog’s consultations with party delegations, Eisenkot received 67 recommendations for the premiership — a majority in the 120-member parliament — while Netanyahu got 46. 

The seven-seat-strong United Torah Judaism made no recommendation.

Reacting to Herzog’s announcement, Eisenkot said in a post on X that “now is the time for the formation of a national emergency government,” adding: “I will do everything to make us worthy.”

However, Eisenkot’s path to a governing coalition is far from straightforward. Hawkish members of his bloc are publicly opposed to any reliance on the Arab-led Ra’am and Joint List, while many bloc members campaigned on the need to send both Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties to the opposition.

While Yashar said on Saturday night that “Likud and its friends” could potentially join an Eisenkot-led coalition, it did not extend that offer to Netanyahu. 

Eisenkot himself has repeatedly stressed he will not partner with Netanyahu in any coalition, and that anybody who held a major position of power when Hamas invaded on October 7, 2023, must leave public life.