Gadi Eisenkot has secured a strategic endorsement from the Joint List of Arab parties to challenge Benjamin Netanyahu for the premiership. This development follows a protracted impasse in the Knesset where no political faction has yet reached the 61-seat threshold required to form a government.
The Joint List's gamble on Gadi Eisenkot
The Joint List, a coalition of Arab-majority parties , has formally declared its support for Gadi Eisenkot in an effort to prevent Benjamin Netanyahu from returning to power. According to the report, this alignment is driven by a deep antipathy toward the Likud leader following the Gaza War. While the endorsement is a significant shift in Israeli political dynamics, the source notes that the support remains "tepid," as the Joint List believes Eisenkot has not been aggressive enough in fighting incitement against Arab citizens.
This move reflects a broader trend of political desperation within the Israeli landscape, where the primary goal for several factions has shifted from ideological alignment to the singular objective of removing Benjamin Netanyahu. By backing a former military chief, the Joint List is attempting to leverage a figure who may possess the institutional credibility to assemble a diverse coalition that could actually govern.
President Herzog's November 11 deadline
President Isaac Herzog is currently managing the formal government formation process and must nominate a candidate by November 11. As reported, the president's decision will be based on which candidate is most likely to succeed in building a coalition, rather than simply who won the most votes. Once nominated, the candidate will have 42 days to secure a 61-seat majority in the Knesset.
If the nominated candidate fails to meet this requirement, President Isaac Herzog may grant other figures an opportunity to try. However, if no stable government is formed, the president is obligated to call for new elections early next year, a scenario that would leave Benjamin Netanyahu serving as the caretaker prime minister.
Mansour Abbas and the 8-seat Ra'am pivot
Gadi Eisenkot has held direct negotiations with Mansour Abbas, the leader of the Ra'am party, which secured eight seats in the October 2026 election. During these talks, Gadi Eisenkot signaled his support for President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza, which advocates for the disarmament of Hamas. Mansour Abbas indicated that this stance could be sufficient to warrant his party's support, though he cautioned that directly confronting Hamas could pose a personal safety risk.
The tension of this alilance was highlighted during a meeting with President Isaac Herzog, where Mansour Abbas refused to explicitly condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization. Benjamin Netanyahu has used this refusal to argue that any government relying on the support of Arab parties is a threat to Israel's national security and is "unthinkable" for a Zionist leader.
Shin Bet's investigation into foreign election funds
The legitimacy of the recent election has been clouded by claims from Benjamin Netanyahu that foreign entities and voting irregularities helped Arab parties "steal" the vote.. This led the Shin Bet intelligence service to investigate the flow of substantial foreign funds into Israel. While Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg described these suspicions as a "widespread phenomenon," he clarified that the actual impact on the election results would likely be limited.
The legal path to overturning the results was effectively closed on Tuesday when Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara rejected a Shin Bet request to interrogate lawmakers.. the Attorney General cited a lack of sufficient evidence to justify such actions, leaving the current political standoff as the only remaining path forward. One lingering question remains: exactly which foreign states the Shin Bet believes were funding these political movements, as the source does not name the specific countries involved.
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