Ya Libnan, Akhbarona and AFP’s Gulf News copy call Eisenkot successor; Jerusalem Post, Algemeiner say 61 seats still missing

Full analysis

What happened Why it matters How each country tells it Room for disagreement Our assessment Sources and evidence

What happened

On Saturday, November 7, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog announced through his spokesperson that he would task opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot with forming the next government, with the formal designation set for Sunday at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, Ya Libnan and the Moroccan site Akhbarona reported. The announcement followed Thursday’s consultations, in which factions representing 67 of the Knesset’s 120 members recommended Eisenkot for prime minister, against 46 for incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu — a tally carried by The Jerusalem Post, Akhbarona and The Algemeiner.

Eisenkot, 66, leads a four-party bloc — his Yashar party, Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad, the Democrats and Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beytenu — that holds 48 seats. Netanyahu’s camp holds 53. Neither reaches the 61 needed to govern. The remaining seven belong to United Torah Judaism, one of the two ultra-Orthodox parties, which abstained and told Herzog its support would go to whichever bloc conceded on Haredi military conscription, The Jerusalem Post reported. The 19 seats of the two Arab-led parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, endorsed Eisenkot.

On Saturday, Eisenkot said he intends to form a "national emergency government" built around his 48-member bloc and invited any party or lawmaker accepting four principles — recognizing Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, upholding the Declaration of Independence, mandatory military or civilian service and recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization — to join. He warned of "a dangerous political tsunami" and wrote that the current government "poses a fundamental threat to the very existence of Israeli democracy," The Algemeiner quoted. Netanyahu has kept pushing for a broad national government headed by him, and on Saturday called for a unity government under his leadership.

The mandate is only the first step. Eisenkot has 28 days, plus a possible 14-day extension, to assemble a majority, and The Jerusalem Post works through three routes, each blocked. The first is cooperation with the ultra-Orthodox: United Torah Judaism’s seven seats could shift, giving Eisenkot a plurality if the Arab parties abstain. On Friday Lieberman — for years the fiercest opponent of the Haredi parties — posted that "the Netanyahu era must come to an end" and that politicians must "show flexibility and make compromises," being "prepared for painful compromises" on conscription. But Lieberman also ruled out any minority government, which raises the bar to a full 61 and would require both Haredi parties, not just United Torah Judaism. The second, Shas, endorsed Netanyahu and shows no sign of abandoning him, and the reversal breaches campaign promises: Dan Illouz, an elected lawmaker from Lieberman’s own party, wrote Friday that "we cannot give up on a conscription law."

The second route is reliance on the Arab parties, whose 19 seats could supply the margin. Lieberman again is the obstacle: "We must not establish a government that relies on the abstention of the Joint List and Ra’am," he wrote. Without him, it would require active backing from both Arab parties rather than just the more moderate Ra’am, and some change-bloc lawmakers have said they would struggle to sit with the harder-line Joint List. Eisenkot himself said in a September interview that the Arab parties, including Ra’am, did not meet his conditions, which included recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization — a formulation Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas has not used, The Algemeiner noted.

The third route, a unity government, is closed: all four change-bloc leaders have ruled out serving under Netanyahu, and Netanyahu would prefer another election to giving up office, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Eisenkot would be Israel’s first prime minister of Mizrahi, Sephardic background and its first of Moroccan descent, his father having come from Marrakesh and his mother from Casablanca, Akhbarona and the AFP copy in Gulf News report. A former IDF chief of staff from 2015 to 2019 who entered politics only in 2022, he served briefly in Netanyahu’s wartime cabinet after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack before returning to the opposition; his son Gal and two nephews were killed fighting in Gaza. He opposes a Palestinian state but has vowed to crack down on settler violence he calls "Jewish terror," to end Hamas’s rule in Gaza within 18 months either through President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan or "creative operations," to impose universal national service, to protect judicial independence and minority rights, and to reject West Bank annexation.

If Eisenkot fails, the president can appoint another candidate for a further 28 days; if that fails, lawmakers have 21 days to nominate a candidate backed by at least 61 members, who then has 14 days; if all attempts fail, another election must be held within about 90 days, The Algemeiner spells out. Ya Libnan puts the overall deadline at around 100 days. Netanyahu remains prime minister until and unless another leader forms a coalition of at least 61, and many analysts argue he would likely perform better in a fresh election. The new Knesset is sworn in on November 10, when lawmakers are expected to elect a new speaker to replace Amir Ohana.

Why it matters

This is the closest Netanyahu has been to losing power since 2021, Ya Libnan writes, but it is not power itself. What turns on the 28 days is whether Israel’s longest-serving premier stays in office, whether the country’s wars in Gaza and on the northern border with Lebanon and Hezbollah get a different commander, and whether the next coalition includes ultra-Orthodox or Arab parties, a break that would rewrite the promises every change-bloc leader made to voters. If Eisenkot fails, the statutory ladder points to another election, probably in the spring, in which The Algemeiner reports many analysts say Netanyahu would likely do better — and he would have governed through the interim.

The stakes look different from each newsroom that reported this. Ya Libnan, a Lebanese outlet adjacent to Israel’s wars, calls Herzog’s move "a major setback" and treats Eisenkot chiefly as the next leader relevant to the Hezbollah front. The Moroccan site Akhbarona frames the tasking as succession — Eisenkot’s father from Marrakesh, his mother from Casablanca, the first Moroccan-descended prime minister — a social watershed for a Maghreb readership. Gulf News, the Emirati outlet carrying AFP’s reporting, profiles the would-be prime minister for readers who own the normalization file: what his ascent would mean for US ties, settlements, Gaza and the Palestinian question, and the Dahiya doctrine he devised as military chief. The Jerusalem Post, the Israeli daily writing for people who will live with the outcome, spends its copy on the coalition arithmetic and concludes "securing the mandate may have been the easy part — forming a government could prove much harder." The Algemeiner, a New York-based Jewish-American outlet, lays out the full statutory timetable through a fresh election for a diaspora audience tracking whether Netanyahu survives.

How each country tells it

• 🇮🇱
  The Jerusalem Post · Israel · original reporting

  Reads Herzog’s imminent choice as the near-completion of a Netanyahu ouster and spends its copy on the coalition arithmetic that could still fail.
• 🇱🇧
  Ya Libnan · Lebanon · original reporting

  Leads with Herzog’s move as a blow to Netanyahu and frames Eisenkot chiefly as the next leader relevant to Israel’s northern border.
• 🇦🇪
  Gulf News · United Arab Emirates · wire copy

  An Abraham Accords partner’s profile of Eisenkot and what his ascent would mean for US ties and Israel’s regional posture.
• 🇲🇦
  Akhbarona · Morocco · original reporting

  Personalizes the tasking through Eisenkot’s pure Moroccan parentage and frames it as succession to Netanyahu.
• 🇺🇸
  The Algemeiner · United States · original reporting

  Centers procedural arithmetic: Sunday’s expected designation, the 67-46 tally, and Lieberman’s compromises.

Room for disagreement

The strongest case that Eisenkot succeeds runs like this: the 67 endorsements are the strongest for any candidate since 2015, The Algemeiner notes. The four-party change bloc is united on its goal, with every leader ruling out a unity government under Netanyahu. Lieberman — for years the most anti-Haredi politician in Israel — has publicly reversed course, declaring "the Netanyahu era must come to an end" and accepting "painful compromises" on conscription, The Jerusalem Post and The Algemeiner both report. United Torah Judaism’s abstention, and its stated willingness to back whichever bloc concedes on Haredi conscription, is a concrete crack in Netanyahu’s alliance. Eisenkot is pressing to avoid another election, warning that failure means Netanyahu "entrenching himself further," and Lieberman warns a failed minority government would end with "Netanyahu back with 70 seats." If the Haredi parties calculate that a change-bloc government offers them more on conscription than another Netanyahu term, the 13 missing seats could close.