The Joint List, an alliance of Arab-led parties, declared it would recommend opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to President Isaac Herzog for the task of forming a new Israeli government. The announcement came after parliamentary elections held the previous week, in which Arab-led parties secured a record 19 seats out of 120 in the Knesset.
With the Joint List’s 11 lawmakers and the eight-seat Ra’am party both backing Eisenkot, he is positioned to command approximately 67 votes, surpassing the 61-seat majority required to form a government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc holds 53 seats but faces defections, as the ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah faction indicated it would recommend neither Eisenkot nor Netanyahu, citing disagreement over military conscription exemptions for Haredi men.
Netanyahu and his Likud party have contested the election results without providing substantiation, claiming Arab parties engaged in fraudulent activity with foreign assistance. The party highlighted several arrests of political activists suspected of voter bribery and suggested that opposition cooperation with Arab-led parties would endanger Israel. However, Israel’s Central Elections Committee certified the election results after finding no evidence of fraud, and President Herzog acknowledged the legitimacy of the vote while condemning recent racist rhetoric.
Herzog has initiated consultations with party representatives to determine which candidate he will task with government formation, a decision expected within several days. The chosen nominee will then have 28 days, potentially extended by 14 days, to assemble a governing coalition. Should neither Eisenkot nor Netanyahu succeed, Israel would conduct another election early in the following year. Analysts noted that Eisenkot’s success would likely require at least tacit support from Palestinian-Israeli parties, despite his earlier stated reluctance to form a coalition that includes them.
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