Jerusalem (AFP) – The Israeli opposition bloc meets on Tuesday to try to form a majority at the end of the legislative elections under the leadership of centrist Gadi Eisenkot, the outgoing Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part calling for a broad coalition of which he claimed to take the lead.

Published on: 03/11/2026 - 02:41

"The leaders of the bloc for change (...) will meet in Herzliya (north-west, editor's note) to discuss and coordinate the next steps," Mr. Eisenkot's Yashar party said in a statement on Monday.

This is their first meeting since the October 27 vote which produced no majority, neither for Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition (53 seats), nor for the camp led by Gadi Eisenkot (48 seats).

The main question concerns the role that the opposition bloc could give to the Arab lists, Raam and the Joint List, which obtained a record number of 19 seats out of the 120 in Parliament.

All components of the bloc affirmed that they would propose Gadi Eisenkot as future Prime Minister to President Isaac Herzog, who will begin his consultations on Wednesday with a view to forming a government. The Arab parties have also suggested this.

Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, called for the formation, under his leadership, of a broad government coalition excluding the Arab parties, which he continued to target during his campaign, and after the election, presenting them as a threat to the survival of Israel.

Their leaders, for their part, describe his government as “racist”.

- “Open to dialogue” -

“We seek to establish an expanded government with our partners and with any party that wishes to join us and does not support terrorism. I am open to a dialogue on this,” he said on the Telegram channel of his Likud party.

“The public in Israel does not want a government that depends on Raam and the Joint List,” he added, accusing these groups of “supporting terrorism and denying the existence of the Jewish state.”

Their leaders condemned the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, without however formally qualifying the Palestinian Islamist movement as terrorist.

As for the definition of Israel as a Jewish state, it was recognized by the leader of Raam but is rejected by other Arab party leaders.

Within the opposition bloc, the left-wing leader, Yaïr Golan, is in favor of an alliance with these parties, but the right-wing leader Avigdor Liberman is radically opposed to it.

- Herzog consults the parties -

Yashar seemed to rule it out but without clearly excluding it, and the position of the Ensemble party (center right) is vague.

President Isaac Herzog announced that he would receive the parties between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday evening, starting with those with the fewest seats.

According to the practice in Israel, he must entrust the task of forming a government to the most recommended personality, taking into account the weight of the different parties, which places Mr. Eisenkot in the position of favorite.

In the Netanyahu camp, his far-right allies Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir should propose the name of the outgoing Prime Minister, barring a huge surprise, just like Shass (ultra-Orthodox) according to press information. The position of the other ultra-Orthodox party is unclear.

The president in principle has until November 11 to make his choice. The nominated candidate then has 28 days (extendable by 14 days) to form a coalition capable of receiving confidence in Parliament.

In the event of failure, the president can entrust this mandate to another candidate, again for 28 days, then, if deadlocked, give the mandate to Parliament so that it can try to bring together 61 deputies.

If this last-ditch solution fails, the Knesset is dissolved and a new election organized within 90 days.

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.