{"id":332887,"date":"2026-11-09T08:20:42","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T08:20:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=332887"},"modified":"2026-11-09T08:40:51","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T08:40:51","slug":"eisenkot-open-to-netanyahu-joining-israels-next-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=332887","title":{"rendered":"Eisenkot open to Netanyahu joining Israel\u2019s next government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Al Jazeera \u2013 Nov 8, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Israel\u2019s opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot<\/a>, the man officially tasked by President Isaac Herzog with trying to form the country\u2019s next government, has said that he was open to including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his coalition lineup.<\/p>\n

In a speech at Sunday\u2019s ceremony in Herzog\u2019s office in Jerusalem, Eisenkot suggested Netanyahu\u2019s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was also welcome to join.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf members of Likud and the Religious Zionist Party truly believe this is a time for unity, as they told the president, I cannot conceive of any reason why they would not support a government under my leadership and the principles I have presented,\u201d Eisenkot said.<\/p>\n

Eisenkot, who ran as Netanyahu\u2019s main rival, has six weeks to form a new government. At the ceremony, Eisenkot said he will act in the interests of the public and represent all parts of Israeli society.<\/p>\n

Herzog, meanwhile, warned that the country faced uncertainties after the November 3 midterm elections in the United States, which brought victories for several political figures critical of Israel <\/a>and the US\u2019s military support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe State of Israel needs a stable government,\u201d Herzog said, pointing to the \u201cnew political reality\u201d in the US.<\/p>\n

Eisenkot led Israel\u2019s military from 2015 to 2019 and sat as an observer in Netanyahu\u2019s war cabinet for the first eight months of Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza, which began in October 2023.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Arab-led parties endorsed Eisenkot<\/a> for the mandate to replace Netanyahu<\/p>\n

In Israel\u2019s October 27 elections<\/a>, Eisenkot\u2019s four-party alliance won 48 seats, while Netanyahu\u2019s right-wing and religious bloc secured 53, leaving both short of the 61 needed for a parliamentary majority. Arab-led parties, representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, won a record 19 seats.<\/p>\n

Eisenkot has ruled out forming a government with the Arab-led parties, which would give him a 67-seat bloc. Winning over the two ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, would give him exactly 61 seats.<\/p>\n

He could also form a government with fewer than 61 seats if he wins a parliamentary confidence vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cNetanyahu still has time to derail Gadi Eisenkot\u2019s efforts to form a government and sabotage attempts to gain a vote of confidence,\u201d said Al Jazeera\u2019s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the meantime, he remains caretaker prime minister. If Eisenkot fails, Netanyahu would be the natural second in line to be tasked with forming a government. And if he fails, elections would then be called, and that would still allow Netanyahu to remain as caretaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of Netanyahu\u2019s critics say that is his aim. The big question in Israeli politics now is: does the opposition really want to get rid of Netanyahu? Or is the opposition to Palestinian Israelis in mainstream politics so strong that they\u2019re willing to risk keeping Netanyahu in power by going back to the ballot box?\u201d<\/p>\n

Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a speech on Sunday, Eisenkot said Netanyahu\u2019s hardline Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich would also be welcome to join the next government<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-332887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feature-posts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=332887"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":332889,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332887\/revisions\/332889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=332887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=332887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=332887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}