HERZLIYA — Israel's main opposition leaders met on Tuesday, November 3, for the first time together since last week's parliamentary election, and agreed to coordinate their effort to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu behind a single candidate: Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot, The Media Line reported. Eisenkot met former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of B'Yachad, Avigdor Liberman of Yisrael Beitenu, Yair Golan of the Democrats and outgoing Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, as President Isaac Herzog prepared to begin consultations with the parliamentary factions on Wednesday.

Source: The Media Line

The meeting, at the Dan Acadia hotel in Herzliya, lasted about an hour, and the leaders agreed that all participating parties would recommend Eisenkot to receive the first presidential mandate to form a government, Israeli media reported. In a joint statement issued under the name of the Change and Reform parties, the leaders said they would act immediately to replace the current government — which they called the October 7 government — with a national emergency government, and accused Likud and Netanyahu of conducting a dangerous campaign to delegitimise the election results and the Central Elections Committee. On entering the meeting, Lapid said: “We need to go and form a government and remove Netanyahu from the Prime Minister's Office.” Bennett said afterwards that the entire B'Yachad party would fully mobilise to help Eisenkot form a government as soon as possible.

Source: Israel Realtime (Israeli media reports)

53Knesset seats held by Netanyahu's right-wing and religious bloc — 8 short of the 61 needed
48seats held by the four-party opposition bloc backing Eisenkot
19seats won by the Arab parties, a record — the bloc whose recommendations could take Eisenkot to 67
27 vs 21Likud's seats against Eisenkot's Yashar, the two largest parties in the 120-member Knesset

The speaker plan — and the red line that still blocks a coalition

The leaders also agreed to replace Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, a Likud lawmaker, at the first opportunity after the new parliament is sworn in on November 10, and to choose their candidate for the post by Monday, Israeli media reported. Liberman has endorsed Lapid for speaker — a move that could let Netanyahu's opponents control the legislative agenda even before a new government takes office, The Media Line reported. The harder problem is unchanged: Liberman announced on Monday that he would recommend Eisenkot, joining Bennett and Golan, but reiterated his opposition to a coalition dependent on Arab parties. Golan, by contrast, met the leaders of the Joint List, Yousef Jabarin and Ahmad Tibi, on Tuesday in the first meeting between the sides since the election, his party said, according to Europa Press. The Joint List and Ra'am have indicated a willingness to help replace Netanyahu, and their recommendations could give Eisenkot more presidential endorsements than the incumbent — but recommendations are not a coalition, and such support would not guarantee a functioning government.

Source: Europa Press via Democrata

Eisenkot has previously set out conditions for any cooperation with the Arab parties ahead of Herzog's consultations — the arithmetic and red lines behind Tuesday's agreement were already taking shape at the weekend. Read: Eisenkot's conditions and the Arab parties

What Herzog does next

Herzog begins consulting party representatives on Wednesday, starting with smaller factions, and the consultations continue Thursday, with the two main party leaders scheduled to meet him separately on Thursday evening. The Central Elections Committee's official results are due to be handed to Herzog on Wednesday; the committee's chairman, Justice Noam Sohlberg, has said the results will stand. Under Israeli law the president tasks the lawmaker he judges most likely to assemble a government — not necessarily the leader of the largest party — and that candidate normally receives 28 days to negotiate a coalition, with a possible 14-day extension. Other possibilities remain open, including a unity government involving Likud, cooperation with the ultra-Orthodox parties, or another election.

Source: The Media Line

What is solid

  • The opposition leaders met jointly in Herzliya on Tuesday for the first time since the election and agreed all their parties will recommend Eisenkot for the first mandate — The Media Line and Israeli media reports
  • The bloc arithmetic is 53 seats for Netanyahu's bloc, 48 for the opposition bloc and a record 19 for the Arab parties, in a 120-member Knesset where 61 are needed — The Media Line / AAP-reported figures
  • Liberman will recommend Eisenkot but opposes a coalition dependent on Arab parties — The Media Line

What is only claimed

  • Whether the Arab parties' expected recommendations (up to 67 in total) can become an actual governing coalition — Liberman's red line and the difference between recommending and joining remain unresolved
  • Who the bloc will nominate as Knesset speaker — Liberman backs Lapid, but the leaders agreed only to choose their candidate by Monday

What happens next: Wednesday's consultations at the President's Residence are the immediate test — if every opposition and Arab faction recommends Eisenkot as agreed, Herzog will face pressure to hand the first mandate to Netanyahu's challenger rather than to the leader of the largest party. The speaker vote after the November 10 swearing-in will be the bloc's first chance to prove its 67-seat paper majority can actually vote together.