Herzog Picks Eisenkot: Same State, New Man to Run It

Sixty-seven members of the Knesset picked a general. That's the headline. On Saturday, November 7, 2026, President Isaac Herzog announced he'd task Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot with forming Israel's next government, after 67 MKs recommended him against 46 who backed Benjamin Netanyahu and seven who abstained. Herzog's spokesperson put it plainly: "President Herzog has invited Gadi Eisenkot to the President's Residence, where he will be tasked with forming the government tomorrow." Ceremony Sunday, Jerusalem, 5 p.m. Invitations went out. Nobody asked the people being governed.

The Man With the Résumé

Eisenkot is 66, a former military chief and the son of Moroccan immigrants. He entered politics in 2022 and briefly sat in Netanyahu's wartime cabinet after the October 7, 2023 attack. A son and two nephews were killed fighting in Gaza. If he succeeds, he'd be the first prime minister from Israel's Mizrahi community. Fine. The apparatus he'd inherit doesn't change with the biography of whoever sits on top of it. His four conditions for partners, published Friday, tell you what the new management intends to keep: recognition of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, mandatory military, national, or civilian service, and a commitment to dismantling Hamas's military and governing capabilities. Conscription for all, in a country whose army administers an occupation. That's the "change."

The Arithmetic of Power

The October 27 election, held 12 days ago, produced a standoff. Likud won 27 seats in the 120-seat Knesset; Netanyahu's wider bloc got 53, short of 61. Eisenkot's Yashar took 21, and his four-party coalition won 48. Two parties representing Israel's Arab minority won an unprecedented 19 seats, and all 19 of those MKs are among the 67 who recommended Eisenkot. They're the margin that made the president's choice possible. They're also the votes Avigdor Liberman rules out relying on, including through abstention by Ra'am or the Joint List. Liberman has given Eisenkot full backing while refusing a government that depends on them. Nineteen mandates, counted when they're convenient and shut out of the room when it's time to govern.

Eisenkot has 28 days to build a coalition, with a possible 14-day extension. His paths: a minority government leaning on Arab party votes, a deal with ultra-Orthodox parties his allies have shunned, or a unity government with Netanyahu. Analysts say all three are unlikely. He needs United Torah Judaism's seven seats and Shas's six to reach 61 with the haredi parties. Shas chairman Arye Deri recommended Netanyahu. Without Shas, the change bloc plus United Torah Judaism reaches 55. The B'Yachad party wants haredi conscription and equal burden-sharing; the haredi parties demand legislation regulating yeshiva students' status. Liberman, once opposed in principle, has dropped his objection to partnering with haredi parties and is open to compromise on conscription based on a 2018 framework. Principles, it turns out, have a negotiating range.

Same Menu, Different Waiter

The change bloc's wish list is revealing in what it is: replace Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana after Tuesday's swearing-in, with Liberman preferring Yair Lapid; examine special committees, a state commission of inquiry into October 7, and repeal of laws pushed by Netanyahu's coalition. Every item is a reshuffle of who holds the gavel. Eisenkot himself wrote on X: "Now is the time to form a national emergency government. I will do everything I can to ensure we are worthy." He called Netanyahu a threat to the "very existence of Israeli democracy." Netanyahu, for his part, said a coalition with Arab lists, which he called Islamists, would "dismantle the State of Israel from within" and urged a unity government of "all the Zionist parties that want to safeguard our state." Netanyahu faces corruption charges and an ICC arrest warrant over the Gaza war, which he rejects.

Then there's Herzog, who sought clarification over the weekend on how Eisenkot would bridge his partners' disagreements, and who, according to AFP, has signaled he'd like to explore a national unity government. The head of state, in other words, is shopping for the grand coalition that would put the accused and his accuser at one cabinet table.

The Loop

If Eisenkot fails, another candidate can try, and parliament can nominate someone else. The process runs to roughly 100 days, after which Israel goes back to the polls. Liberman already sees himself as a suitable candidate for the next attempt. This country held five elections between 2019 and 2022 because of repeated deadlocks. The ritual continues: ballots, recommendations, ceremonies, deadlines. The population gets to choose which faction administers the army, the budget, and the borders. Whether the ministries, the checkpoints, or the monopoly on force itself should exist never makes the ballot. Tuesday's swearing-in will tell us who gets the speaker's chair. It won't tell us anything the 19 shut-out mandates don't already know.