The agreements include committee chairmanships and ministerial positions.
Eisenkot managed to secure the position of Knesset speaker for Yashar, with Elazar Stern, Matan Kahana, and Eisenkot himself in the running.
Eisenkot is expected to meet with Democrats leader Yair Golan to advance negotiations on a coalition agreement, following his meeting with Lieberman.
Gadi Eisenkot was chosen by the leaders of six parties, representing a majority of seats in the Knesset, as the most legitimate candidate to form a new government. President Isaac Herzog is expected to announce his decision on Sunday.
The Democrats Chairman Yair Golan met this morning (Tuesday, November 3) with Joint List Chairman Yousef Jabareen and Ta’al Chairman Ahmad Tibi, before the meeting of the “change bloc” leaders of the Zionist opposition took place Following its conclusion, Golan met with “Yashar” Chairman Gadi Eisenkot, “Beyachad” Chairman Naftali Bennett, and “Yisrael Beytenu” Chairman Avigdor Lieberman.
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Yesterday, all the newly elected Members of Knesset from the Joint List met for the first time. Additionally, a meeting was held between representatives of the Joint List and representatives of the Islamic Ra’am party, led by Mansour Abbas. A statement released at the conclusion of the meeting read, “Both sides exchanged views on the political developments following the elections and discussed the need to deepen cooperation in order to confront the new challenges and work toward bringing down the fascist right from power.”
The leaders of the Jewish-led opposition alliance met on Tuesday in the city of Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, in their first joint meeting since the October 27 election, which left neither bloc with a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
The agreement comes a day before President Isaac Herzog begins consultations with parties on who should form the next government.
“I will not sit in a government led by Netanyahu,” Eisenkot was quoted as saying during a recent closed-door meeting, according to the public broadcaster, which cited unnamed sources.
Eisenkot added that he would agree to meet Trump if invited, but would oppose any US involvement in Israel’s internal political affairs.
The Democrats party announced on Monday that it would recommend Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot to President Isaac Herzog as its candidate to form the next government, ahead of the president’s consultations with party representatives beginning Wednesday.
The announcement came after the two other party leaders in the bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett (B‘Yachad) and Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu), said they would recommend Eisenkot.
Entscheidend könnten nun also die arabischen Listen werden: Die sicherten sich bei der Parlamentswahl zusammen 19 Sitze – so viele wie noch nie. „67 Mandate für Veränderung“ war auch einer der Slogans der Demonstrierenden – denn ein Bündnis von Eisenkots Block mit den israelisch-arabischen Parteien käme auf 67 Abgeordnete.
Thousands of people have rallied in Tel Aviv to urge the Israeli opposition to make a deal with Arab parties to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Protesters at Saturday’s rally told the AFP news agency this may be the “last chance for real change” and that Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is a “great manipulator”.
In theory, this means Netanyahu could continue as caretaker prime minister for months and even years, with most of his powers.
This has actually previously happened: Netanyahu himself holds the record for length of time serving as a caretaker prime minister, for a year and a half between December 2018 and May 2020.
In that period, three indecisive elections were held, until Netanyahu finally formed a unity government with his main political rival.
In a post on the US social media platform X, Ben-Gvir said Netanyahu had “promised the US administration that, following the election, he would form a unity government with Gadi Eisenkot — and without Ben-Gvir.”
His remarks came after newspaper Israel Hayom reported that US President Donald Trump is pushing for a unity government involving Netanyahu and his main challenger Eisenkot, with the Israeli premier reportedly signaling in closed-door talks that he would be willing to abandon his far-right allies to advance the Abraham Accords to normalize ties with Arab countries, including with Saudi Arabia.
Three years after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, Israeli voters will decide next Tuesday whether to grant Benjamin Netanyahu yet another term as prime minister — or usher in a new era of Israeli politics.
Polling suggests a tight race between Netanyahu, leader of the nationalist Likud party, and his chief rival, Gadi Eisenkot, who leads the centrist Yashar!, for control of the government.
In a lengthy statement, Liberman brands Eisenkot “Gantz 2,” after Blue and White party head Benny Gantz, who was the main Netanyahu rival in successive elections before deciding twice to join Netanyahu-led governments.
Eisenkot had been Gantz’s No. 2 before quitting last year to form his own party, Yashar, which has become the biggest party in most opinion polls, making Eisenkot the main challenger to Netanyahu.
These are the main candidates and their parties.
Published Sep 25, 2026 · 32 days before the election
120 seats
Right-religious bloc 49
Center-opposition bloc 55
Non-aligned 4
Arab parties 12
Yashar (Eisenkot) 22
Likud 18
Together (Bennett-Lapid) 13
The Democrats 11
Otzma Yehudit 9
Yisrael Beytenu 9
Joint List (Hadash-Ta‘al-Balad) 7
Shas 6
United Torah Judaism 6
Religious Zionism-Zehut 6
Ra‘am 5
People of Israel (Winter) 4
Reservists-Economic (Hendel-Zelekha) 4
The meeting brought together Lapid, the leader of Yesh Atid; Gadi Eisenkot, the head of Yashar; Naftali Bennett, the leader of Beyachad; Avigdor Lieberman, the head of Yisrael Beiteinu; and Democrats leader Yair Golan. The meeting focused on coordinating the parties’ election efforts, attracting additional voters to the opposition bloc, and improving its chances of securing a parliamentary majority and forming the next government in place of Netanyahu’s, according to the broadcaster.
When asked if a government could be formed “without the support of MKs Ahmad Tibi or Aida Touma-Sliman” from the Hadash-Ta’al faction, Bennett replied: “We have a large majority even without them.” This statement comes despite a series of recent polls indicating that the Zionist parties opposing Netanyahu are unlikely to secure a majority without the support of Hadash and the Arab parties. (…)
Following the unification, Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the new “Yashar” party, called this morning for a meeting of opposition leaders excluding Hadash and Islamist Ra’am, “in order to ensure victory through Zionist and statesmanlike votes without Arabs.” In his announcement, Eisenkot mentioned the leaders of the “Together” list, Bennett and Lapid, as well as Yisrael Beiteinu chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman and The Democrats leader Yair Golan.