Joint List says it will support Eisenkot to form next Israeli government | Israel Elections 2026 News

The Joint List, an alliance of Arab-led parties, said it would support Israeli opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot in forming a new government after last week’s elections.

“The Joint List announced today Thursday that it will inform State President Isaac Herzog this evening of its decision to recommend that Gadi Eisenkot be tasked with forming the government,” the alliance said in a statement.

Arab parties won a record 19 seats in the 120-seat Israeli parliament in last week’s general elections, a result that could give them significant influence over the formation of the next government.

Once the 11 Joint List MKs formally submit their recommendations, Eisenkot is expected to have the support of 67 MKs, surpassing the majority threshold of 61 seats in the Knesset.

Earlier, Ra’am, an Arab-led party with eight seats, said it would also recommend Eisenkot.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 53-seat bloc may fail to get 53 support, as Degel HaTorah, which holds four of United Torah Judaism’s seven seats, said it would not recommend either candidate.

The ultra-Orthodox faction broke with Netanyahu following his coalition’s failure to pass a law exempting Haredi men from military service, the Times of Israel reported.

Netanyahu has also repeatedly claimed without evidence that Arab parties committed election fraud with foreign support.

The prime minister and his Likud party cited a handful of cases, including the arrest of three political activists who allegedly bribed voters before polls opened. They are suspected of having links with the Ra’am party, even if the latter denies any involvement.

Netanyahu and Likud also suggested that the opposition bloc’s embrace of Arab parties would be a betrayal. In a statement after the vote, Likud warned that Zionist parties cooperating with the Arab bloc would be “dangerous for Israel.”

Israel’s Central Election Commission certified the election results on Wednesday after finding no evidence of fraud.

President Herzog also accepted the results and began consultations with the leaders of the parties who will be responsible for forming the next government.

He also supported the investigation into suspected interference but warned against vilifying Palestinian voters who are citizens of Israel, saying he had “great respect” for the country’s Palestinian minority, which makes up about 20% of the population.

“I condemn the profanity and racist expressions we have heard recently,” he said.

On Wednesday, the president said he met with representatives of the Religious Zionism and Zehut, Shas and Yisrael Beytenu factions.

In an article on X, Herzog said he “received their recommendations regarding who should be given the task of forming the government.”

Herzog added that negotiations would also continue on Thursday.

Once the consultations are complete, Herzog will choose the candidate he considers best suited to build a coalition, almost certainly Netanyahu or Eisenkot. He has several days to announce his decision, after which the candidate will have 28 days to form a government, with a possible extension of 14 days.

If neither man succeeds, Israel would hold new elections early next year.

From Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said that if Eisenkot succeeds in forming a government, then he will become Israel’s next prime minister and Netanyahu will likely be the opposition leader.

“It’s up to Gadi Eisenkot to do what he promised, to oust Benjamin Netanyahu. And to do that, he needs to have 61 votes in the Knesset, which means he needs the votes of the Palestinian-Israeli parties, the parties he doesn’t want to associate with,” she said.

“But he will most likely have to reach some sort of agreement, for (Palestinian-Israeli parties) to at least abstain, to ensure that his government is sworn in and a new chapter in Israeli politics can begin,” she added.