.jpeg?w=1024&resize=1024,1024&ssl=1 "Ravi Shastri Lauds Gurnoor Brar’s Maturity After Match-Winning Spell in Wellington")
The former army chief now has 28 days to assemble a coalition that could end Netanyahu’s lengthy tenure as prime minister.
7 Nov 2026
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has assigned former military chief Gadi Eisenkot the task of forming the next government, bypassing incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Herzog conveyed his decision to Eisenkot on Saturday evening, with a formal mandate ceremony scheduled for Sunday, according to a statement from the president’s office.
The decision follows consultations Herzog held with all political factions this week to determine who would receive the mandate after the October 27 general election yielded no clear majority.
Eisenkot, who leads the Yashar party, secured endorsements from parties representing 67 lawmakers, compared to 46 for Netanyahu’s bloc, the statement noted.
Eisenkot has 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension, to forge a coalition commanding at least 61 of the Knesset’s 120 seats—the minimum required for a government.
In the October vote, Eisenkot’s four-party alliance captured 48 seats, while Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious bloc won 53, leaving both short of a parliamentary majority. Arab-led parties, representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, secured a record 19 seats.
Saturday’s announcement came hours after Netanyahu warned that a government formed by opposition parties with the backing of Arab-led factions would precipitate Israel’s collapse.
Eisenkot has ruled out partnering with Arab-led parties, which would otherwise give him a 67-seat bloc. Securing the support of the two ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, would yield exactly 61 seats.
Eisenkot served as Israel’s military chief from 2015 to 2019 and sat as an observer in Netanyahu’s war cabinet during the first eight months of the war in Gaza.
