Haifa, Israel
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Nov. 03, 2026, 4:41 p.m. ET
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5 min read
Isaac Herzog, who once vowed to defeat Benjamin Netanyahu, now presides as president and is meeting with party leaders—including Netanyahu—to prevent another inconclusive election. President Herzog has called on lawmakers to approach the crisis with an open mind and seek creative solutions, a stark reversal from his 2015 stance against a unity government.
“As we all know, during an election campaign, candidates naturally and predictably climb to lofty positions,” Mr. Herzog said on Sunday. “This week at the President’s Residence, we will try to put up ladders so that our leaders can come down and face this reality in a measured and careful way.”
The Israeli president, largely a ceremonial figure, also holds the constitutional duty of appointing a parliament member to form a government after a general election. This responsibility now rests with President Herzog.
Tsafrir Abayov/AP/File
Israel’s outgoing President Reuven Rivlin (left) waves with the newly sworn-in President Isaac Herzog on July 7, 2021. Mr. Herzog, scion of a prominent Israeli family, is the country’s 11th president.
Isaac Herzog belongs to Israel’s political elite. His grandfather was the first chief rabbi of Ireland and later the chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Israel. His father, Chaim Herzog, served as president from 1983 to 1993. His uncle, Abba Eban, held posts as foreign minister, education minister, and ambassador to the United States.
Herzog rose through the Labor Party, becoming opposition leader before the 2015 election. He declared, “I think it’s a mistake to hold negotiations… I intend to win,” but was defeated by Netanyahu in a highly contested vote. He remained opposition leader for a few years, resigned from the Knesset, and was elected president in 2021.
The Oct. 28, 2026 election left no party with a clear majority. Netanyahu’s Likud bloc secured 53 seats, while the opposition “Change Coalition” led by Gadi Eisenkot captured the remaining 67 seats. The Arab parties, comprising the Joint List and Ra’am, won 19 seats—an unprecedented tally—following a surge in Arab voter turnout.
Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu gestures at party headquarters in Jerusalem on election night, Oct. 28, 2026.
Eisenkot’s coalition partners have pledged not to work with Arab parties, while Netanyahu has campaigned on a platform denouncing Arab political groups and discouraging any cross‑community alliances. With 61 seats required for a majority, party leaders now confront the difficult task of forging a governing coalition.
According to Reuven Hazan, a Hebrew University political‑science professor, the president does not automatically hand the mandate to the leader of the largest party; instead, he selects the individual most likely to assemble a government. That appointee has 28 days—extendable by 14—to secure enough parliamentary support. If that attempt fails, the president may transfer the mandate to another party leader, then to parliament itself. Should all efforts collapse, the Knesset will dissolve and new elections will be called.
President Herzog is widely expected to give the first try to Gadi Eisenkot, who is thought to have the broadest backing among members of parliament. Nonetheless, observers note signs that Herzog is leaning toward steering the parties toward a national unity government.
While the constitution limits the president to voicing preferences, Professor Hazan says that privately Herzog will “cajol[e], entic[e], convince[ ]” legislators to follow his preferred path. The president may also draw inspiration from his father’s experience. In 1984, Chaim Herzog, facing a divided Knesset and the Lebanon war, helped broker a unity government between Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres after a dead‑locked election.
“I had to bring together the diverse elements instead of allowing a dangerous fragmentation to develop,” Chaim Herzog wrote in his 1997 memoir, “Living History: A Memoir.” “Accordingly, I approached [Yitzhak] Shamir and [Shimon] Peres, who agreed to go ahead with the idea of setting up a national unity government.”
Former Knesset member Ksenia Svetlova, now a Chatham House associate fellow, says she is convinced that President Herzog will press both Netanyahu and Eisenkot toward a unity government, citing his public concern about repeated electoral failures.
Netanyahu has signaled openness to a unity government—but only under his leadership. Benny Biton, mayor of Dimona and a Netanyahu ally, told Kan radio that President Herzog and the U.S. president would act as guarantors for any new unity agreement.
Opposition parties campaigned on a platform to remove Netanyahu from office, making a power‑sharing arrangement difficult. The Monitor’s request for an interview with President Herzog was declined by his office.
“He’ll cook up some arrangement, or stratagem, to build the government he wants there to be: a national unity government,” says Nachman Shai, a former Labor minister now dean of the Hebrew Union College. “He’ll try. I don’t know if he’ll succeed.”
