On Tuesday, Herzliya (northwest) Israel will witness a meeting of the leaders of the main opposition bloc for the first time after the legislative elections, which did not grant a majority to either the government parties or the opposition. The head of the Joint Arab List, which holds the keys to the next government, called on the opposition forces to cooperate with his list to oust Netanyahu, while the latter confirmed his readiness to form an expanded coalition government under his leadership, excluding the two Arab lists.

Published on: 02/11/2026 - 22:17

For the first time after the Israeli elections, the leaders of the main opposition bloc met on Tuesday, to try to secure a majority, enabling them to form a new government. The Yashar Party said in a statement, “The leaders of the Change Bloc... will meet in Herzliya (northwest) to discuss and coordinate the next steps.”

This is their first meeting since the October 27 vote, which did not lead to a majority, neither for the coalition of outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which won 53 seats, nor for the opposition camp led by Eisenkot, which won 48 seats.

Only minimal information was received regarding the ongoing negotiations to form a majority of 61 seats out of 120. The main question centers on the possibility of an alliance between the opposition bloc and the Arab parties that achieved unprecedented results by winning 19 seats.

Read also: Netanyahu and Eisenkot face the dilemma of forming a government... What are the scenarios proposed in Israel?

Herzog will receive all parties that won seats

Herzog announced that he would receive all parties that won seats between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday evening, starting with the one that received the lowest number of seats.

The president is tasked with appointing the candidate most capable of forming a government coalition, in light of the weight of the various parties, which makes Eisenkot the likely first choice.

In Netanyahu's bloc, the parties of his far-right allies Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, as well as the extremist religious Shas party, are expected to name the outgoing prime minister unless a major surprise occurs. As for the fourth extremist religious party in the bloc, it did not clarify its position.

The president has seven days, until November 11, to make his choice. After that, the prime minister-designate is given 28 days, which can be extended for 14 days, to form a coalition that can gain the confidence of the Knesset.

Read also: Israeli elections: Who is Gadi Eisenkot, seeking to oust Netanyahu from power?

If he fails to do so, the president can assign another person to grant the same deadline. In the event of a deadlock, the matter is referred to the Knesset to try to gather a majority of 61 representatives. If this last opportunity fails, the Knesset will be dissolved and new elections will be called within 90 days.

The Arab List: The opposition must accept the “political truth”

The head of the Joint Arab List, which won 11 seats in the legislative elections in Israel, Youssef Jabareen, considered that the opposition must accept the "political truth" and cooperate with his list to be able to overthrow Benjamin Netanyahu.

He added, "We say that whoever is serious about the project of changing this government must really deal with the political reality, that the Joint List vote could be decisive." He continued, "The political map is clear. The opposition parties do not have a majority to pass draft laws without the Joint List."

Jabareen, who met on Monday with the Unified List in the city of Nazareth to discuss ways of cooperation and the possibility of recommending a candidate to form the government, criticized the opposition parties that categorically refuse to rely on the support of the two Arab lists. Among those parties is the secular right-wing "Israel Beytenu" party led by Avigdor Lieberman.

Jabareen said that the opposition parties, including Lieberman's party, "if they are serious about changing Netanyahu's government and removing him as prime minister, as they promised their audience, then this requires that there be cooperation, even at the lowest level."

Read also: Israeli elections: Will the “kingmaker” Arab parties have a decisive role in forming the government?

He added that Lieberman must "deal with the data in front of him in the Knesset, and according to these data, it is not possible to replace the government of Netanyahu, (Itamar) Ben Gvir, and (Bezalel) Smotrich without coordination with the Joint List."

The head of the Joint Arab List will meet on Tuesday with the leader of the leftist "Democrats" party, Yair Golan, the only one so far within the opposition bloc to have publicly supported the alliance with the two Arab lists, while the right-wing Avigdor Lieberman categorically rejected this possibility. Jabareen pointed out that “official negotiations” with other parties have not yet begun.

The positions of the Yashar Party also suggested ruling out this possibility without explicitly rejecting it, while the position of the center-right “Ma’an” Party, led by Naftali Bennett, remains ambiguous in this regard.

However, all of the bloc's formations confirmed that they would present Eisenkot as prime minister to President Isaac Herzog, as the Arab parties hinted at this.

Netanyahu calls for the formation of an “expanded national government” under his leadership

Benjamin Netanyahu called for the formation of an expanded coalition government that excludes the two Arab lists, considering that it should be headed by him, given that the Likud Party under his leadership won the largest number of seats in the Knesset.

“We seek to form an expanded government with our partners and with any party that wishes to join and does not support terrorism,” Netanyahu said in a statement published by Likud on Telegram.

He added, "People in Israel do not want a government based on the Ra'am Party and the Joint List," referring to the two Arab lists that won a record number of seats, accusing them of "supporting terrorism and denying the existence of the Jewish state."

France 24/AFP

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