Israeli Opposition Backs Eisenkot to Form Government as Herzog Begins Consultations

Israeli opposition leaders agreed on Tuesday to recommend Gadi Eisenkot, head of the Yashar party, to President Isaac Herzog to form the next government. They met in Herzliya after the October 27 elections, and consultations at Herzog's residence were due to begin Wednesday. It was the opposition's first joint meeting since the vote. Eisenkot, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of the Together party, Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beytenu, Yair Golan of the Democrats and opposition leader Yair Lapid attended. The parties said their negotiating teams would immediately begin drafting policy guidelines and coalition agreements. They said they aim to replace Benjamin Netanyahu's government with a national emergency government backed by a clear Knesset majority and to avoid another election. Netanyahu's bloc won 53 of the 120 seats. Bennett announced on X that his faction would recommend Eisenkot, saying he had promised to respect the voters' decision, and Eisenkot thanked him. Herzog has urged leaders to accept the results and find creative solutions. Netanyahu and Eisenkot are each to be argued for before Herzog as the one to get the first chance at a coalition.

The left-leaning New York Times, in the one piece available, frames the story as a head-to-head contest. Its headline says Netanyahu and Eisenkot are both seeking a shot at being premier, and it stresses that party leaders will make competing cases to Herzog. The excerpt gives no seat counts, no Bennett quote and no emergency-government pledge. TRT World and The Hindu, the alternative outlets, lead with the opposition's decision. They quote the joint statement and Bennett's X post, and they list the leaders present. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative outlets had. Those covering it focus on who will get the first chance to form a coalition.