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Israel's opposition unites behind Eisenkot in bid to unseat Netanyahu

4 November 2026 · Algeria Now

Israel's opposition leaders agreed on Tuesday to back former army chief Gadi Eisenkot as their candidate for prime minister, a week after an election that gave neither camp a majority. It came a day before President Isaac Herzog opened consultations on forming the next government. For Palestinians, and for a region watching a fragile Gaza truce, the outcome will shape policy on occupation and war.

A split Knesset

The vote of 27 October gave 53 seats to the bloc around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and 48 to the opposition, while Arab-led parties won 19. A majority in the 120-seat Knesset needs 61. Eisenkot, who leads the Yashar party, met four other opposition leaders in Herzliya. They said they would recommend him to Herzog and replace the current government with a national emergency government.

Netanyahu, whose Likud won 27 seats, called on Monday for a broad national government under his leadership. He rules out any partnership with Arab-led lists, which he accuses of supporting terrorism.

The opposition is itself divided. Yair Golan seeks cooperation with Arab-led parties and calls their exclusion racist, while Avigdor Liberman opposes it. Eisenkot's declared principles require every government party to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and to designate Hamas a terrorist organization, which could shut out some Arab lawmakers.

Why it matters beyond Israel

Under Israeli law, the president asks the candidate with the best chance of success to form a government, who then has 28 days, extendable by up to 14. Netanyahu is on trial for corruption and is wanted by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Gaza, where health authorities report more than 74,000 Palestinians killed since October 2023.

Algeria does not take sides in Israeli coalition politics; it judges governments by their conduct under international law. Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf reaffirmed in Jeddah in August Algeria's firm support for the Palestinian people and its readiness to back every sincere effort to secure their full national rights. Algiers also hosted the Palestinian National Council session that proclaimed the State of Palestine on 15 November 1988, an anniversary that falls in eleven days.

In July 2024 the International Court of Justice found the occupation of Palestinian territory unlawful and called for it to end as rapidly as possible, and the General Assembly later set a twelve-month deadline. Reports of the opposition's meeting mention neither the occupation nor Palestinian self-determination.

What comes next

Consultations run through Thursday. If Eisenkot gathers the most recommendations, the decisive question will be whether he seeks support from Arab-led parties. Whatever coalition emerges, the measure for Algeria and the United Nations will be whether it ends the occupation and the violence in Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel's opposition unites behind Eisenkot in bid to unseat Netanyahu

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