Joint List Backs Gadi Eisenkot, Giving Him Support From 67 Knesset Members

The arithmetic leaves the outcome open

The Joint List’s endorsement gives opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot a larger bloc of parliamentary support than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing alliance, but it doesn’t settle who will govern. The Arab-led alliance said Thursday it would recommend Eisenkot to form a government, bringing his total to 67 supporters in the 120-seat Knesset. That figure matters because it puts him above the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority, at least on paper. But recommendations and durable coalition commitments aren’t the same thing, and the announcement leaves open how many lawmakers would back an actual government through the decisions it would face.

The announcement followed a day after Ra’am, another Arab-led party, endorsed Eisenkot with its eight lawmakers. Together, Ra’am and the Joint List won a record 19 seats in the 27 October election, leaving them with significant influence in talks over the next government. Their combined electoral strength gives them a substantial role in determining whether the opposition can assemble a governing majority. It also makes their support harder for other parties to dismiss, even if those parties remain reluctant to accept Arab-led lawmakers as coalition partners.

Netanyahu’s bloc took 53 seats, while the opposition alliance led by Eisenkot won 48. Neither reached the 61 seats required for a parliamentary majority, making the backing of Arab-led parties and smaller factions central to coalition negotiations. The seat totals explain the urgency: the opposition needs support beyond its own alliance, while Netanyahu’s side also falls short of a majority. Yet the arithmetic doesn’t show whether lawmakers can agree on the terms of cooperation, or whether an endorsement would hold once governing choices replace campaign positions.

Support without coalition membership

The Joint List said its decision was unanimous and reflected a public demand to keep Netanyahu’s government from returning to power. It also framed the endorsement as a way to increase the distance between Eisenkot and Netanyahu and improve the opposition’s chances of replacing the incumbent government. That’s a clear political purpose, but it doesn’t answer the practical question of what the alliance would do after helping Eisenkot reach the threshold. A recommendation can signal who a party prefers to lead without committing it to the compromises required inside a cabinet.

That support doesn’t mean the alliance will join an Eisenkot-led cabinet. The Joint List has indicated it could support an opposition government from outside the coalition, without taking ministerial posts. Its leaders have opposed joining a government while Israel continues to occupy Palestinian territory. This arrangement would give the alliance a role in the parliamentary numbers while limiting its formal responsibility for government decisions. It could also leave the new government dependent on support from lawmakers who aren’t represented among its ministers.

The alliance, made up of three Arab-led factions, said it had reservations about the opposition’s record, including its response to Netanyahu’s political direction, incitement against Arab citizens and efforts to question the legitimacy of their electoral choices. Those objections complicate any simple account of the endorsement as a broad vote of confidence in Eisenkot or his partners. The alliance is backing an alternative to Netanyahu’s government while making clear that it has its own grievances with the opposition. And this is the part most people overlook: the parties may agree on who shouldn’t govern without agreeing on what the next government should do.

Divisions over Arab lawmakers

Eisenkot and his opposition partners have yet to resolve their own disagreements over cooperation with Arab-led parties. The bloc has set conditions for potential partners, including recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, support for military conscription and condemnation of Hamas. Some opposition figures oppose depending on Arab lawmakers; others say their support is needed to end Netanyahu’s time in office. Those positions leave Eisenkot balancing two demands: demonstrate that he can build a majority, while keeping partners who resist relying on the same lawmakers whose endorsements have strengthened his numbers.

The conditions also show why a parliamentary majority can remain fragile even when the headcount appears sufficient. Parties can support a candidate for government and still disagree over policy, membership and the limits of cooperation. If you’re working in this space, the distinction is familiar: political backing can solve one immediate problem while leaving the governing arrangement unsettled. Eisenkot may have reached the majority threshold in endorsements, but the source of those votes remains contested within his own camp.

Eisenkot, 66, has repeatedly rejected the prospect of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. As army chief from 2015 to 2019, he advocated closer ties with Saudi Arabia to counter Iran’s regional influence. He also said Israel would be willing to share intelligence with Riyadh on Tehran. Those positions provide context for his political profile, but they don’t resolve the disagreements raised by the Joint List’s opposition to joining a government during the occupation. The endorsement is therefore a tactical alignment around replacing Netanyahu, not evidence that the parties share a wider political program.

What the endorsements change

Here’s the thing: the endorsements strengthen Eisenkot’s position in the numbers game, but the parties’ refusal to commit to coalition roles leaves the shape of any government unresolved. This is more significant than it looks because the dispute isn’t only about reaching 61 seats. It’s also about whether the lawmakers whose support supplies those seats can participate in a governing arrangement that other opposition figures will accept.

That said, the endorsements do change the pressure on the opposition alliance. With Netanyahu’s bloc at 53 seats and the opposition alliance at 48, neither side can claim a majority from its own bloc. The Arab-led parties’ 19 seats give them real bargaining weight, while their stated reservations and limits on coalition participation make that weight difficult to convert into a straightforward cabinet deal. A government might depend on outside support, but the terms and reliability of that support remain unclear.

The immediate test is whether Eisenkot’s partners can settle their differences over Arab lawmakers and decide what kind of support they’ll accept. The numbers offer a route to replacing the incumbent government. The politics behind those numbers remain unsettled. For now, the endorsement marks progress in the arithmetic, and little more. A majority on paper. A government still to be negotiated.