A pedestrian walks past campaign billboards for the Ra'am party, left, and the Joint List of Arab-led parties, right, in the Bedouin city of Rahat, southern Israel, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Arab parties have signaled willingness to help Israel’s opposition replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as President Isaac Herzog prepares to begin coalition consultations on Nov. 4.
The Oct. 27 election gave Netanyahu’s bloc 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot won 48.
Arab-led parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel secured a record 19 seats, with 11 for the Joint List and eight for Ra’am.
Neither main bloc reached the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority.
Herzog urged party leaders on Nov. 1 to accept the results and show flexibility, warning that entrenched positions could force another election.
Eisenkot, who leads the Yashar party, said on Oct. 31 that voters had backed change by a margin of more than 500,000 votes.
He pledged to immediately use the parliamentary majority opposed to Netanyahu and said any lawmaker accepting his conditions could become a partner.
His four conditions include recognizing Israel as a Jewish, democratic, liberal and egalitarian state, upholding its Declaration of Independence and requiring military, national or civilian service for all citizens.
He also demanded recognition of Hamas as a terrorist organization whose military and governing capabilities in Gaza must be dismantled.
Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas indicated that Eisenkot’s conditions would not prevent his party from joining a government, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.
Ahmad Tibi, leader of Ta’al, one of the Joint List’s three factions, said the alliance was ready to support an alternative government from outside the coalition.
He urged Eisenkot to accept Arab parliamentary support.
Before the election, Tibi had acknowledged that the next government would not be a “peace government.”
“But we are choosing between the bad and the worse,” he said.
Herzog will begin consultations after receiving the official results from Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg on Nov. 4.
The candidate assigned to form a government will have 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension. If that attempt fails, other lawmakers can be given a chance before the process leads to another election.
