{"version":"1.9","identifier":"6ff72dad-b32e-4f2d-ac41-6a6d6e670d9a","language":"en-US","title":"Eisenkot calls off first Likud talks after Netanyahu's Knesset speech; speaker vote set for Nov. 17","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://567politics.com/news/israel-eisenkot-cancels-likud-talks-netanyahu-speech-ohana-speaker-vote-november-17-november-2026","datePublished":"2026-11-10T20:00:55.672525Z","dateModified":"2026-11-10T20:02:21.476415Z","authors":["567 Politics staff"],"excerpt":"Yashar! said a Wednesday negotiating meeting was canceled over a 'divisive speech.' Likud says it is still open to unity, but not with Ra'am or the Joint List, as Ohana schedules the vote on his successor.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/6ff72dad-b32e-4f2d-ac41-6a6d6e670d9a/7a16867d2b33cd1764af7381ffb282b4.jpg","keywords":["il"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Eisenkot calls off first Likud talks after Netanyahu's Knesset speech; speaker vote set for Nov. 17","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"Yashar! said a Wednesday negotiating meeting was canceled over a 'divisive speech.' Likud says it is still open to unity, but not with Ra'am or the Joint List, as Ohana schedules the vote on his successor.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By 567 Politics staff · Published November 10, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/6ff72dad-b32e-4f2d-ac41-6a6d6e670d9a/7a16867d2b33cd1764af7381ffb282b4.jpg","caption":"Yashar! leader Gadi Eisenkot, June 2026 · Yahav Trudler (Yahav Studio), CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons","accessibilityCaption":"Yashar! leader Gadi Eisenkot, June 2026","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Yashar! leader Gadi Eisenkot, June 2026 · Yahav Trudler (Yahav Studio), CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Israel's first formal coalition contact between the two largest parties lasted less than a day. On Tuesday evening, [Gadi Eisenkot](https://567politics.com/politicians/gadi-eisenkot)'s Yashar! party said it had scheduled a negotiating meeting with Likud for Wednesday, then announced that Eisenkot had ordered it canceled after [Benjamin Netanyahu](https://567politics.com/politicians/benjamin-netanyahu)'s speech at the swearing-in of the 26th Knesset. Likud answered that it remained ready to meet \"any faction that wants unity,\" while repeating that it would not cooperate with the Arab-led parties that Eisenkot is still talking to.\n\nHours later, outgoing Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said he had received a request from 67 lawmakers to hold a vote on electing his successor, and scheduled it for Tuesday, Nov. 17. The two moves show where Israel's post-election standoff stands two days into Eisenkot's mandate. The anti-Netanyahu bloc can already win procedural votes. It has not yet shown a path to a governing coalition. And the one channel to Likud that had opened is now shut.\n\n## What Yashar! said, and why it called off the meeting\n\nAccording to the party statement, [reported in full by Israel Hayom](https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/11/10/eisenkot-cancels-likud-coalition-talks-over-netanyahus-knesset-speech/), the meeting had been arranged after Yashar! invited every Knesset faction to negotiate on the basis of four principles it had set out for forming a government. The statement then said: \"In light of the outgoing prime minister's divisive speech and his disgraceful treatment of the Knesset's swearing-in ceremony, along with what little remains of the dignity of state institutions under Netanyahu's rule, Yashar! chairman Gadi Eisenkot has now instructed that the negotiating meeting scheduled for tomorrow with Likud representatives be canceled.\"\n\nThe party added that \"unity is an important value for Israel\" and that Israeli solidarity is \"a component of Israel's national security.\" It went on: \"The outgoing prime minister lashed out at Israeli citizens this evening, providing yet another sad reminder, for anyone who still needed further proof, that Netanyahu does not want unity.\" The [Jerusalem Post](https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-914502) and [Times of Israel](https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-november-10-2026/) carried the same statement. Their translations from the Hebrew differ slightly. The substance is the same.\n\nThe Jerusalem Post also reported that Eisenkot described Netanyahu's address as \"delusional, divisive, hateful, and disgraceful.\" Earlier in the day, Eisenkot told the new Knesset that Israel \"is at a crossroads\" and that he felt compelled to form an emergency government \"as soon as possible,\" according to [Anadolu Agency, citing Yedioth Ahronoth](https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/eisenkot-calls-for-swift-formation-of-emergency-government-amid-israeli-coalition-talks/4119003). He said he would seek to do so \"without abandoning his principles.\"\n\n## Likud's answer: open to unity, closed to Ra'am and the Joint List\n\nLikud's response, as quoted by Israel Hayom, made two points. The first was an offer: \"Prime Minister Netanyahu will leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of national unity. Likud is prepared to meet with representatives of any faction that wants unity.\" The second was a condition: \"Prime Minister Netanyahu stands by his statement that cooperation with supporters of terrorism is impossible, as is cooperation with those who walked out of the Knesset plenum just this evening during the singing of Hatikvah.\" Joint List members left the plenum before the anthem ended, the [Jerusalem Post's live coverage](https://www.jpost.com/israel-election-2026/2026-11-10/live-updates-914399) reported.\n\n\"It is puzzling that they are canceling a meeting with Likud while continuing to pursue talks with those very people,\" the [Likud](https://567politics.com/parties/israel/likud) statement said.\n\nThe exchange followed Netanyahu's address to the plenum, which 567 Politics [covered earlier on Tuesday](https://567politics.com/news/israel-netanyahu-knesset-speech-arab-parties-eisenkot-abbas-hamas-recognition-november-2026). In it he said \"we must put all other considerations aside and establish a national unity government\" and that Israel \"cannot rely on a narrow government with supporters of terrorism and enemies of Israel,\" according to Israel Hayom. After the speech, the Times of Israel counted seven posts on Netanyahu's X account between 6:39 p.m. and 7:36 p.m. Israel time, each captioned in Hebrew, \"It is forbidden to establish a dangerous government with terror supporters from Ra'am and the Joint List!\"\n\n## The terms each side has set\n\nThe canceled meeting would have taken place against conditions that already looked difficult to reconcile. Israel Hayom summarized Eisenkot's four principles for any coalition partner:\n\n* recognition of Israel as a Jewish, democratic, liberal and egalitarian state;\n* commitment to the values of Israel's Declaration of Independence;\n* mandatory military, national or civilian service for all citizens;\n* recognition of Hamas as a terrorist organization and a commitment to destroying its military and governing capabilities in Gaza.\n\nEisenkot has said any Knesset member who accepts those principles could be a partner in a government he leads. For Likud specifically, Yashar! set three further conditions after Netanyahu's earlier unity appeal: sever its alliance with parties Yashar! described as extremist, accept the four principles, and join a government headed by Eisenkot. Likud has not accepted any of the three in public, and its Tuesday statement framed unity as a government Netanyahu would continue to lead.\n\nSo the dispute is not really over whether a unity government is a good idea. It is over who would lead it and which parties would be in it. Netanyahu's offer excludes Ra'am and the Joint List; Eisenkot's conditions exclude several of Netanyahu's current partners and Netanyahu himself at the top.\n\n## The arithmetic behind the standoff\n\nNeither bloc won a majority on Oct. 27. Netanyahu's bloc holds 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats and the bloc led by Eisenkot won 48, according to the [Jerusalem Post's election summary](https://www.jpost.com/israel-election-2026/2026-11-10/live-updates-914399). The Arab-led Joint List and Ra'am took 19 seats between them. Likud remains the largest single party, with 27 seats, ahead of Yashar! with 21 and Naftali Bennett's B'Yachad with 12. The certified figures are set out in 567 Politics' [report on the final count](https://567politics.com/news/israel-final-count-53-48-19-allegations-october-2026).\n\n**Knesset seats by bloc after the Oct. 27, 2026 election**\n\nSeats out of 120; 61 is a majority","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"
BlocSeats
Netanyahu bloc53
Eisenkot-led bloc48
Joint List and Ra'am19
","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Source: [The Jerusalem Post election summary](https://www.jpost.com/israel-election-2026/2026-11-10/live-updates-914399)\n\nPresident Isaac Herzog gave Eisenkot the mandate on Sunday after 67 lawmakers recommended him and 46 recommended Netanyahu, with United Torah Judaism endorsing neither, Israel Hayom reported. Both Ra'am and the Joint List recommended Eisenkot during Herzog's consultations, according to Anadolu. Eisenkot has 28 days to form a government, with a possible extension of up to 14 days.\n\nThe 67 recommendations are not a coalition. They include the Arab-led parties, whose role in a government is disputed inside Eisenkot's own camp. They leave out UTJ, whose demands on military service clash with the third of Eisenkot's principles.\n\n## Inside Eisenkot's camp, three red lines\n\n[Avigdor Liberman](https://567politics.com/politicians/avigdor-liberman), whose [Yisrael Beiteinu](https://567politics.com/parties/israel/yisrael-beiteinu) backed Eisenkot, told his faction on Tuesday that his criteria were clear, according to Anadolu: \"First, end the Netanyahu era. Second, prevent another election. Third, rule out a minority government that relies on the United Arab List (Ra'am) and the Joint List.\" He said whether to form a national unity government was Eisenkot's decision alone. But he would stay out of one that included Netanyahu: \"Just as I will not support a minority government, I will not support any government that includes Netanyahu.\"\n\nLiberman also said he had dropped his opposition to sitting in a coalition with Shas and UTJ, since the result had left the change bloc short of 61 seats. \"We will have to show flexibility and be prepared to make concessions,\" he said. He also said that if he is elected chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, he will first summon the Shin Bet chief and the police commissioner. He wants to question them about what he called suspected foreign interference in the election. The attorney general said on Monday she was unaware of evidence that could affect the result, as 567 Politics [reported](https://567politics.com/news/israel-attorney-general-no-evidence-close-election-result-shin-bet-probe-fuel-cards-november-2026).\n\n[Naftali Bennett](https://567politics.com/politicians/naftali-bennett) said he was doing all he could to help Eisenkot form a government quickly. \"We have received the necessary tools to establish a good government in Israel. But there is no time,\" he said, according to Anadolu.\n\n## The Arab-led parties respond\n\nThe two Arab-led factions answered Netanyahu directly. Ra'am chair [Mansour Abbas](https://567politics.com/politicians/mansour-abbas) told Channel 12 he was \"astounded that the prime minister would exploit a state occasion to lie, to incite and to spread blood libel about the Arab parties,\" the Times of Israel reported. \"We are law-abiding citizens of Israel,\" he said. \"We don't want to establish an Islamist state or an Arab state. This is where the State of Israel was established; we define ourselves within the State of Israel as citizens.\"\n\nIn the same interview, Abbas said Netanyahu had told him during their failed 2021 coalition talks that he and then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar \"understand each other.\" Abbas said he was waiting for a state inquiry into Oct. 7 so that he could testify about the conversation. That account is Abbas's alone; the Times of Israel did not report a response from Netanyahu's office, and 567 Politics has not been able to verify it independently.\n\nThe Joint List called Netanyahu's address \"deranged, inciting and racist\" in a statement carried by the Times of Israel. It said it would work to remove what it called his \"Kahanist government\" as soon as possible. Earlier in the day, Abbas had told a Ra'am faction meeting that participation in government is a \"fundamental civil right,\" as reported in 567 Politics' earlier coverage of the speech.\n\n## Next Tuesday's vote on the speaker\n\nThe one test of strength already on the calendar is the speakership. Ohana said on Tuesday evening, according to the Times of Israel: \"This evening I received an unusual request from 67 members of the Knesset to place a vote to elect the speaker of the 26th Knesset on the agenda. As such, I have scheduled a debate, followed by a vote, for Tuesday, November 17, at 4 p.m., at the start of the Knesset plenum.\"\n\nOhana is a Likud member. He said the request \"is intended to advance legislation that would grant immense power to the attorney general, further deepening the imbalance between the elected leadership and the bureaucratic echelon.\" Despite his \"strong opposition\" to the bloc's agenda, he said, \"I will act as promised: I will respect the will of the majority of Knesset members.\" The Eisenkot-led bloc has nominated Yashar!'s Matan Kahana for the post. It filed the signatures on the Knesset's opening day, as 567 Politics [reported](https://567politics.com/news/israel-26th-knesset-sworn-in-kahana-speaker-nomination-signatures-smotrich-utj-conditions-november-2026).\n\nA speaker elected with 67 votes would control the plenum's agenda while coalition talks go on. That matters. The same bloc filed a package of bills on the Knesset's first day, including a state inquiry into Oct. 7 and limits on prime ministers' terms. But the 67 signatures again include the Arab-led parties, which Liberman has said he will not rely on to sustain a minority government. A procedural majority on the speaker does not settle whether those same lawmakers can sit together in a cabinet.\n\n## What remains unknown\n\nSeveral questions were open on Tuesday night. Neither Yashar! nor Likud said whether the canceled meeting would be rescheduled. No party in Netanyahu's bloc has said in public that it would accept any of Eisenkot's four principles as a basis for talks. UTJ, which recommended no one, has not said whether it would support a government that requires universal service. Nor is it clear whether Eisenkot would try a minority government with outside support from Ra'am or the Joint List. Liberman has ruled that out, and Likud has campaigned against it.\n\nIf no candidate can form a government within the legal deadlines, the process can end in another election, which every faction leader quoted on Tuesday said they wanted to avoid.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}