Eisenkot gets the mandate days after the US midterms, and America is now his pitch against Netanyahu

Gadi Eisenkot now holds the first chance to replace Benjamin Netanyahu, and he is making America part of his pitch. President Isaac Herzog formally gave the Yashar leader the mandate to form Israel's next government on Sunday evening, November 8. In accepting it, Eisenkot warned that Israel faces a "devastating" loss of confidence among its "closest friends and strategic allies," The Washington Post reported.

The timing is not an accident of the calendar. Israel voted on October 27. Americans voted a week later and handed Democrats both chambers of Congress. Israel's opposition leaders spent the days that followed arguing that the U.S. result was a verdict on Netanyahu's close alignment with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Netanyahu stayed silent on the U.S. result for days. He then pressed a different message at home: Israel needs unity and stability, under him.

This report sets out how each side in Israel is reading the U.S. midterms, what the numbers in the Knesset allow, and what Eisenkot must do in the next 28 days. Our earlier coverage traced the final count, the opposition's recommendations for Eisenkot and Netanyahu's call for a broad government.

The mandate: 67 recommendations, 28 days#

Herzog's decision followed a week of consultations with every party in the incoming Knesset. Representatives of 67 incoming lawmakers recommended Eisenkot. Representatives of 46 recommended Netanyahu, according to Ynet. The 67 include both Arab-led parties, Ra'am and the Joint List. The Jerusalem Post noted that their recommendations "do not commit them to ultimately joining his coalition."

Herzog addressed the obvious objection. "The fact that the Likud faction is the largest faction in the incoming Knesset has not escaped my attention," he said. Likud holds 27 seats. Herzog noted that earlier presidents had several times given the mandate to a leader whose party was not the largest.

By law, Eisenkot has 28 days. Herzog may add up to 14 more. Ynet reported that Eisenkot does not intend to swear in a government this week even if he reaches agreements sooner.

The seat math is the hard part. Netanyahu's bloc won 53 of 120 seats. The four Zionist opposition parties won 48. Ra'am and the Joint List won a record 19 between them. A government needs 61 votes to win the Knesset's confidence.

0

20

40

60

Netanyahu's bloc53

Zionist opposition parties48

Ra'am and Joint List19

Netanyahu's blocZionist opposition partiesRa'am and Joint List

Source: The Jerusalem Post

Show the numbers

Bloc	Seats
Netanyahu's bloc	53
Zionist opposition parties	48
Ra'am and Joint List	19

The Zionist opposition alone is 13 seats short. Eisenkot can close the gap with support from the Arab-led parties, or by drawing away parties from Netanyahu's side. Each route carries a cost, as the next sections show.

How the opposition reads the U.S. vote#

Opposition leaders tied the U.S. results directly to Netanyahu within hours.

Yair Lapid, a former prime minister, wrote that the results showed "Israel cannot afford" for Netanyahu to stay. "It endangers our security, it jeopardizes our democracy, and it will ruin our standing on the global stage," he said, Al Jazeera reported. He traced the problem to 2015, when Netanyahu addressed Congress against the Iran nuclear deal President Barack Obama was negotiating. "Israel doesn't choose sides in America. We work with everyone," Lapid wrote.

Lapid also played down the shift in Congress. "There will be more extreme voices there, but even after the elections, we're talking about 25 members of Congress out of 435," he said, as quoted by The Washington Times. He noted that Hakeem Jeffries will lead the House and Chuck Schumer the Senate. "Both are my friends [and] both voted with Israel this year, even when the majority of their party caucus voted otherwise," he said.$$

Yair Golan, leader of The Democrats, said the U.S. vote showed "just how toxic Netanyahu has become" among Democrats and Republicans alike. He warned of "a path toward international sanctions, global isolation, and a confrontation with the United States" if Netanyahu's government stayed.

Gadi Eisenkot promised repair. "We will renew and deepen that partnership, strengthen the bipartisan foundations that have long sustained it," he wrote on X. "Israel will remain one of America's most reliable and capable strategic partners in the Middle East."

Israeli commentary went further. "For us in Israel, this will be a generational sea change," a columnist in Yedioth Ahronoth wrote, the BBC reported. "One thing is clear: we are losing America," Ben Caspit wrote in Ma'ariv, according to The Guardian. "It is a decree of Netanyahu."

How Netanyahu's camp reads it#

Netanyahu did not comment on the U.S. results in the first days after the vote. Reuters reported on November 4 that his office did not respond to a request for comment.

His office did respond on Friday to Trump's Election Day announcement that U.S. military aid to Israel would end. It framed the change as Israel's choice and a sign of strength. "The transition by Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump from assistance to partnership demonstrates the strength and sophistication of our relationship," the statement said, according to Ynet. Our aid report covers that debate in detail.

The argument from Netanyahu's side is about stability. "We cannot afford to be dragged into endless political disputes and election campaigns," an opinion writer in the right-leaning Israel Hayom wrote, as quoted by the BBC. The BBC said some government supporters argue Netanyahu offers continuity and deep knowledge of U.S. leaders.

Netanyahu made the case directly on Saturday night. "This is a time for unity," he said in a recorded address, according to Ynet. "There is only one choice, not national suicide, but national unity." He called for "a national unity government that will include all the parties of the national camp and all the Zionist parties that want to protect our country." Ynet noted his plan would initially keep the core of his current coalition, including Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit.

Defense Minister Israel Katz echoed him on Sunday and tied unity to Iran. "The mission against Iran has not been completed," Katz said. "Given the major missions still ahead of us, we must be united."

The Yashar party rejected the offer. "If Likud and its allies are suddenly interested in 'unity' and a broad government, they are more than welcome to publicly announce the dissolution of their alliance with the extremists," it said, according to Ynet. It also called Netanyahu's address a "hysterical speech." Those words are the party's own.

What Washington voices are saying back#

The U.S. side of the conversation is not one voice either.

Lapid's call for a trust-building tour drew a sharp reply from Brad Lander, a New York Democrat elected to Congress last week who describes himself as a liberal Zionist. "We aren't starving for a barnstorming tour. We're hungry to see respect for international law and human rights," Lander wrote, The Guardian reported.

A U.S. official who spoke to the BBC without authorization to go on record said that before the midterms Netanyahu might have improved ties by dropping his two far-right ministers. "I think everyone understands now it's bigger than [that]," the official said. The same official said the "bedrock fundamental relationship will still be there."

Vice President JD Vance has added a Republican dimension. He listed changing "our relationship to Israel" among four steps a pollster said would win back lost Trump voters, Reuters reported. Israeli analyst Yaakov Katz told the BBC that might be "even worse than what happened in the midterms" for Israel, because it shows the doubts now reach Trump's own party. Trump himself told CBS's 60 Minutes that "there's a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel," according to the CBS transcript.$

Nadav Tamir, a former Israeli diplomat who now runs J Street Israel, saw a possible upside. The new Congress "will be less willing to define support for Israel as automatic alignment with every policy of its government," he wrote, as quoted by The Guardian. "But precisely for that reason, it may offer Israel more meaningful support."

Does the U.S. result help Eisenkot build a coalition?#

The Guardian's Emma Graham-Harrison argued that the Democratic sweep "may make it easier for Israel's splintered opposition to overcome deep internal divisions" by raising the urgency of replacing Netanyahu. That is an analysis, not a measured effect. No published poll since the U.S. vote shows Israeli voters or lawmakers changing their positions because of it.

The obstacles are domestic and concrete. Avigdor Liberman, whose Yisrael Beytenu backs Eisenkot, ruled out one route on Sunday. "I will not lend a hand to the establishment of such a government," he wrote, referring to a government dependent on Ra'am and the Joint List. He said it "would harm security and return Netanyahu to power," Ynet reported.

Eisenkot was due to meet Beyachad leader Naftali Bennett on Sunday evening and Liberman on Monday. In his acceptance speech he said "creative and unconventional political steps" would be needed for what he called a "national emergency government," according to The Jerusalem Post.

The Israel spectrum chart below shows where 567politics places the main parties on economic and social axes. The positions are dated editorial estimates, not measured scores, and they help explain why a coalition spanning Yisrael Beytenu, The Democrats and the Arab-led parties is hard to assemble.

For party detail, see the profiles of Yashar, Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu.

What happens if Eisenkot fails#

Israeli law sets a clear sequence, as The Jerusalem Post laid out. If Eisenkot fails, gives up or loses a confidence vote, Herzog has three days to choose another lawmaker or tell the Knesset speaker he sees no path. A second candidate gets 28 days with no extension. If that fails, 61 lawmakers can jointly ask Herzog to name someone, who would get 14 days. If every attempt fails, the Knesset dissolves and Israel votes again. Until a new government wins a confidence vote, Netanyahu's government stays on as caretaker.

1. Oct. 27Knesset election leaves no bloc with 61 seats
2. Nov. 3U.S. midterms give Democrats both chambers of Congress
3. Nov. 4-5Herzog consults parties; 67 lawmakers back Eisenkot, 46 Netanyahu
4. Nov. 8Herzog gives Eisenkot the mandate; 28-day clock starts
5. Dec. 6First 28-day deadline, extendable by up to 14 days

Source: The Jerusalem Post, Ynet

What to watch#

• Liberman and the Arab-led parties. Whether Eisenkot can find a formula that Liberman accepts without Arab party votes, or persuades him otherwise.
• Netanyahu's partners. Whether any party in Netanyahu's bloc breaks away. None had publicly done so as of Sunday night.
• Washington outreach. Whether Eisenkot or Lapid open formal contacts with Democratic leaders before Congress is sworn in on January 3.
• The aid talks. The caretaker government says it hopes to reach a new U.S. framework before January 3, 2027. A new prime minister may inherit, or reopen, that negotiation.

About this report#

This report draws on reporting by Ynet, The Jerusalem Post, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Reuters, The Washington Times, the BBC and The Guardian, and the CBS transcript of Trump's 60 Minutes interview. Quotes from Hebrew-language media are as translated by those outlets. Times are Eastern.

Differing perspectives

What should Israel's next government do about its standing in Washington after the U.S. midterms?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Change policies, not only leaders

  Who holds it: Rep.-elect Brad Lander and other U.S. Democrats critical of Israeli policy

  Lander argues that Israeli leaders are not listening to what American voters, Jewish and non-Jewish, are saying. Answering Lapid's plan to rebuild trust, he wrote that Americans are not starving for a barnstorming tour but want respect for international law and human rights. He points to the detention of journalist Abed Abu Shehada, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and has called for his release.

  In their words: The Guardian, quoting Lander's post ↗

• Form a national unity government under Netanyahu

  Who holds it: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Likud

  Netanyahu argues the country faces a choice between national unity and what he calls national suicide. He calls for a government of all the national camp and Zionist parties that want to protect the country. Katz says the mission against Iran is unfinished and that major security tasks ahead require unity, responsibility and the full strength of the army and the people.

  In their words: Ynet, quoting Netanyahu and Katz ↗

• Rely on the Trump administration's remaining term

  Who holds it: Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee

  Danon argues Trump will be in the White House for two more years and that Israel can feel good about the U.S. veto at the UN Security Council. He acknowledges that criticism of Israel in both U.S. parties will make things harder. Huckabee has signaled little change in core U.S. positions, calling other countries' sanctions over the West Bank irrational and counterproductive.

  In their words: BBC, quoting Danon and Huckabee ↗

• Replace Netanyahu and rebuild bipartisan ties

  Who holds it: Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Democrats leader Yair Golan

  Opposition leaders argue that Netanyahu's close alignment with one U.S. party has damaged Israel's standing in Washington. Lapid says the results show Israel cannot afford for him to stay. Golan says the vote showed how toxic Netanyahu has become and warns of sanctions, isolation and a clash with the United States. Eisenkot promises to renew the partnership and strengthen its bipartisan foundations.

  In their words: Al Jazeera, quoting the leaders' posts ↗

{{cite news |title=Eisenkot gets the mandate days after the US midterms, and America is now his pitch against Netanyahu |url=https://567politics.com/news/israel-eisenkot-mandate-us-midterms-netanyahu-bipartisan-ties-november-2026 |work=567politics |author=567 Politics staff |date=2026-11-09 |language=en}}

{
  "id": "https://567politics.com/news/israel-eisenkot-mandate-us-midterms-netanyahu-bipartisan-ties-november-2026",
  "type": "article-newspaper",
  "title": "Eisenkot gets the mandate days after the US midterms, and America is now his pitch against Netanyahu",
  "URL": "https://567politics.com/news/israel-eisenkot-mandate-us-midterms-netanyahu-bipartisan-ties-november-2026",
  "container-title": "567politics",
  "language": "en",
  "author": [
    {
      "literal": "567 Politics staff"
    }
  ],
  "issued": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2026,
        11,
        9
      ]
    ]
  }
}

<iframe src="https://567politics.com/embed/news/israel-eisenkot-mandate-us-midterms-netanyahu-bipartisan-ties-november-2026?theme=auto" title="Eisenkot gets the mandate days after the US midterms, and America is now his pitch against Netanyahu by 567politics" width="100%" height="440" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="font-size:14px">Eisenkot gets the mandate days after the US midterms, and America is now his pitch against Netanyahu by <a href="https://567politics.com/news/israel-eisenkot-mandate-us-midterms-netanyahu-bipartisan-ties-november-2026" rel="nofollow">567politics</a></p>
<script async src="https://567politics.com/embed.js"></script>