Eisenkot's bloc has 67 votes to oust Israel's Knesset speaker. The Haredi party it courted says not yet

Israel's 26th Knesset is sworn in on Tuesday with its first fight already set: whether to remove Speaker Amir Ohana of Likud before anyone has formed a government. On Monday, Gadi Eisenkot and Avigdor Liberman agreed that the next speaker should come from Eisenkot's Yashar! party, according to Kikar HaShabbat. The same day, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) turned down Yashar's invitation to join the effort, saying a speaker should change only when a new government takes office.

The outcome matters beyond the chair. The speaker controls much of the parliamentary agenda, including votes, legislation and committee appointments, as The Jerusalem Post noted. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a caretaker government and may stay in that role for weeks or months. A speaker from the anti-Netanyahu camp would give that camp a lever over the Knesset even if it cannot yet form a cabinet.

What happened on Monday#

Eisenkot met Liberman, the leader of Yisrael Beytenu, on Monday. Afterward Yashar issued a statement calling it "a substantive and positive meeting." It said the two "expressed their full confidence in their ability to form a stable government for four years," according to the Jerusalem Post. The statement did not say who the bloc's candidate for speaker would be.

Kikar HaShabbat, a Haredi news site, reported that the two agreed the post would go to a Yashar lawmaker. That is a shift from Liberman's earlier proposal to install Yair Lapid, now of Naftali Bennett's Beyachad list, as speaker. Kikar's reporter wrote that Liberman now appears ready to drop his demand for a vote on Tuesday itself in exchange for that agreement. That is the outlet's reading, not a public statement by Liberman. Yashar had not named its candidate by Monday evening.

One option reported by the Jerusalem Post would make Eisenkot himself speaker. He would resign if he formed a government and became prime minister. If he failed, he could keep the chair and his influence over the agenda.

Also on Monday, Yashar's incoming faction chair, Roy Folkman, sent letters to the leaders of Shas and UTJ inviting both Haredi parties to back Ohana's replacement. Yashar said signature collection for a formal request had already begun, according to the Jerusalem Post.

UTJ chairman Yaakov Asher said no. "United Torah Judaism's principled position is that the replacement of the Knesset speaker should take place simultaneously with the formation of a new government, rather than upon the convening of the Knesset," his statement said. He called that "the appropriate and customary practice." He said it was meant "to prevent an absurd situation in which a Knesset speaker could be elected who would be opposed to the government that is formed."

A senior UTJ figure told Kikar HaShabbat that "a significant week" lay ahead on cooperation with the anti-Netanyahu bloc. Shas recommended Netanyahu for the mandate last week and has not said it will work with the opposition bloc.

How the speaker can be replaced#

The bloc's push began last Thursday. Four parties, Yashar!, Yisrael Beytenu, Beyachad and the Democrats, sent letters to Ohana demanding a vote on a new speaker at the first session on Nov. 10, Ynet reported. "I hereby request that a vote to elect the speaker of the Knesset be held at the first session of the 26th Knesset," one letter said. The Joint List, an alliance of Arab parties, said it would file a similar request.

Ohana answered on X. "The customary time for electing a Knesset speaker is when the government is formed," he wrote, as quoted by Ynet. "The exception is when a letter bearing the signatures of a majority of Knesset members, at least 61 lawmakers, is submitted requesting that a speaker be elected earlier." He said that if a majority asked, he would schedule the vote "no later than one week" later. "There will be no clinging to power at all costs," he wrote. He told the bloc it could "stop promoting conspiracy theories in the media."

Ohana has said he will not hold the vote on the day of the swearing-in itself, the Jerusalem Post reported. So even with 61 signatures, the change would most likely come the following week.

The arithmetic behind 61#

The numbers explain why the Haredi parties matter. The final count gave Netanyahu's bloc 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats and the Jewish-led opposition bloc 48. The Joint List and Ra'am together hold 19, according to the Jerusalem Post's election live page. 567 Politics reported the full result in its story on Israel's final count.

Netanyahu's bloc

53

Eisenkot-led opposition bloc

48

Arab parties (Joint List and Ra'am)

19

Source: The Jerusalem Post

Show the numbers

Bloc	Seats
Netanyahu's bloc	53
Eisenkot-led opposition bloc	48
Arab parties (Joint List and Ra'am)	19

The 48 opposition seats plus the 19 Arab seats come to 67. That is enough to sign a speaker request and elect a new speaker without any Haredi votes. Kikar HaShabbat made the same point, saying a 61-vote majority looked within reach once the Eisenkot-Liberman deal was in place.

But a speaker elected with Arab votes would rely on the same 67 lawmakers who recommended Eisenkot to President Isaac Herzog. Those parties have not agreed to govern together. Anadolu Agency's explainer on coalition rules noted that Eisenkot received 67 recommendations to Netanyahu's 46. It also noted that recommending him did not commit any party to join his government. Most leaders in Eisenkot's camp reject governing agreements with Arab parties, as does Netanyahu's bloc.

UTJ, with seven seats, recommended no one, according to the same explainer. It abstained amid a dispute over military-service exemptions for yeshiva students. That is why both camps are courting it. 567 Politics described those courtships in its earlier story on Eisenkot's path to 61 through the Haredi parties.

Why each side wants the chair now or later#

Eisenkot has said replacing the speaker is only the first step. He said the bloc would seek to repeal laws he described as threatening democracy. "We will act as quickly as possible to prevent Israel from being dragged into another election and to stop Netanyahu from further entrenching himself in power," he said last week, according to Ynet.

Liberman has set out a sequence. He wants the new Knesset to replace the speaker first, then appoint a new state comptroller, then pass a two-term limit for prime ministers, and then repeal the judicial overhaul laws. "That is the correct order of priorities," he said, according to a second Ynet report.

Ohana, of Likud, frames the issue as one of custom: the speaker is normally chosen when the government is formed. He has not argued that an early vote would be illegal, only that it is the exception. UTJ's stated reason is similar but comes from outside Netanyahu's bloc. A speaker hostile to the eventual government, it argues, would create an "absurd situation."

The two arguments rest on different facts. Ohana's point about custom matches his own description of the rules: an early vote is an exception that needs 61 signatures. The bloc's case rests on the fact that it has a numerical majority now, even though it may not have a governing one. The rules allow either path. The dispute is over which norm should apply when no camp can yet form a government.

A bloc under strain#

The speaker fight is the first test of a bloc showing open strains. Liberman has pushed for a government that includes Haredi parties. Eisenkot has explored a minority government with outside support from Ra'am, Ynet reported. "Anyone in our camp who talks about a minority government is crowning Netanyahu within six months for another four-year term with at least 70 seats," Liberman said on Sunday.

Yair Golan of the Democrats hit back the same day. "If Liberman wants a government that won't draft the Haredim and won't repeal the judicial overhaul laws, he is welcome to form a government with Netanyahu," he said. Liberman called the criticism "a pile-on of stupidity and malice." He added that anyone proposing a different order of priorities "is simply an idiot."

When Herzog handed him the mandate on Sunday, Eisenkot appeared to warn his partners. "Anyone who tries to sabotage the formation of the government for personal rather than substantive reasons will be remembered by history as someone who failed to save Israel in a time of emergency," he said, according to Ynet. Bennett has stayed almost silent in public since the election, the same report said.

Netanyahu, for his part, has called for a "broad national government" that would include parties from the other bloc. 567 Politics covered that offer in its story on Netanyahu's broad-government call.

The clock#

Eisenkot has 28 days from Sunday to form a government. Kikar HaShabbat put the deadline at Dec. 6, 2026. Herzog can extend it by up to 14 days.

1. 2026-10-27Election; no bloc wins 61 seats
2. 2026-11-05Four opposition parties ask for a speaker vote at the first session
3. 2026-11-08Herzog gives Eisenkot the mandate
4. 2026-11-09Eisenkot and Liberman agree the speaker should come from Yashar; UTJ declines to join
5. 2026-11-10The 26th Knesset is sworn in
6. 2026-12-06Eisenkot's initial deadline to present a government

Source: Anadolu Agency, Kikar HaShabbat

If Eisenkot fails, Herzog can name another lawmaker, who would get 28 days with no extension. He can also send the process to the Knesset, which then has 21 days to put forward a candidate backed by 61 lawmakers, according to Anadolu. If every round fails, the Knesset is dissolved and a new election must follow within 90 days.

The 567 Politics Israeli party spectrum places Yashar, Likud, United Torah Judaism and Yisrael Beytenu using dated editorial estimates, not measured scores.

What to watch#

Several questions remain open as lawmakers take their oaths. Yashar has not named its speaker candidate. It is not yet known whether the request will carry 61 signatures and whether they will include the Joint List and Ra'am. Shas has not said whether it will respond to Folkman's letter. A vote, if requested, would most likely come next week, under Ohana's stated timeline.

567 Politics will update this story when the bloc names its candidate or Ohana sets a date for the vote.

Differing perspectives

Should Israel's new Knesset replace Speaker Amir Ohana before a new government is formed?

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 the speaker only together with a new government

  Who holds it: United Torah Judaism, through its chairman Yaakov Asher

  UTJ says, as a matter of principle, that replacing the speaker should happen at the same time a new government is formed, not when the Knesset first convenes. It calls this the appropriate and customary practice, followed with very few exceptions, and says it prevents a situation in which the Knesset is led by a speaker opposed to the government that eventually takes office.

  In their words: The Jerusalem Post ↗

• Follow the custom of choosing a speaker with the government

  Who holds it: Speaker Amir Ohana and Likud

  Ohana says the customary time to elect a Knesset speaker is when a government is formed, and that an earlier vote is the exception, available only if a letter signed by at least 61 lawmakers asks for it. He says he will respect the members of the Knesset and, if a majority asks, schedule the vote for an earlier date no later than one week.

  In their words: Kikar HaShabbat ↗

• Replace the speaker at the start of the Knesset

  Who holds it: Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar!, Yisrael Beytenu, Beyachad and the Democrats; the Joint List said it would file a similar request

  The anti-Netanyahu parties argue that a majority of the newly elected Knesset opposes the outgoing government and should control parliament's agenda now. They say a new speaker is the first step toward repealing laws they see as threatening democracy, appointing a new state comptroller and limiting prime ministers' terms, and toward preventing another election while Netanyahu leads a caretaker government.

  In their words: Ynet ↗

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