Eisenkot has the recommendations; Liberman’s veto keeps him short of sixty-one

Party heads in the opposition camp, led by Gadi Eisenkot, were due to meet on Tuesday 3 November after all endorsing him for prime minister, The New Arab reported, while Netanyahu maintains that voters chose him. The Times of Israel’s front page summarised Avigdor Liberman’s position as backing Eisenkot for prime minister while ruling out a minority government with Arab support; the hawkish leader says he will not serve with Netanyahu and blames Eisenkot for a failed campaign. Haaretz’s live file carried the same recommendation. On the other side of the ledger, the Joint List — described as three Arab-majority parties — has signalled it will support the Eisenkot bloc without demanding cabinet seats, and its chairman Yousef Jabareen welcomed Sohlberg’s “unequivocal statement” on the validity of the count. Netanyahu, per Haaretz, says he is seeking a “broad national government” with any party that “opposes terrorism”.

The campaign has not ended with the count. Haaretz’s Michael Hauser Tov reported on Monday that right-wing activists staged protests on Saturday and Sunday, gathering outside Eisenkot’s home on Sunday with personal attacks over the death of his son in Gaza; Haaretz rendered the chant in its headline as “You Murdered Your Son”. The Times of Israel’s topic page carried footage of right-wing protesters shouting slogans outside the Yashar leader’s home. Eisenkot wrote on X on Sunday, via Anadolu, that efforts by Netanyahu and Likud to discredit the results and steer the country toward another election had “failed”. In remarks carried by the Times of Israel he accused Netanyahu and his party of a “destructive and violent campaign of delegitimization against the election results”, calling it “a direct assault on Israeli democracy”.

Assessment: Endorsements are not seats. The arithmetic — ours, not reported — is that 48 plus Liberman cannot reach 61 without the 19 Arab seats, and Liberman has publicly foreclosed the minority arrangement that would bridge the gap. That is why the Joint List’s offer to support a government without taking cabinet posts matters: it is designed to lower the price of Arab backing to something Liberman might eventually swallow. Watch whether his veto is a position or an opening bid. Meanwhile the certification fight and the protests outside Eisenkot’s home are not separate stories from this one; both raise the cost to Liberman of being the man who seats a government that half the Knesset calls illegitimate. Netanyahu’s “broad national government” is the alternative on offer.