Herzog opens consultations with Eisenkot at 48 and Netanyahu at 46

Ynet, reporting Wednesday, counts 48 expected endorsements for Gadi Eisenkot against 46 for Benjamin Netanyahu as President Herzog begins consultations at his residence. Ra’am, the Joint List and United Torah Judaism are uncommitted. The two blocs together account for 94 of 120 seats, leaving 26 undeclared — enough that Ynet flags a second round of consultations as possible. Herzog is breaking with tradition by hearing the smallest parties first; the schedule Ynet publishes runs through to Zehut at 20:45. The bloc assembled over three days: B’Yachad, led by Naftali Bennett, announced for Eisenkot on Sunday; the Democrats followed on Monday. Party chairman Yair Golan is the only leader openly calling for the anti-Netanyahu bloc to form a coalition with the Arab parties. The Jerusalem Post reports the new Knesset is expected to be sworn in on 10 November regardless of coalition progress.

Assessment: The 48 and 46 are Ynet’s tally of expected endorsements, not declarations lodged with the President’s Residence, and should be read as a forecast. The arithmetic explains the two stories above it: the parties being investigated by the Shin Bet, and the parties Likud says stole the election, are the same parties whose 26 seats decide whether Netanyahu returns. Delegitimising their votes and delegitimising their recommendations are the same act performed twice. Golan’s position — an explicit coalition with the Arab parties — is the one that would settle it, and the one no other bloc leader has yet endorsed.