Herzog resumes talks on who will form next Israeli government

Israeli President Isaac Herzog resumed consultations on Thursday with the parties elected to the 26th Knesset, according to the President’s Residence, as the head of state weighed whom to task with forming the next government.

United Torah Judaism told Herzog that it would not recommend any Knesset member to form the next government. The haredi faction’s delegation included lawmakers Yitzhak Goldknopf and Yitzhak Pindrus, as well as Moshe Rosenthal, Amitai Shulman and Moti Babchik.

Pindrus spoke out against the military conscription of yeshivah students and “incitement” against the haredi community, according to Ynet. He told Herzog that any new government must deal with “a reality in which Torah learners are persecuted.”

“Torah learners are persecuted; they are considered criminals,” Goldknopf added.

UTJ opened the day at 8:30 a.m. Otzma Yehudit was scheduled to follow at 9:45 a.m. and the Democrats at 11 a.m.

The United Arab List (Ra’am) was due to meet with Herzog at 12:15 p.m., followed by the Arab-majority Joint List at 4:45 p.m.

B’Yachad was scheduled for 6 p.m., followed by Yashar at 7:15 p.m. Likud, the final faction on the schedule, was set to meet with Herzog at 8:30 p.m.

Herzog met with representatives of Religious Zionism, Shas, Yisrael Beiteinu and Zehut on Wednesday evening. Religious Zionism, Shas and Zehut recommended Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Yisrael Beiteinu backed Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot.

Ra’am announced it would recommend Eisenkot ahead of its Thursday meeting with Herzog.

On Tuesday night, Herzog urged the newly elected factions to work toward a stable government and avoid another election. He spoke as he accepted the European Jewish Congress’s highest honor in Tel Aviv.

He called on party leaders to come to the President’s Residence with “an open mind and an open heart.”

“The government of Israel is not a zero-sum game between winners and losers,” he said. “We have to find the right mechanisms to have a stable government and not to vote for further elections.”

Netanyahu: Government reliant on Islamists would ‘tear us apart’

Netanyahu warned on Wednesday that an Israeli government dependent on Islamist parties would be unable to confront radical Islam and would “tear us apart from within.”

In a video statement posted on X, the premier called the prospect “a matter of our very survival.”

Netanyahu renewed his call for a broad national government led by his Likud Party and headed by him, comprising all members of his right-wing political bloc and any Zionist parties willing to join.

He accused opposition leaders of pursuing a government dependent on parties he described as supporters of terrorism.

Netanyahu also demanded a full investigation into suspected foreign interference in the Oct. 27 Knesset election. He noted that Justice Noam Sohlberg, chairman of the Central Elections Committee, had directed the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) to open a security investigation.

However, Sohlberg has said that even if the suspicions of foreign funding were substantiated, they would not invalidate the election results.

Eisenkot vows to ‘renew and deepen’ US-Israel partnership

Eisenkot addressed Israel’s friends in the United States and around the world in an X post on Wednesday, pledging to “renew and deepen” the partnership with Washington under his leadership.

“The Israeli people have voted for change and to replace the current government,” Eisenkot wrote in English.

Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious bloc won 53 seats in the Oct. 27 Knesset election. The Zionist opposition parties—Yashar, B’Yachad (Together), the Democrats and Yisrael Beiteinu—won 48.

The Joint List and Ra’am together secured 19 seats, leaving neither bloc with the 61 seats needed for a Knesset majority.