Opposition bloc agrees on Knesset speaker, key committee chairs

Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot said on Tuesday that his opposition bloc had agreed on candidates for top posts in the incoming Knesset.

The announcement came hours before the 26th Knesset was set to be sworn in.

Eisenkot said he reached the deal with Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid’s B’Yachad party, Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu and The Democrats, led by Yair Golan.

The agreement covers “the period of the mandate to form the government,” Eisenkot wrote on X.

The bloc’s candidate for Knesset speaker is incoming MK Matan Kahana (B’Yachad), who would replace Amir Ohana (Likud). Liberman is slated to chair the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Incoming MK Roy Folkman (Yashar) is the pick to head the Arrangements Committee. Incoming MK Liran Avishar Ben Horin (B’Yachad) is set to lead the Finance Committee.

Committee lineups will be worked out in the Arrangements Committee this week, Eisenkot said. They are expected to go to the Knesset plenum for approval on Wednesday.

Ohana said on Thursday he would move up the vote to replace him only if at least 61 lawmakers sign a letter asking for it.

“We will respect the Knesset members, and if a majority of them ask to hold such a debate, I will set it for an early date and no later than a week,” he wrote on X.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Sunday tasked Eisenkot with forming the next Israeli government. Under Israel’s Basic Law: The Government, Eisenkot has 28 days to form a coalition. Herzog can extend that by up to 14 days.

If Eisenkot fails, the president can task another candidate, who also gets 28 days to try.

If that attempt also fails, at least 61 members of Knesset have 21 days to request an alternative candidate, who then gets 14 days to form a government.

If that effort fails, another national election will be held in about 90 days’ time.