Netanyahu faces government formation hurdle after losing Knesset majority
The prime minister's bloc holds 53 seats, falling short of the 61 needed to rule, while President Herzog tasks Gadi Eisenkot with building a coalition.
By Ethan Cook ·
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost his parliamentary majority in the recent Israeli elections.
The results shifted the balance of power in the 120-member Knesset, leaving the prime minister in a minority position for the first time in years.
The Netanyahu bloc now controls 53 seats, down from a solid majority in previous terms.
Lawmakers aligned against Netanyahu hold 67 seats, creating a fragmented landscape for forming a new administration.
The election took place on October 27, 2026.
In the weeks following the vote, President Isaac Herzog assigned the task of forming a government to Gadi Eisenkot, the leader of the anti-Netanyahu bloc.
Palestinian parties recommended Eisenkot for the role after securing 19 seats in the Knesset.
Eisenkot now faces a difficult arithmetic challenge to reach the 61 seats required to form a governing coalition.
The path to government formation involves several potential but complex strategies.
One option for Netanyahu is to recruit lawmakers from the opposing bloc to join his camp, a tactic he has used successfully in the past.
He is unlikely to work with the Palestinian parties, as his political stance generally excludes them from coalition building.
For the anti-Netanyahu bloc, the most direct route would involve partnering with the two Palestinian parties to reach the necessary threshold of 61 seats, but this option faces internal resistance from Jewish leaders who have promised to avoid such alliances under any circumstances, including Eisenkot. This bloc is also considering courting the religious Orthodox parties, which have traditionally supported Netanyahu, though this would require promising exemptions from military service for Haredi youth, a move that contradicts Eisenkot’s campaign pledges to enforce conscription for this group. A third possibility is a unity government with a rotating premiership between Netanyahu and a leader of the opposition bloc. However, a law passed in recent years bars Netanyahu from serving as a minister while he is a defendant in an ongoing trial, a restriction that does not apply to the prime ministerial post. This legal framework complicates any rotation, as Netanyahu would likely demand the premiership first to avoid being barred from cabinet service during his lengthy corruption trial, a dynamic that played out in 2020 when he broke a rotation deal with Benny Gantz. If neither bloc can secure the necessary support, Israel will hold new elections in six months, allowing the current government to remain in office with limited authority until the next vote.
