Update: Herzog Tells Israeli Party Leaders to 'Stop Climbing Trees' Before Coalition Talks Begin
Israel's president starts meeting the parties elected to the 26th Knesset on Wednesday, with neither camp holding a working majority and Likud warning against moves to remove the speaker.
Learn more ›JERUSALEM, Israel —
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Sunday, Nov. 1, urged the country's party leaders to give up their campaign positions and work to prevent another election, The Times of Israel reported. Speaking at a state memorial ceremony for Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first president, Herzog said, “stop climbing trees, and face reality.”
“The election results are an established fact — they are reality,” Herzog said. The Times of Israel said the remarks signaled a push for a unity government. He asked leaders to come to the talks with an open mind.
Herzog is to receive the official results of the Oct. 27 election on Wednesday from Justice Noam Sohlberg, chairman of the Central Elections Committee. He will then begin consultations at the President's Residence with every faction elected to the 26th Knesset, ask each leader whom they recommend for prime minister, and choose a lawmaker to try to form a government.
Learn more ›Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc holds 53 of the 120 seats. The Jewish-led parties opposed to him hold 48, and the Arab-led Joint List and Ra'am hold a record 19. That makes 67 together, but Yashar, B'Yachad and Yisrael Beytenu have said they will not sit in a coalition with the Arab, non-Zionist parties.
Joint List lawmaker Ahmad Tibi told Channel 12 his party would recommend a candidate from the Zionist parties opposed to Netanyahu and would support an alternative government from outside. Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot is the presumed choice, and Ra'am is expected to recommend him. Naftali Bennett and Yisrael Beytenu's Avigdor Liberman have not made an unequivocal commitment. Democrats chairman Yair Golan is the only Jewish-led opposition figure openly backing cooperation with Arab parties.
See where this is ›From the Likud side, Dimona Mayor Benny Biton, a Netanyahu ally, told Kan Reshet Bet that “Benjamin Netanyahu wants unity” and suggested Herzog and U.S. President Donald Trump could guarantee a deal between the camps. He warned that moving against Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana of Likud would amount to “a declaration of war.” Likud coalition whip Ofir Katz told Army Radio the party opposes a rotation deal sharing the premiership with Netanyahu.
The new Knesset is sworn in Nov. 10. Parties opposed to Netanyahu have discussed quickly replacing Ohana, then naming committee heads and setting up a state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Hebrew-language outlets also report that senior figures in the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party may support an Eisenkot-led government from outside in exchange for legislation, budgets and progress on military conscription; chairman Yaakov Asher had said before the election the party would not enter a government without a military-service law.
See where this is ›What we don't know yet: Whom Herzog will choose to form a government, whether any unity talks will begin, and whether Bennett and Liberman will back Eisenkot. Biton said he did not know whether a unity government came up in a recent call between Netanyahu and Trump. The United Torah Judaism report rests on Hebrew media accounts cited by The Times of Israel.
