Key facts
- Opposition parties hold 67 of the 120 Knesset seats, enough to install a consensus choice for speaker.
- The speaker role is held by Amir Ohana, described as a close ally of Netanyahu.
- If Eisenkot does not take the speaker role, a nominee from his Yashar party will be put forward, per the report.
- More than 160 former security officials warned that rightwing activists planned to block lawmakers from entering the Knesset.
- Palestinian citizens of Israel make up about 20% of the population and won 19 seats, per the report.
- Opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman has sought an alternative path through an alliance with ultra-Orthodox parties.
Israel's new Knesset was sworn in on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, giving opposition politicians their first chance to take control of some levers of power even as they struggle to form a government to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu. High on the agenda is replacing the speaker, who controls the legislature's agenda. The role is held by Amir Ohana, a close ally of Netanyahu.
Gadi Eisenkot, the former Israeli military chief who received the presidential mandate at the weekend to try to form a coalition, may take the speaker role himself, Israeli media reported on Monday. If he does not, opposition parties have agreed that someone from his Yashar party will be the nominee. The opposition holds 67 seats in the 120-seat legislature, enough to install a consensus choice for speaker.
More than 160 former security officials, including heads of the military, intelligence and police, warned in a letter that rightwing activists planned to disrupt the day with violent attacks. The forum of retired commanders, Democracy's Protective Wall, said in the letter to serving security chiefs that "actors who oppose replacing the Knesset speaker intend to go to the Knesset on the day of the swearing-in ceremony and to prevent the MKs and their family members from entering the building." Ma'ariv newspaper quoted the letter saying the same actors were encouraging tens of thousands of supporters to help them.
Several Jewish-Israeli opposition parties in the change bloc have sworn not to sit with the Palestinian-led parties that hold over a quarter of the bloc's seats, or to join a minority government backed by them. Palestinian citizens of Israel make up about 20% of the population and voted in unprecedented numbers this year, giving them 19 seats, according to the report. Without them, the opposition bloc has fewer seats than Netanyahu's diminished coalition.
Rightwing opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman has been seeking an alternative path to government through an alliance with ultra-Orthodox parties, long Netanyahu allies frustrated by his failure to pass broad military draft exemptions for their community. Eisenkot has vowed to broker a national emergency government, saying: "No one will be able to fulfil all the [campaign] promises they made, and all of us will need to compromise."
Ohana could delay signing in a new government for up to a week, according to the report. If Eisenkot cannot form a government, the mandate passes to other leaders and, if they too fail, Israel must hold elections again, with Netanyahu and his far-right allies staying on as a caretaker government. Gideon Rahat, chair in political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that once an alternative government is established, "it would be hard to oust them."