Liberman backs Eisenkot for PM, Lapid for speaker, rules out Netanyahu

Update, 2 November, 15:07 Israel time

Further remarks from the same Liberman briefing have emerged, covering a presidential vote, repeat elections and how the opposition might govern. Amit Segal reported that Liberman said a minority government would last under a year and that Netanyahu would then return with 70 seats, and that he would not back Netanyahu for president, a point Ynet also carried in an alert.

The Times of Israel reported that he was less direct about outside backing from United Torah Judaism, the ultra-Orthodox party that has said it may support the anti-Netanyahu bloc, answering that the bloc would first take control of the Knesset. He said his aim was a quick government rather than the premiership for himself, called new elections the worst option, and rejected the idea of directly electing the prime minister.

• N12 reported he would not sit with Itamar Ben Gvir or others in the coalition he holds responsible for October 7.
• He called replacing the speaker critical and said a transitional government cannot pass complex laws such as a military draft bill, according to N12.
• If war with Iran breaks out, his party would back the government from outside without joining it, N12 said.
• He said the Palestinian Authority's involvement radicalised the vote but that the election was not stolen, and saw no prospect of a state commission of inquiry during the transition, N12 reported.

News.co.il reported that he named the Palestinian Authority as the foreign entity suspected of funding the Joint List. He offered no evidence in the reports.

The story as first reported

Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beytenu party, said at a press briefing that his party will recommend Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, as the person to be given the mandate to form Israel's next government. The Times of Israel reported that the announcement followed much speculation about which way he would go, and that Liberman also said he would back Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, the number two on the B'Yachad list, in a bid to become Speaker of the Knesset, Israel's parliament.

Liberman also said he would not join a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in any scenario, including a rotation deal under which Liberman himself would hold the premiership first. "Even if the world turns upside down, I will not sit with Netanyahu," he said, according to N12. In the same briefing he criticised the opposition's election campaign and laid the blame for its result on Eisenkot, Ynet reported.

Why a recommendation matters

After an Israeli election, the president holds consultations with each party represented in the new Knesset, and party leaders say whom they recommend to form a government. The president then assigns the task to a candidate. The Times of Israel reported that President Isaac Herzog will begin these consultations with the smallest parties, with a meeting with Religious Zionism scheduled for Wednesday evening.

A rotation agreement, which Liberman said he would refuse, is an arrangement in which two leaders split a term as prime minister, one serving the first half and the other the second. Liberman said that since the election he had heard what he called "the strangest proposals" from figures in the governing coalition, but that he had not met Netanyahu himself, according to The Times of Israel.

He also ruled out a minority government, meaning a cabinet that governs without a majority of its own in the Knesset and depends on outside parties to survive. "We made it clear and I wrote it several times, it will not happen," N12 quoted him as saying.

Criticism of the opposition

Liberman said Netanyahu had lost 11 seats but that the opposition had also failed. "Forty-eight is less than we expected," he said, according to N12, adding that responsibility lay with Eisenkot, who he said ran the most egotistical campaign possible. Ynet quoted him describing the 48 seats as a stinging failure.

The reports differ slightly on how Liberman explained the loss. Ynet's article quoted him as saying Eisenkot's campaign cost the bloc 7 to 8 seats, while a Ynet news alert attributed the loss of 8-7 seats to talk of a minority government.

Liberman said 337,413 people voted for Yisrael Beytenu, almost 124 thousand more than in the previous election, according to a summary of the briefing posted by political commentator Amit Segal. N12 reported that Liberman said all the opposition leaders would meet the following day.

Remarks on Arab parties

Liberman also explained why he would not cooperate with Arab parties. News.co.il reported that he claimed the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, had been involved in the election and was the guiding force behind Ra'am, an Islamist party, and the Joint List, an alliance of Arab parties. According to Segal's account, Liberman cited a statement by Osama Saadi dedicating his victory to prisoners in Israeli jails, and said those prisoners included Nukhba members, a term Israelis use for the Hamas commando units that led the attack on southern Israel. He also referred to the deaths of peace activists Vivian Silver and Oded Lifshitz and said his party would not take part.

How commentators read it

Segal, writing on his Telegram channel, argued that the recommendation is the only thing Liberman is giving Eisenkot, and that it leaves him a choice between a unity government and new elections. In a separate post he said the decision to back Lapid for speaker was the most significant part of the announcement, describing it as a step toward elections. These are Segal's interpretations, not statements by Liberman.

What the reports do not say

The reports do not say how many seats Yisrael Beytenu won, how many seats Netanyahu's bloc holds, or whether Eisenkot has enough recommendations to be assigned the mandate. They do not say whether Eisenkot or Lapid responded, which coalition figures made proposals to Liberman, or what was on the agenda for the opposition leaders' meeting. Liberman's claims about the Palestinian Authority were reported without supporting evidence.