Change bloc to recommend Eisenkot, rules out Arab parties but not Haredim

Update, 3 November, 14:07 Israel time

After the Herzliya meeting ended, the change bloc leaders issued a joint statement. News.co.il reported that the parties will recommend Gadi Eisenkot to the president for the mandate to form a government, and that their negotiating teams will start drafting coalition agreements immediately. N12's Dafna Liel carried the same line on the negotiating teams. News.co.il added that the leaders rejected Likud's claims about the election results.

According to the statement as published by Amit Segal, the leaders coordinated a plan of action ahead of the swearing-in of the 26th Knesset and the formation of the 38th government, and agreed on the need for a Zionist government built on four principles set out by Eisenkot. Ynet quoted the leaders as saying they would begin work at once on the guidelines for what they called a national emergency government.

Ynet reported that the bloc decided against cooperation with the Arab parties. Segal and News.co.il both reported that the leaders agreed not to rule out contacts with the Haredi parties. Segal noted that Golan, Bennett, Liberman and Eisenkot had each attacked the Haredi parties during the campaign.

The joint statement's account of immediate coalition talks differs from N12's earlier report that the leaders had put off discussion of how a government would be formed.

The story as first reported

The leaders of the parties in Israel's opposition 'change bloc' sat down together in Herzliya on Tuesday, their first joint meeting since the elections, according to political correspondent Amit Segal. Ynet reported that Gadi Eisenkot, Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Liberman and Yair Golan took part, along with opposition leader Yair Lapid, and that the talks ran for slightly more than an hour. News.co.il put the length at about an hour.

The Jerusalem Post reported that every leader at the table agreed to support Eisenkot as their candidate for prime minister. Speaking afterwards, Bennett said his party would put its full weight behind helping Eisenkot assemble a government as quickly as possible.

Who was in the room

The 'change bloc' is the term Israeli media use for the parties that oppose a government led by Benjamin Netanyahu. Herzliya, where the leaders met, is a coastal city just north of Tel Aviv. Bennett, a former prime minister, now chairs a party called Beyachad ('Together'). Golan heads the Democrats. Liberman leads his own party, and Lapid holds the formal post of head of the opposition.

According to Ynet, Lapid told reporters the bloc was facing what he called a dangerous effort to invalidate the election result, and said the moment was a reminder that Netanyahu and his circle had to be removed from the prime minister's office. Ynet did not report further detail on what attempt he was referring to.

What the leaders reportedly decided

Segal reported two decisions, also carried by N12: the Speaker of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, will be replaced at the first opportunity, and Eisenkot will be the first to ask for the mandate to form a government. In Israel, the president invites a member of the Knesset to try to build a coalition after consulting the parties, and that invitation is commonly referred to as 'the mandate'. The Speaker controls the parliamentary agenda, which is why control of the post matters to a bloc trying to take power.

N12 political correspondent Dafna Liel reported that the party heads agreed to settle on a single joint candidate for Speaker by Monday, but decided to leave the question of how a government would be formed for later discussion.

Bennett's statement

Bennett said there was no time to lose. He set out the sequence as taking the Knesset speakership, taking the mandate, and moving fast to set up what he called a 'Zionist repair government' that would bring about a 'revolution of those who serve'. The phrase refers to Israelis who perform military or national service, and is generally read as a reference to the long-running dispute over exemptions for ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men. Segal characterised the remarks as a message to Eisenkot, who he suggested may be weighing a coalition that includes Haredi parties: Bennett's party will help with everything it has, but toward a government of those who serve.

Differences inside the bloc

Ynet reported that Golan is pressing for a minority government, and that before the meeting he had met the leaders of the Joint List, an alliance of Arab parties. Liberman, according to Ynet, did not rule out sitting with the Haredi parties and said there was room for manoeuvre. Liel reported that the leaders appeared more open to a government with the Haredi parties than to one relying on the Arab parties.

Where the reports diverge

The accounts do not fully line up on how far the bloc went. The Jerusalem Post described a unanimous agreement to back Eisenkot for prime minister, and Segal reported that Eisenkot would ask for the mandate first. N12, however, reported that the leaders postponed any decision on forming a government. Shortly after the meeting ended, News.co.il said no official details of decisions had yet been released.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports names a candidate for Speaker, and no participant other than Bennett is quoted publicly endorsing Eisenkot after the meeting. There is no reported response from Eisenkot himself, from Netanyahu's camp, or from the Haredi and Arab parties whose support a coalition might depend on. Lapid's claim of an attempt to overturn the election was reported without supporting detail.