Shas plans to recommend Netanyahu to the president to form the next government

The ultra-Orthodox party Shas intends to recommend Benjamin Netanyahu to Israel's president as the lawmaker who should be tasked with forming the next government, according to several Hebrew-language news outlets. News.co.il quoted a senior Shas figure as saying the party is expected to name Netanyahu, and described the move as a sign that Shas is staying with the right-wing bloc in parliament.

The reports differ in how firmly they present the decision. Ynet's alert framed it as an assessment from within Shas that the party will recommend Netanyahu, while N12, citing political commentator Amit Segal, reported that Shas had announced it would recommend him for prime minister. N12 placed the Shas move alongside a separate announcement by Avigdor Liberman, the content of which was not detailed in the reports.

What the presidential recommendations are

Israel does not elect its prime minister directly. Voters choose party lists for the Knesset, the country's parliament, and governments are built from coalitions of parties. When a new government must be formed, the president holds consultations with each parliamentary faction. Each delegation tells the president which member of the Knesset it believes has the best chance of assembling a governing coalition. The president then gives one candidate the task of forming a government, a step often called receiving the mandate.

The recommendations are not binding votes, but they are closely watched because they show how many seats each candidate can count on. A candidate with the backing of factions holding a majority in the Knesset is in a strong position to be chosen, and to then win a confidence vote for a new cabinet.

Who Shas is

Shas is a religious party that draws much of its support from Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews, those whose families trace their origins to the Middle East and North Africa, and it represents an ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, constituency. It has long been a partner of Netanyahu's Likud party in right-wing coalitions. News.co.il's report presented the expected recommendation as a continuation of that alignment rather than a change of course.

The other names in the reports

Avigdor Liberman leads the Yisrael Beytenu party and has been a prominent critic of Netanyahu in recent years. N12 linked the timing of the Shas statement to an announcement by Liberman but did not say what Liberman had declared or whom he would recommend.

In a post of his own, Amit Segal wrote that Gadi Eisenkot would receive the mandate to form a government, a former chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces who has moved into politics. Segal questioned what Eisenkot could achieve with it in order to become prime minister within six weeks, and offered his own view that the answer was probably nothing. This is a commentator's assessment, not an official statement, and none of the other reports said who the president is expected to choose.

How the sources line up

All four reports agree on the central point: Shas is set to name Netanyahu. They diverge on the level of certainty. Ynet attributed the position to an estimate inside the party, News.co.il to a single senior official speaking of what the party is expected to do, and N12 described it as an announcement. Segal stated it plainly as the party's position. None of the reports quoted a named Shas official or a formal party statement.

What the reports do not say

The reports do not name the Shas official who spoke to News.co.il, and they do not cite an on-the-record statement from the party leadership. They do not give a date for the consultations with the president or say which factions have already met with him.

They do not explain what Liberman announced, how many seats each prospective candidate can currently claim, or what circumstances have led to the need to form a government. Segal's statement that Eisenkot will receive the mandate appears only in his own post and is not supported by the other outlets. Readers should treat the Shas position as reported but not yet formally confirmed by the party.