David Isaac, an expert on Jewish history, politics and current events, is an Israel bureau correspondent for JNS.
(Oct. 16, 2026 / JNS)
A minority government in Israel has never been established immediately after elections, but Gadi Eisenkot offered a post-election scenario in which he may lead the first.
Eisenkot, who heads the newly created opposition party, Yashar, (meaning “straight” or “honest”), told Ynet on Oct. 10 that if he falls short of the votes normally necessary to form a government, he will create a minority coalition.
“In the event that the worst-case scenario happens and we don’t get 61, I will put it to a vote to the Zionist majority. I will say to the 120 members of Knesset: Come and vote according to your conscience,” Eisenkot said.
By “Zionist majority,” Eisenkot was referring to the Knesset members who support a state commssion of inquiry into the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack and support the conscription of Haredim. (He said he would not appeal to non-Zionist parliamentarians, meaning Arab or Haredi parties.)
“As long as they [the opposition parties] have a parliamentary majority, let’s say 54-52, then Eisenkot will be able to form a government,” Liron Lavi, assistant professor at the department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, told JNS. “You actually don’t need 61 votes to form a government. You just need a simple majority.”
A minority government has never been formed immediately following an election, though minority governments have existed before. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, after the Shas Party left his coalition in September 1993, led a minority government. Rabin continued to govern thanks to outside support from Arab parties.
Similarly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government became a minority government in July 2025 when the Haredi parties left in protest over his handling of conscription legislation. They continued to support him from outside the government, however.
Eisenkot vows to prevent a scenario in which Netanyahu wins “by not losing.” In other words, if he comes up short of 61 seats, Eisenkot won’t let him continue to lead a transitional or “caretaker” government due to the opposition’s inability to garner enough votes to topple him.
Is Eisenkot’s last-ditch plan of publicly calling on all Zionist Knesset members realistic?
“It’s realistic in the sense that it could happen, and it might be his best option,” Liron said. “It really depends on the numbers.”
The option might be moot. Current polls show that small parties Netanyahu is counting on to form his coalition are expected to pass the electoral threshold of 3.75%. These include Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism Party, Ofer Winter’s Amcha Yisrael and the merger of Yoaz Hendel’s Reservists Party with Yaron Zelekha’s Economic Party.
“If Winter, Hendel-Zelekha and Smotrich all pass the threshold, and Eisenkot doesn’t want to rely on the Arab parties in any way, then he might not have this option at all,” Liron said.
On Monday, just more than two weeks before the Oct. 27 election, Eisenkot announced a change in strategy to ensure that his party is the largest, so that President Isaac Herzog will give him the mandate to try and form a government after the elections.
Shaul Meridor, No. 7 on Yashar’s list, speaking to voters on Oct. 11, explained the reasoning: “What happens if, by mistake, Netanyahu gets the mandate first? The Knesset speaker is not replaced. The Knesset is still controlled by this government. He [Netanyahu] will do everything to remain in a transitional government.”
The strategy reverses an Sept. 26 agreement signed between the opposition parties to work together to expand their electoral base and to refrain from infighting.
Liron voiced skepticism that it would work. “If he [Eisenkot] takes votes from the other parties in his bloc, it won’t matter. It’s just shuffling votes between parties that would have recommended him [to lead a government] anyway.”
She said Yashar may have announced this change in strategy to send a message to its coalition partners.
“Eisenkot might be worried that they will make some other arrangement,” she said. Such an arrangement could resemble the leadership-sharing deal Yesh Atid Party’s Yair Lapid made with Naftali Bennett, currently of the B’Yachad, or “Together” party, in 2021. “Eisenkot wants to make a statement to the parties in his bloc: ‘Don’t even think about recommending anyone else.’ ”