The key facts

  • Yair Golan is ready for a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox to replace Netanyahu's government, but without a 'blank check'
  • Conditions: conscription of the Haredim into the army, increased employment, and education for every child
  • President Herzog will task Gadi Eisenkot with forming the government; factions representing 67 of 120 members recommended him, but the coalition parties hold only 48 mandates

Golan announces conditions for partnership with the ultra-Orthodox

Yair Golan, leader of Israel's opposition Democrats party, said on Saturday that he is ready to cooperate with ultra-Orthodox Jews to form a 'government of rescue and change' that would replace outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Anadolu reported this. The statement came a day after Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the right-wing opposition party Yisrael Beiteinu, dropped his objections to a government that includes ultra-Orthodox parties, while maintaining his rejection of a coalition with Arab parties.

'Not a blank check': military conscription and employment as the price of an alliance

Golan said his party wants a partnership with the ultra-Orthodox community — the Haredim — based on 'mutual responsibility.' He called for conscripting Haredi men into military service, increasing their participation in the workforce, and ensuring that every child in Israel receives an education that allows them to earn a living. According to him, Israel's middle class can no longer bear the economic and defense burden alone. He stressed that his party respects the Haredi way of life and expects the same respect for the way of life of others. Cooperation, Golan added, is possible only on terms and will not be a 'blank check': those seeking partnership he invited to meet with him in largely secular Ramat Gan, while courting favor in the ultra-Orthodox enclaves — Bnei Brak and Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood — he left to Netanyahu.

Eisenkot's mandate and the Knesset arithmetic

Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced that he will task Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot with forming the next government; he will receive the mandate on Sunday. During consultations with the president, factions representing 67 of the 120 Knesset members recommended Eisenkot, while factions representing 46 members recommended Netanyahu. Notably, the 67 included all 19 members of the Arab Joint List and the Ra'am party. At the same time, the parties that recommended Eisenkot together hold only 48 mandates — 13 short of a parliamentary majority. It is precisely this gap that explains why Golan and Lieberman, who previously rejected an alliance with the ultra-Orthodox parties, are publicly softening their positions: without their roughly 15–20 mandates, Eisenkot's bloc cannot reach the necessary 61 votes, and Golan's willingness to cooperate with the Haredim expands the potential coalition at the expense of the very factions on which Netanyahu relies.