From the Liveblog of
Sunday, November 8, 2026
Eisenkot, Liberman to meet tomorrow amid disagreements over formation of government — report
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman are set to meet tomorrow in an effort to resolve disagreements over the formation of a new government and coordinate the so-called change bloc’s parliamentary agenda, according to Hebrew media reports.
The meeting will take place a day before the new Knesset is sworn in. Eisenkot is set to officially receive the mandate to form a government from President Isaac Herzog later today.
Eisenkot is also expected to meet later today with B’Yachad chairman Naftali Bennett, who has remained silent amid the back and forth between Eisenkot and Liberman.
The main sticking point between the Yisrael Beytenu and Yashar leaders is that Liberman has explicitly ruled out backing any minority government or one reliant on Arab-led parties, significantly narrowing Eisenkot’s options for securing parliamentary support.
Instead, Liberman has signaled a willingness to negotiate with the ultra-Orthodox parties, breaking from his longstanding opposition to cooperating with them, while suggesting that Likud lawmakers could defect from Netanyahu’s bloc. The apparent reversal on the ultra-Orthodox issue has drawn criticism and fueled accusations that Liberman is obstructing Eisenkot’s efforts out of personal ambitions to become prime minister, which he denies.
The Times of Israel Community.