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Netanyahu loses religious party’s support as rival tipped to form government

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The Straits Times. (2026, November 5). Netanyahu loses religious party’s support as rival tipped to form government. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-loses-religious-partys-support-as-rival-tipped-to-form-government

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The Straits Times · collected 2026-11-05 · by The Straits Times

Quick Summary

On November 5, Israel's United Torah Judaism party declined to recommend Benjamin Netanyahu for another term as prime minister during consultations led by President Isaac Herzog after an October 27 election. With neither Netanyahu nor his rival Gadi Eisenkot securing a majority, this move signals growing support for Eisenkot to form the next government. The ultra-Orthodox party, which has historically aligned with Netanyahu, is now withholding its endorsement in response to Netanyahu's failure to enshrine military service exemptions for religious students in law, despite preserving these exemptions politically.
Written by AI on 2026-11-05, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

As of November 5, 2026, President Isaac Herzog has begun consultations with leaders from all parties elected to the 26th Knesset in Israel's recent elections. The results showed no evidence of fraud, dealing a blow to claims by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Arab-led parties had “stolen” the election. An ultra-Orthodox Jewish party long aligned with Netanyahu declined to recommend him for another term, increasing Gadi Eisenkot's chances of forming the next government. This development is critical as it could lead to significant changes in Israeli politics, including a potential coalition that includes Arab parties, which Netanyahu opposes, arguing it would "dismantle" Israel.

Written for “Israel Election Commission Rejects Fraud Claims” on 2026-11-05, grounded in this article and the 27 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans left (beta estimate) Confidence medium
Leaning: leans left for article 131084 (medium confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-11-05

Story

📰 Israel Election Commission Rejects Fraud Claims
Politics · 28 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 12% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 6 of 29 claims Outlet record 60/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 0 of 23 claims Outlet record 66/100
The Sydney Morning Herald
Hedges 4 of 32 claims Outlet record 61/100
Times of India
Hedges 2 of 12 claims Outlet record 59/100
“The articles describe different phases in the political process following an election, with Article A focusing on Netanyahu's initial stance after the election and Article B detailing a later development where he loses support from an ultra-Orthodox party.”
Al Jazeera
Hedges 0 of 2 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles describe different stages of post-election events, with Article A discussing Netanyahu's challenge in forming a government immediately after election results were known, and Article B reporting on a later development where an ultra-Orthodox party declines to support Netanyahu.”
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this Hedges 0 of 22 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles describe different political developments: one focuses on Israeli opposition criticism of Netanyahu following US election results, while the other reports on a religious party withdrawing support from Netanyahu and potentially allowing his rival to form a government.”
The Hindu
Hedges 1 of 12 claims Outlet record 77/100
“While both articles discuss political maneuvering and the potential formation of the next Israeli government following the October 27, 2026 election, they describe different phases or developments within this process.”
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 10 of 52 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles describe different stages of coalition talks and shifting political support, not the same specific moment or outcome.”
South China Morning Post
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 3 claims Outlet record 62/100
“The articles describe different stages of political developments post-election, not the same specific incident.”
The Straits Times
Hedges 7 of 24 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles describe different stages of the process to form a government, with Article A covering the initial stage on Nov 4 and Article B detailing developments on Nov 5.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
16
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
12%
2 of 16 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
The Straits Times's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
28
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-05 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Straits Times · 4470 article(s) · 5 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 5 correction(s)

Who wrote this

The Straits Times
2957 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by The Straits Times
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 2957 articles by The Straits Times →

Topics

Israel JERUSALEM Parliament United Torah Judaism ultra-Orthodox Jewish

Subjects

Netanyahu PERSON · 9× Eisenkot PERSON · 6× Herzog PERSON · 5× United Torah Judaism ORG · 4× Israel GPE · 2× Parliament ORG · 2× Benjamin Netanyahu PERSON · 1× Gadi Eisenkot PERSON · 1× JERUSALEM GPE · 1× ultra-Orthodox Jewish NORP · 1×

Narrative

Netanyahu has preserved the exemption but stopped short of enshrining it in law, in the face of major resentment from many other Israelis as reservists serve multiple tours due to the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. “In whatever government is next formed, our immediate item is sorting out the status of Torah students,” said United Torah Judaism lawmaker Isaac Pindrus.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-05
🔮 An ultra-Orthodox Jewish party long aligned with Benjamin Netanyahu declined on Nov 5 to recommend him to stay as Israel’s prime minister, as signs grew that rival Gadi Eisenkot will have the first chance to form a government.
2026-11-05 · The Straits Times
Netanyahu loses religious party’s support as rival tipped to form government · assertive framing

Claims (16 extracted, 2 hedged)

Netanyahu loses religious party’s support as rival tipped to form government JERUSALEM – asserted
rival → lose → government
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish party long aligned with Benjamin Netanyahu declined on Nov 5 to recommend him to stay as Israel’s prime minister, as signs grew that rival Gadi Eisenkot will have the first chance to form a government. asserted
Eisenkot → align → government
President Isaac Herzog was holding a second day of consultations with political parties after the Oct 27 election, in which neither Netanyahu – a polarising right-winger who has led Israel through three years of war – nor Eisenkot secured enough votes for a majority. asserted
who → hold → majority
United Torah Judaism, which backed Netanyahu after the previous five elections, in its meeting with Herzog declined to recommend Netanyahu again as prime minister, although it also did not side with Eisenkot. asserted
it → back → Eisenkot
The party informed Herzog “that it has decided not to recommend any member of Knesset to form a government”, the president’s office said in a statement, referring to the 120-member Parliament in which United Torah Judaism has won seven seats. asserted
Judaism → inform → seats
The party, which represents ultra-Orthodox Jews of Ashkenazi origin, who mostly hail from or have roots in Europe, as well as Shas, which represents the same community but of Sephardic, or mostly Middle Eastern and North African descent, have both been backed by Netanyahu as they push to maintain the exemption from military service for religious students. asserted
they → represent → students
Netanyahu has preserved the exemption but stopped short of enshrining it in law, in the face of major resentment from many other Israelis as reservists serve multiple tours due to the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. “In whatever government is next formed, our immediate item is sorting out the status of Torah students,” said United Torah Judaism lawmaker Isaac Pindrus. asserted
Pindrus → preserve → students
Eisenkot, a former military chief seeking to unite the centre and centre right, has been adamant about closing exemptions to military service, with some of his opposition allies harshly criticising the ultra-Orthodox as self-serving. asserted
some → seek → Orthodox
Observers say United Torah Judaism’s approach may be aimed more at punishing Netanyahu and showing that their votes cannot be taken for granted, while they could still serve in a government if he were to form one. uncertain
he → say → one
Herzog will meet representatives of the major parties later on Nov 5 before tasking one lawmaker with forming a government. asserted
Herzog → meet → government
He generally bases his decision on which person receives the most party recommendations, making it likely he will ask Eisenkot. asserted
he → base → Eisenkot
Once Herzog gives the mandate, that lawmaker will have 28 days to form a government, with a potential 14-day extension. asserted
lawmaker → give → extension
If the lawmaker fails, Herzog will then task someone else. asserted
Herzog → fail → someone
Netanyahu’s bloc – including United Torah Judaism – has 53 seats in the new Parliament, as opposed to 48 for Eisenkot’s bloc. asserted
bloc → include → bloc
Israeli-Arab parties soared in strength on the back of anger over Netanyahu’s hard-right government, winning 19 seats. asserted
parties → soar → seats
Eisenkot could form a government with the Arab parties but would risk losing support from some in the opposition. uncertain
Eisenkot → form → opposition
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