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How Israel’s new Parliament can make Netanyahu's life difficult

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The Straits Times. (2026, November 10). How Israel’s new Parliament can make Netanyahu's life difficult. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/how-israels-new-parliament-can-make-netanyahus-life-difficult

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The Straits Times · collected 2026-11-10 · by The Straits Times

Quick Summary

Israel's newly elected Parliament, set to convene on November 10, may challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite his bloc holding 53 seats. Gadi Eisenkot, who was given a mandate by President Isaac Herzog to form a government but lacks a majority, could lead opposition efforts to establish an independent commission of inquiry into the October 7 Hamas attack and repeal controversial laws enacted under Netanyahu's leadership. The Parliament also includes a record number of Arab-majority party representatives opposed to Netanyahu, potentially complicating his agenda further.
Written by AI on 2026-11-10, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

As of November 9, 2026, Gadi Eisenkot, an opposition candidate and former military chief, has been appointed by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to form a new government, dealing a significant blow to outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The latest election results left no single party with enough seats to govern alone, necessitating coalition building. Eisenkot's Yeshar Party, which garnered 21 seats in the Knesset, has secured support from 67 legislators out of 120, indicating a potential path forward for forming an opposition-led government.

The Joint List, representing Arab and Palestinian-Israeli communities, holds critical leverage due to its balance-of-power position. Its leader, Yousef Jabareen, sees this as a historic opportunity for change but has indicated that the party will not join the cabinet itself. Instead, it offers support from outside, aiming to oust Netanyahu's coalition.

Amidst these developments, Netanyahu continues to push for a unity government that would include his own Likud Party, despite the mandate given to Eisenkot. The possibility of foreign interference in the election has also been raised but dismissed by Central Elections Committee head Noam Sohlberg and Shin Bet chief as not undermining the election results.

The situation underscores ongoing political tensions and challenges in Israel regarding coalition formation, with Arab parties potentially holding key positions to shape the future government structure.

Written for “Eisenkot Tapped To Form Israeli Government” on 2026-11-10, grounded in this article and the 85 other(s) covering the same event.
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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 high
Leaning: leans left for article 140515 (high confidence, 4 verified quotes) · logged 2026-11-10

Story

Eisenkot Tapped To Form Israeli Government
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This article reads leans left and hedges 46% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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Centre further right than this Hedges 1 of 3 claims Outlet record 66/100
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Claims extracted
13
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
46%
6 of 13 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
86
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Same framing elsewhere
1
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The Straits Times · 4771 article(s) · 5 correction(s) detected
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The Straits Times
3204 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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How Israel’s new Parliament can make Netanyahu's life difficult AI generated JERUSALEM - Benjamin Netanyahu remains Israel’s prime minister when the new Parliament takes office on Nov 10 but its new, less friendly composition could make his life much more difficult. Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief seeking to move Israel to the centre, was given the mandate on Nov 8 by President Isaac Herzog to form a new government, a complicated task as neither he nor Netanyahu command a majority. Until then Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, remains caretaker prime minister – but the new 120-member Parliament can still go to battle against him. The lack of a new government “does not infringe upon the Knesset’s prerogatives”, said Assaf Shapira, a political expert at the Israel Democracy Institute. Eisenkot has also warned military chiefs that Netanyahu does not have a mandate to resume war against Iran – although the statement was more about politics than the law, with Netanyahu still in charge of national security. Netanyahu’s bloc slipped to 53 seats in the new Parliament, down from the decisive 68 it commanded previously. Eisenkot’s core opposition bloc has fewer seats than Netanyahu at 48 but the new Parliament also has a record 19 lawmakers from Arab-majority parties that are vehemently opposed to Netanyahu and his hard-right government – although it remains unclear if Eisenkot will seek to work with Israeli-Arabs directly. Here are ways in which the new Parliament could turn on Netanyahu. Commission on Oct 7 attacks One of the opposition’s main campaign promises has been to set up a commission of inquiry to probe failures in the famously high-security country that allowed Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023, attack, the deadliest ever day for Israel. While Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing on his part, his government has consistently opposed the creation of a national, independent commission of inquiry that would have broad investigative authority, with Netanyahu instead supporting a review by political appointees. Even before a new government is formed, the incoming Parliament could set up a special committee on the attack which would hand over its findings to an eventual commission of inquiry, Shapira said. Eisenkot declared after the election that forming a commission would be an immediate priority. Repealing Netanyahu-era laws
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Topics

Hamas Israel JERUSALEM Knesset Parliament

Subjects

Netanyahu PERSON · 15× Parliament ORG · 10× Israel GPE · 6× Eisenkot PERSON · 5× Hamas ORG · 2× Shapira PERSON · 2× AI generated PERSON · 1× Benjamin Netanyahu PERSON · 1× Gadi Eisenkot PERSON · 1× JERUSALEM GPE · 1×

Narrative

An initial clash took place on Nov 5 when three parties in the Eisenkot bloc sent letters to the outgoing Speaker requesting that his successor be elected at the opening session – a timing that Shapira agreed was more common.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-10
How Israel’s new Parliament can make Netanyahu's life difficult AI generated JERUSALEM - Benjamin Netanyahu remains Israel’s prime minister when the new Parliament takes office on Nov 10 but its new, less friendly composition could make his life much more difficult. Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief seeking to move Israel to the centre, was given the mandate on Nov 8 by President Isaac Herzog to form a new government, a complicated task as neither he nor Netanyahu command a majority. Until then Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, remains caretaker prime minister – but the new 120-member Parliament can still go to battle against him. The lack of a new government “does not infringe upon the Knesset’s prerogatives”, said Assaf Shapira, a political expert at the Israel Democracy Institute. Eisenkot has also warned military chiefs that Netanyahu does not have a mandate to resume war against Iran – although the statement was more about politics than the law, with Netanyahu still in charge of national security. Netanyahu’s bloc slipped to 53 seats in the new Parliament, down from the decisive 68 it commanded previously. Eisenkot’s core opposition bloc has fewer seats than Netanyahu at 48 but the new Parliament also has a record 19 lawmakers from Arab-majority parties that are vehemently opposed to Netanyahu and his hard-right government – although it remains unclear if Eisenkot will seek to work with Israeli-Arabs directly. Here are ways in which the new Parliament could turn on Netanyahu. Commission on Oct 7 attacks One of the opposition’s main campaign promises has been to set up a commission of inquiry to probe failures in the famously high-security country that allowed Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023, attack, the deadliest ever day for Israel. While Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing on his part, his government has consistently opposed the creation of a national, independent commission of inquiry that would have broad investigative authority, with Netanyahu instead supporting a review by political appointees. Even before a new government is formed, the incoming Parliament could set up a special committee on the attack which would hand over its findings to an eventual commission of inquiry, Shapira said. Eisenkot declared after the election that forming a commission would be an immediate priority. Repealing Netanyahu-era laws
2026-11-10 · The Straits Times
How Israel’s new Parliament can make Netanyahu's life difficult · mixed framing

Claims (13 extracted, 6 hedged)

How Israel’s new Parliament can make Netanyahu's life difficult AI generated JERUSALEM - Benjamin Netanyahu remains Israel’s prime minister when the new Parliament takes office on Nov 10 but its new, less friendly composition could make his life much more difficult. Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief seeking to move Israel to the centre, was given the mandate on Nov 8 by President Isaac Herzog to form a new government, a complicated task as neither he nor Netanyahu command a majority. Until then Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, remains caretaker prime minister – but the new 120-member Parliament can still go to battle against him. The lack of a new government “does not infringe upon the Knesset’s prerogatives”, said Assaf Shapira, a political expert at the Israel Democracy Institute. Eisenkot has also warned military chiefs that Netanyahu does not have a mandate to resume war against Iran – although the statement was more about politics than the law, with Netanyahu still in charge of national security. Netanyahu’s bloc slipped to 53 seats in the new Parliament, down from the decisive 68 it commanded previously. Eisenkot’s core opposition bloc has fewer seats than Netanyahu at 48 but the new Parliament also has a record 19 lawmakers from Arab-majority parties that are vehemently opposed to Netanyahu and his hard-right government – although it remains unclear if Eisenkot will seek to work with Israeli-Arabs directly. Here are ways in which the new Parliament could turn on Netanyahu. Commission on Oct 7 attacks One of the opposition’s main campaign promises has been to set up a commission of inquiry to probe failures in the famously high-security country that allowed Hamas’s Oct 7, 2023, attack, the deadliest ever day for Israel. While Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing on his part, his government has consistently opposed the creation of a national, independent commission of inquiry that would have broad investigative authority, with Netanyahu instead supporting a review by political appointees. Even before a new government is formed, the incoming Parliament could set up a special committee on the attack which would hand over its findings to an eventual commission of inquiry, Shapira said. Eisenkot declared after the election that forming a commission would be an immediate priority. Repealing Netanyahu-era laws uncertain
forming → make → laws
The new Parliament could also move quickly to repeal some of the most controversial laws under Netanyahu, including his efforts to revamp the judiciary – seen by the prime minister as an enemy after he was charged with corruption. uncertain
he → move → corruption
The judicial revamp triggered some of Israel’s largest ever protests, with liberals worried about the future of democracy, although the Hamas attack and subsequent wars quickly shifted public attention. asserted
attack → trigger → attention
The new Parliament could aim to repeal the last coalition’s laws that limited the powers of the Supreme Court and made it easier to remove the country’s Attorney-General. uncertain
it → aim → General
Lawmakers could also roll back exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews from serving in the military. uncertain
Lawmakers → roll → military
The exemption has angered many Israelis at a time that the military is stretched thin, although the laws did not go far enough for ultra-Orthodox parties, who are being wooed by at least one opposition figure. asserted
who → anger → figure
Shapira said repealing Netanyahu-era laws was as simple as calling a vote and reverting to previous policies. asserted
repealing → say → policies
But the process to pass new laws could take weeks as the opposition coordinates its priorities. Electing new Speaker The first political clash will concern electing a new Parliament Speaker. uncertain
clash → pass → Speaker
According to parliamentary rules, the vote for Speaker can take place as early as during the inaugural session and must happen before a new government is sworn in. uncertain
government → accord → session
An initial clash took place on Nov 5 when three parties in the Eisenkot bloc sent letters to the outgoing Speaker requesting that his successor be elected at the opening session – a timing that Shapira agreed was more common. asserted
Shapira → take → timing
Ohana responded that it was customary to elect the Speaker on the day a new government is sworn in. asserted
government → respond → day
Naftali Bennett, a key opposition figure, vowed to act “urgently” on the bloc’s priorities. asserted
Bennett → vow → priorities
“We will take control of the Knesset as quickly as possible.” asserted
We → take → Knesset
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