Israel’s Eisenkot Says No To Netanyahu, Even If Trump Personally Asks: Report

Israeli opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot has ruled out joining a government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even if US President Donald Trump personally asks him to do so, Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported on Monday, citing people familiar with a recent closed-door meeting.

Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, reportedly said he would agree to meet Trump if invited but would insist that forming Israel’s government was an internal political matter and oppose American interference in the process.

“I will not sit in a government led by Netanyahu,” he was quoted as saying by KAN. He reportedly added that he would respect an invitation from Trump but would make clear that the decision over Israel’s government belonged to Israelis.

The reported remarks come as political parties begin negotiations over forming Israel’s next government following the October 27 parliamentary election. However, Eisenkot subsequently criticised what he described as false reports about his political activities without directly addressing the specific account of his conversation about Trump.

Eisenkot Responds To Reports

In a statement posted on his official X account on Monday evening, Eisenkot said several false reports and political spins had circulated about his activities and those of his party.

“This is the way of old politics, not ours,” he said, asking supporters to remain patient until he had something concrete to announce. He added that false reports would not influence his decisions.

Eisenkot had, however, publicly ruled out joining a Netanyahu-led government before the election. In an October 21 interview with Israeli radio station, he said he would not serve under Netanyahu even through a rotation agreement, under which the two leaders would share the prime ministership.

He had also said he would resign within an hour if he broke that commitment.

Coalition Arithmetic

The election has left Israel’s 120-member Knesset without a clear governing majority. Netanyahu’s bloc secured 53 seats, compared with 48 for Jewish-led opposition parties and 19 for Arab parties.

Naftali Bennett’s Together party, Yair Golan’s Democrats and Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beytenu have decided to recommend Eisenkot to President Isaac Herzog as the candidate to form the next government. Recommendations from the two Arab party groupings could potentially increase his backing to 67 lawmakers.

However, Lieberman has ruled out joining a government that includes Arab parties or depends on their parliamentary support, creating another obstacle to coalition negotiations.

Netanyahu has also expressed willingness to discuss forming a broad government but insists that he should lead it. He has rejected a coalition dependent on the two main Arab groupings, Ra’am and the Joint List.

Trump's Role

The reported remarks introduce another dimension to the negotiations, given Trump's interest in Israel's political leadership and his relationship with Netanyahu.

However, there is no established evidence that Trump has actually approached Eisenkot or asked him to join a Netanyahu-led government.

Under Israel's government-formation process, President Herzog consults representatives of parliamentary factions before assigning a Knesset member the task of forming a government. The consultations are scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

The immediate challenge for Eisenkot is to translate the opposition's electoral support into a viable parliamentary majority, while navigating disagreements over cooperation with Arab parties and the possibility of external pressure on the government-formation process.