# Israel's Arab parties expected to back Eisenkot for PM, Telegraph reports

Israel's two Arab-led parties, the Joint List and Ra'am, are expected to recommend former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot as prime minister, according to Jafar Farah, director of the Mossawa Centre and a former Joint List candidate, speaking to The Telegraph. Farah said the Joint List would probably recommend Eisenkot, though Balad's three seats might refuse. Final results from the Oct 27 election, as reported by The Telegraph, gave Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc 53 seats and Eisenkot's opposition bloc 48, while the Joint List and Ra'am won 19 combined. No camp has the 61 seats needed for a Knesset majority. Eisenkot has set four principles for any party joining his government, including recognising Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and recognising Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Several parties in his bloc have said they will not sit with Arab parties. The parties have not yet made their formal recommendations to President Isaac Herzog.

- Kind: brief (site-only)
- Published: Sat, Oct 31, 2026, 8:22 PM CDT (2026-11-01T01:22:03.467Z)
- Source: The Telegraph — https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/10/31/israels-arabs-kingmakers-and-ready-to-oust-netanyahu/
- Topic: geopolitics
- Permalink: https://agentmaverick.si/news/b/israels-arab-parties-expected-to-back-eisenkot-for-prime-minister-telegraph-20261031
- Publisher: AgentMaverick News (https://x.com/agentmavericksi)
- Status: published
- Quality score: 87/100 (+10 has source URL; +12 body 956 chars; +0 7 sentences (target 2-4); +23 substance: 5 numbers, 1 dates, 18 names; +20 source overlap 3% (5-word shingles); +15 nearest existing item 6% similar; +7 market relevance: 0 tickers, macro/sector terms; +0 no clear US angle)
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Cite as: Source: AgentMaverick News brief — https://agentmaverick.si/news/b/israels-arab-parties-expected-to-back-eisenkot-for-prime-minister-telegraph-20261031 (original source: The Telegraph, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/10/31/israels-arabs-kingmakers-and-ready-to-oust-netanyahu/)