Transcript [00:02] Welcome to Waiting for 61, JTA's Israel [00:06] election podcast, where we break down [00:08] the fundamentals of Israel's 2026 [00:09] [music] elections, the politics, the [00:11] players, and what's at stake as each [00:13] side scrambles [music] to put together a [00:15] government. I'm Ammy Eden, CEO and [00:17] executive editor of 70 Faces Media, the [00:20] organization behind the Jewish [00:21] Telegraphic Agency. [00:23] >> And [music] I'm Ruth Eglash, JTA's [00:25] senior Israel correspondent. Today marks [00:28] 6 days since the elections here and Ammy [00:30] [music] there's still absolutely no sign [00:32] of 61. [00:34] >> Remember to send your questions to [00:35] waiting for61 atjta.org. [00:38] And if [music] you're enjoying waiting [00:39] for 61, please subscribe and give us a [00:42] five-star rating wherever you listen to [00:44] your podcasts. Okay, let's get into it. [00:47] Welcome back, Ruth. I hope you had a [00:49] good day reporting yesterday. I thought [00:52] it would be a good time to check up on [00:55] what just what is happening. There seems [00:57] to be headlines flying all over the [00:59] place. You know, a bunch has piled up [01:02] over the weekend. So, catch us up. What [01:05] What are the big um storylines that our [01:07] listeners should be following? [01:09] >> Well, as always, Ammy, immediately after [01:11] the election, it's like a scrabble for [01:13] for the headlines. I mean, I feel like [01:15] I'm they're just flying at me from all [01:17] different angles and I'm trying to keep [01:19] up with everything. But the main [01:21] takedown is that President Herzog, and I [01:23] know you discussed him yesterday with [01:25] Yakov Katz, uh, announced today that he [01:28] is going to be meeting with the factions [01:30] on Wednesday and Thursday. He's urging [01:33] everyone to keep an open mind. He says [01:35] that he's going to help these parties [01:37] that put out their election uh promises [01:40] to climb down from the from the tree. [01:43] He's going to provide them with a [01:44] ladder. And interestingly, he's going to [01:47] start by meeting with the smallest [01:49] parties first, which is the first time [01:52] that I recall him doing that. And it's [01:54] kind of, you know, I think even though [01:56] some of the parties today have [01:58] announced, and we'll get into that in a [01:59] minute, who they're gonna who they're [02:02] going to recommend to President Herzog, [02:05] the fact that he's starting with the [02:07] smaller parties leaves those parties [02:09] that are undecided with a little bit of [02:11] a dilemma because they like to see where [02:13] the big parties go and then follow them. [02:15] But now they're going to start with the [02:16] smaller parties and it's going to be I [02:19] think it's going to be very interesting [02:20] to see what happens. Exactly. because it [02:24] looks like some of the blocks and this [02:26] is one of the maybe one of the takeaway [02:28] headlines of the last few days. [02:30] Netanyahu's block is kind of peeling [02:34] away a little bit or there's signs that [02:36] it's not totally uh as strong as it was. [02:41] One of the ultraorththodox parties, the [02:44] United Torah Judaism Party, has kind of [02:47] indicated, I don't want to say they've [02:49] said it, but they've kind of indicated [02:50] that they would be open to supporting [02:53] the opposition or the change block and [02:56] breaking away from Netanyahu. That's a [02:59] very interesting development this uh [03:00] this past uh few days. Today, we had a [03:03] press conference from Avdor Lieberman. [03:06] He's the chairman of Israel Betenu and [03:09] he has kind of been keeping his cards [03:12] very close to his heart because he has [03:14] said he will not sit with the Arab [03:16] parties. He will not sit with the [03:18] ultraorththodox. You know, he's he's a [03:19] right-wing party. He's uh very much [03:23] against religious uh religious coercion [03:26] in Israeli society. So, he's not a fan [03:28] of the ultra orthodox. But he held a [03:30] press conference today and he broke the [03:33] barrier and said that he will throw his [03:36] support behind Eisenot. He also said [03:39] something else interesting that he would [03:40] recommend Ya Laid, the former prime [03:43] minister and the current opposition [03:45] leader until things change next week. Um [03:48] he would recommend Laid to be the [03:50] speaker of the Knesset which is one of [03:51] these powerful positions that controls [03:54] the flow of legislation through the [03:56] Knesset through the parliament. So talk [03:59] to us about this idea about the speaker [04:01] of the Knessetic because that is really [04:03] picked up. It's not something people [04:05] were talking about before the election [04:08] and it's not really a position at least [04:10] in America that a lot of people think of [04:12] as being that important or even know [04:14] about. So talk to us about both the [04:16] position of speaker of the Knesset and [04:18] why it's suddenly playing such a [04:21] outsized role in all the headlines and [04:23] the jockeying that's going on. Well, you [04:25] know, I think Ammy, I I've also I don't [04:28] remember it being such a big issue in [04:30] previous uh coalition negotiations, but [04:32] I think it's because we are so far from [04:35] 61 that the coalition building hasn't [04:39] even begun. Usually with the coalition [04:41] building, it's uh people haggling over [04:44] ministerial positions, but because that [04:46] is not even on the horizon, they're [04:49] talking about the Knesset and how the [04:52] opposition can control the Knesset can [04:55] take away the control of the Knesset [04:58] from the current government even if they [05:00] can't quite replace the current [05:02] government yet. They've talked about [05:04] that and Eisenhot released a very [05:05] interesting statement. He talked about [05:07] the place of the Knesset. He talked [05:10] about how his faction plus all the [05:12] non-Natanyahu [05:14] block factions were the majority and how [05:17] they would take over the Knesset and how [05:20] the Knesset was the would be the [05:21] deciding factor in the government. So [05:23] we're seeing some very interesting signs [05:25] here that maybe something different that [05:28] we haven't had before in Israel is going [05:30] to happen. [05:31] >> Right. The idea, if I get it, is that [05:33] Eisenkott's block and or all the anti- [05:35] Natanya parties when the new Knesset's [05:38] sworn in even if they you're saying even [05:41] if they don't have a government, they [05:42] can take control of the Knesset, put a [05:45] new speaker in, maybe leed and they're [05:47] even talking about some limited but [05:50] important legislation they might pass [05:53] like the a state commission to [05:55] investigate October 7th, for example. [05:57] You know there I've seen some wild [05:59] speculation maybe they'll rewrite the [06:02] laws now so that if there's another ele [06:04] instead of electing a new Knesset you'll [06:06] just have a direct election for prime [06:08] minister and all sorts of speculation [06:10] like that but it seems very clear that [06:13] if they were to do this and take control [06:15] of the Knesset there would be some bills [06:18] like the state commission that clearly [06:20] they would pass that would at least [06:22] start to push some of their agenda and [06:24] campaign promises and that would be a [06:26] unique curve curveball and and probably [06:29] unleash a lot of other pressures and [06:31] speculations that I can't even figure [06:33] out right now. [06:34] >> I I want to just explain, you know, you [06:36] asked me about the Knesset speaker and [06:38] the Knesset speaker really controls the [06:40] flow of of what happens, the agenda of [06:43] the Knesset. We talked about this in [06:45] previous episodes. Between 2019 and [06:49] 2021, there was a whole series of [06:52] elections. There were four elections and [06:55] Natanyahu and his government just stayed [06:57] in power and they kind of controlled the [07:00] Knesset so they couldn't so the it was [07:03] like a powerless Knesset nothing the [07:06] government wasn't operating and I think [07:08] Gaddy Eisen is seeing this as okay we [07:11] might not be able to put together this [07:13] 61 for a stable government but we can at [07:15] least get the Knesset working and [07:17] working for the people and like you said [07:19] there's these pressing issues there's [07:21] the state commission of inquiry into [07:23] what happened on October 7th that the [07:25] public has been demanding and [07:27] Netanyahu's government has not been [07:29] willing to kind of or have been stalling [07:31] on pushing this through. There's the [07:33] laws surrounding the draft which the [07:36] fact that there is no law is is hurtful [07:39] both to the ultraorththodox public and [07:42] to the non-ultra orthodox secular [07:43] public. So, he has all these like [07:46] points, these play points that he wants [07:48] to address and he's saying, I think that [07:51] he's not going to get the 61 because [07:53] there's too many disagreements as we've [07:55] been discussing all along through this [07:57] podcast. And he thinks, you know, we [08:00] might as well just get the Knesset [08:01] moving and address some of these key [08:04] issues. Maybe by solving those it will [08:07] change you know soften the parties [08:10] change the parties change the alliances [08:13] and a different result will come out of [08:15] it. [08:15] >> There is a subtle irony here which if [08:19] you look back to the court the Supreme [08:21] Court overhaul the legal reform that the [08:24] BB block pushed that caused all the [08:26] massive protests before [08:28] October 7th. It was always framed as [08:31] like this fight about trying to, you [08:33] know, trying to limit the power of the [08:34] court. But the L could driven argument [08:37] when you really unpacked it was we need [08:40] to stop the court from taking power away [08:43] not from the government but from the [08:45] Knesset, right? And there was a lot of [08:47] rhetoric on the right about sort of the [08:49] Knesset being sovereign and the will of [08:51] the people. So, it's going to be [08:53] interesting now if Eisenhott sort of [08:56] flips everything around and roots it in [08:58] the idea that hey, we had an election [09:01] first and foremost. We elected a Knesset [09:03] which reflects the will of the people. [09:05] So, we're going to go to the Knesset [09:07] even, you know, that stands firm even [09:09] before there's a government. And so, I [09:11] think it's going to be a very [09:12] interesting rhetorical challenge. Not [09:14] that not that anybody's consistent these [09:16] days, but it's going to be very hard for [09:18] the le could I would imagine to stand up [09:20] and say you can't turn to the Knesset [09:22] the I mean they will that'll be the [09:24] argument but I think it's it it'll [09:26] certainly contradict the argument [09:27] they've been making for years that we [09:29] have to lean into the supremacy of the [09:32] will of the people reflected in the [09:34] overall Knesset. [09:35] >> Yeah. I mean, but that has never, you [09:38] know, never stopped politicians before [09:40] from from from arguing one thing and [09:44] doing another thing and then suddenly [09:46] the opposition gets in and they do [09:47] exactly the same thing. I mean that [09:49] that's a recurring theme here in Israeli [09:52] politics and uh I always see that the [09:55] you know this the legislative branch [09:57] which is the Knesset and the government [10:00] kind of work in tandem together and then [10:02] the judicial branch kind of oversees [10:05] what they do. So I think that that's the [10:08] the you know the difference here that [10:10] the Kness the previous Knesset or the [10:13] previous government wanted to kind of [10:15] reduce the power of the of the judicial [10:18] branch. so that they could pass through [10:19] laws that might not have been legally [10:23] sound in the eyes of of lawyers of of uh [10:28] you know justices in terms of Israel's [10:30] international conventions that it's [10:32] signed on. So that I think is is [10:35] slightly a difference but I I see where [10:37] you're going with that. Okay, let's hit [10:39] one more topic before we wrap up today [10:42] and that is the ongoing talk [10:45] investigations [10:47] about the potential of foreign [10:50] interference in the election that could [10:54] been pushing this idea um that there was [10:57] foreign funding presumably from Qatar to [11:01] help get out the Arab vote and there [11:04] were other just claims about the [11:07] election was stolen. [11:08] etc. Catch us up on where that issue is [11:14] now. [11:14] >> Yeah. So, that blew up on Thursday. You [11:16] know, we talked about it and it was a [11:18] big story. There were suspicions of [11:21] foreign interference and those [11:22] suspicions are still there and they're [11:24] still flying around. But uh Judge [11:26] Soulberg, who's the chairman of the [11:29] central elections committee, held a [11:31] press conference on Sunday with the head [11:33] of the Shabbach, the intelligence [11:35] service and the attorney general and [11:38] they said while these you know these [11:40] suspicions are very serious uh it would [11:43] not change the overall results of the [11:45] election and that they were moving ahead [11:48] as if you know that the election results [11:50] are set. So it doesn't matter. Yes, [11:53] there might have been some some sort of [11:55] interference. We're not quite sure [11:57] exactly what yet, but it's not going to [11:59] change the results or it hasn't impacted [12:01] the results. [12:02] >> Okay, Ruth, that was that was a lot of [12:05] stuff to cover. So, thank you for being [12:08] our guide and helping to make sense of [12:10] it. That's it for today and thank you to [12:13] our producer, Maya Rakoff. Please make [12:15] sure to join us tomorrow for the next [12:17] episode of Waiting for61. And don't [12:19] forget to send your questions into [12:20] waiting for61jta.org. [12:23] And if you're enjoying Waiting461, [12:25] please subscribe and give us a five-star [12:27] rating wherever you listen to your [12:28] [music] podcasts.
What does it take to win an election in Israel? And what happens after the votes are counted?
Waiting for 61, JTA’s Israel election podcast, is your guide to the personalities, power struggles, and political calculations shaping Israel’s future. Whether you're a seasoned observer of Israeli politics or just trying to understand how it all works, we'll take you beyond the headlines to explore what's driving the election, why it matters, and what it could mean for Israel and the wider world.
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CREDITS:
CO-HOST: Ami Eden
CO-HOST: Ruth Eglash
PRODUCER: Maya Rackoff
