Washington reportedly backs Netanyahu-Eisenkot unity plan 10 days before Israel vote

The Trump administration is backing efforts to form a broad Israeli unity government after this month’s election, according to an Israeli media report. Under the arrangement, Benjamin Netanyahu could remain prime minister for up to two years before handing power to opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot. Israel Hayom reported the proposal on Friday, saying it would exclude far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and join Likud with Eisenkot’s Yashar party. Israelis vote on October 27, ten days from now.

The newspaper cited unnamed US and foreign political officials familiar with the discussions. Neither Washington nor the Israeli parties involved have publicly confirmed an agreed plan. The report should therefore be read as a signal of preferences and possible post-election bargaining, not as a settled arrangement. Geopolitical Futures also noted on October 16 that the Trump administration is reportedly pushing for a broad Israeli unity government.

What the report proposes

The New Arab, summarizing the Israel Hayom account, said the plan would pursue Saudi normalisation after the election. That would tie the outcome of a domestic coalition negotiation to a long-running US diplomatic goal in the Gulf. The report does not say whether Riyadh has been consulted, and none of the sources reviewed carries a Saudi response.

The rotation formula is the plan’s most distinctive feature. It would give the incumbent the first stretch in office and hand the premiership to the man who currently leads the main opposition challenge. Eisenkot, a retired chief of the Israel Defense Forces, has emerged as the foremost challenger to Netanyahu.

Polling and the arithmetic

Polls suggest that neither Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc nor the fragmented opposition is guaranteed a stable governing majority, which raises the prospect of prolonged coalition talks. A government requires at least 61 seats in the Knesset. The Arab Center Washington DC, a research institution, wrote that recent polls have shown Netanyahu’s coalition, made up of Likud and the ultra-Orthodox and far-right parties, taking around 52 seats, with no partners willing to close the gap.

A Maariv poll by Lazar Research, published Friday, points toward public openness to a deal. A majority of Israelis would prefer a unity government to another election if the vote produces no clear result. Only 27% preferred a new election, and 18% were unsure. The same survey found that 48% think Eisenkot would make a better prime minister than Netanyahu, who had 41%.

An opposition that is not yet united

The reported plan sits awkwardly with the opposition’s public posture. Al Jazeera reported that opposition leaders issued a statement of principles after an hours-long meeting, naming a “Zionist, statesmanlike government” as their shared goal. Al Jazeera also noted that Liberman has already accused frontrunner Eisenkot of seeking a deal with Netanyahu, and that it remains open how long the pact might last or which of them might lead a future coalition.

Former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid run on the joint list Beyachad (Together), announced in April. They seek a government composed solely of Zionist parties and rule out reliance on Arab parties. That position narrows the opposition’s route to 61 seats and raises the importance of any arrangement that includes Likud.

Arab parties and the deadlock scenario

The treatment of Arab parties has been contested during the campaign. According to the Arab Center, Israel’s Central Elections Committee disqualified every Arab-majority party from the October ballot on September 23, and the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the bans on October 2. The center argued that Netanyahu is unlikely to win an outright majority and appears to be working to prevent anyone else from forming a government, leaving him as caretaker prime minister until another election. That is the think tank’s interpretation, not an established fact, and Likud has not been quoted in the sources reviewed endorsing it.

A separate analysis from GIS Reports took a different view of what is at stake. It suggested that the election may remove Netanyahu without overturning the consensus on security forged by three years of war. It also observed that dissatisfaction with the government is widespread, but the opposition has yet to present a coherent alternative.

Strategic implications

The vote comes during a regional war. Gulf News describes attacks on vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz as having intensified, with at least 10 ships struck since Sunday, the highest number over such a period since the US-Israel war with Iran began. A government formed after October 27 will inherit decisions on that conflict, on the stalled diplomacy with Saudi Arabia that the report links to the plan, and on relations with a US administration that is reportedly taking an interest in the coalition’s makeup.

US involvement in coalition design would be sensitive in an Israeli campaign. Netanyahu’s critics could cite it as outside interference, and his supporters could cite it as proof of Washington’s confidence in him. Neither side has been quoted on the matter in the sources reviewed.

What to watch

• October 27: the Knesset election, and whether either bloc reaches 61 seats or the result is a deadlock.
• Official reactions: any confirmation or denial from Likud, Yashar, the White House or Eisenkot’s camp of the rotation proposal.
• Opposition cohesion: whether Liberman, Bennett and Lapid hold to their joint principles or move toward a deal with Likud.
• Ben-Gvir’s position: how the far right responds to a plan that would exclude it.
• Arab party turnout and seats: the share they win after the disqualification attempt, and their role in any blocking majority.
• Saudi signals: any public Saudi comment on normalisation tied to an Israeli coalition.
• Hormuz and Yemen: whether shipping attacks keep rising, since they would shape the first priorities of any new cabinet.

Sources

• Trump backs Israel unity plan keeping Netanyahu PM for two years after election: Report
• The Israeli politicians seeking to replace Netanyahu
• Majority of Israelis favor unity government if October 27 election ends without clear winner
• Netanyahu's Electoral Strategy: Deadlock
• A post-October 7 security doctrine is forming in Israel
• Geopolitical Futures homepage, Daily Memo October 16, 2026
• US-Israel-Iran War Escalates: Hormuz Mine Sinks Ship, Houthis Target Saudi, IMF Warns Gulf Economies

Top image: Clema12 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

This article was produced by the Intelligence Report Desk. Sources are linked below.