Yair Golan

US President Donald Trump said on 3 Nov 2026 that Washington will stop roughly $4 billion in annual aid to Israel once this year ends. He said he reached the arrangement months earlier with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and that Netanyahu agreed to it. Trump said Israel no longer needs the funding and can still buy US weapons. A memorandum of understanding providing $3.8 billion a year in military aid does not expire until September 2028, and Trump gave no details on how the funding would be halted.

President Isaac Herzog appointed opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot on 7 Nov to try to build a coalition, after parties representing 67 of the 120 Knesset seats recommended him over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc. The 27 Oct election left both sides short of the 61‑seat majority, and Netanyahu's Likud won 27 seats, remaining the largest single party. Eisenkot has 28 days, with a possible 14‑day extension, to assemble a governing coalition; otherwise a new election may be called. Arab‑minority politicians backed Eisenkot despite his bloc’s usual reluctance to work with them.

The 27 Oct election results will be certified and delivered to President Isaac Herzog on 4 Nov, confirming that Netanyahu's bloc secured 53 seats while the Change bloc won 48 and Arab parties captured a record 19 seats, leaving no side with the 61 seats needed to form a government. Voter turnout reached 77.7%, the highest since 1999. Herzog can assign a 28‑day coalition mandate, extendable by 14 days, and is expected to consult party leaders before deciding whom to task with building a coalition.