Golan urges Israel's change bloc to lock in a government fast, Arab parties included

Golan took to X to press fellow parties in the so-called "change bloc" to move quickly on building a government, and he explicitly declined to rule out Arab parties as partners. "Anyone who can care for our wounded and save their lives is entitled, authorized, and capable of sitting with us in the Government of Israel and in the Renewal Coalition," he wrote.

The timing is tight. Israel's new Knesset is being sworn in this afternoon, with all 120 newly elected members taking their oaths at a ceremony attended by President Isaac Herzog and outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu is not stepping aside quietly. In a video released by his office on Monday, he said he is ready to lead a "unity government" of the Zionist and Haredi parties, even though he was not handed the mandate to form one. "I don't rule anyone out, and no one else should be ruling others out," he said, arguing that Likud, as the party with the most Knesset seats, should lead the next government.

The mandate instead went to Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu's electoral rival, Herzog announced after the round of consultations. Factions holding 67 MKs recommended Eisenkot to the president, factions with 46 backed Netanyahu, and a faction with seven MKs chose neither, according to Breaking The News.

Golan has already been trading shots with potential partners over the shape of the coalition. He criticized Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman on Sunday after Israeli media reported Liberman does not support annulling several judicial laws passed by the previous Knesset, telling him on X that if he wants a government that won't draft ultra-Orthodox Jews and won't repeal those laws, he is free to build one with Netanyahu. Liberman has repeatedly opposed a government relying on Arab parties, calling a minority government short-lived.