Opposition bloc agrees on Matan Kahana as candidate for Knesset speaker

Leaders of the opposition bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday, November 10, that they had chosen former minister Matan Kahana as their candidate for Knesset speaker. Kahana, an incoming lawmaker for Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party, was nominated ahead of the afternoon swearing-in of Israel's 26th Knesset.

The decision followed negotiations and disagreements among Eisenkot, B'Yachad leader Naftali Bennett, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman and Democrats leader Yair Golan. The bloc wants to replace Likud's Amir Ohana as speaker to gain greater influence over parliamentary votes, legislation and committee appointments before a government is formed, including while Netanyahu remains at the head of a caretaker administration.

Under the agreement, Liberman would chair the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which oversees national security issues and military budgets and handles legislation concerning IDF conscription. B'Yachad's Liran Avisar Ben-Horin was selected to lead the Finance Committee. Incoming Yashar lawmaker Roy Folkman was chosen to chair the temporary Arrangements Committee, which organizes parliamentary work at the start of a new term.

Yashar said the membership of the committees would be discussed and finalized in Arrangements Committee deliberations during the week, then submitted to the Knesset plenum for approval next Wednesday. The party also said the bloc had reached agreements to establish special committees, with details to be announced separately.

The speaker nomination follows a shift in Liberman's publicly stated position. Last week, he said he would back B'Yachad's Yair Lapid for the post. Liberman then met Eisenkot on Monday, when the two reportedly reached agreement on the nominee. Replacing the speaker requires at least 61 lawmakers to formally sign a request or vote in favor.

Ohana said last week that he would not arrange a vote on replacing the speaker during the inaugural ceremony. Instead, he said he would schedule one for the following week if a formal request carrying sufficient support were submitted.

Kahana served as religious services minister from 2021 to 2022 and remained in the Knesset until July 2025, when he resigned his seat as a member of Benny Gantz's Blue and White party. A reserve IDF colonel, he served in the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, known as Sayeret Matkal, at the same time as Bennett. He later attended the Israel Air Force's Flight Academy and became an F-16 pilot.

The parliamentary appointments come amid an unresolved struggle to form a government. Results from the October 27 election left both Netanyahu's bloc and the opposition bloc short of the 61 seats needed for a coalition. President Isaac Herzog formally gave Eisenkot the mandate to form a government on Sunday at the President's Residence.

Eisenkot has 28 days from Sunday to assemble a government, with the president able to grant an extension of up to 14 days if needed. He has said that forming a government would require “unconventional steps,” while expressing confidence that an agreement could be achieved.