Isaac Herzog

Isaac Herzog is not on the ballot, but the 2026 election will test what shapes his standing more than anything else: the image of a statesmanlike president who stands above the fray. After October 27 he will hold consultations with representatives of the Knesset factions and task one of the members of the Knesset with forming a government, a decision that will be put under a microscope in a polarized political arena. He comes from a family dynasty woven into the history of the state — the son of Israel's sixth president, Chaim Herzog, and the grandson of Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog — and has a political career of his own as Labor leader, opposition leader and chairman of the Jewish Agency. In 2023 he presented the "People's Framework" in an attempt to bridge the crisis over the government's plan to overhaul the judicial system; the government rejected the framework, but the effort cemented his image as a bridge-builder. His most sensitive test is the pardon request that Benjamin Netanyahu submitted in November 2025, in the midst of his trial: U.S. President Donald Trump publicly pressed him to grant it, and in April 2026 Herzog invited Netanyahu and the attorney general to talks under his auspices in an effort to reach understandings. In July he urged the public to approach the election responsibly and with mutual respect, and he met with the chairman of the Central Elections Committee and the head of the Shin Bet about protecting the vote. In October he pledged to do everything in his power to ensure that a stable government is formed and that there is no repeat election; a report that he was preparing a Netanyahu–Eisenkot unity government in case of a deadlock, which the President's Residence firmly denied, drew a sharp attack from Yair Golan. The office has almost no executive powers, so Herzog's standing depends mainly on whether both camps see him as a fair arbiter in the weeks after the vote.