Settlers Establish Outpost Near Jericho After Secret Home Purchase

Good Morning, Israel · Friday, November 6, 2026 · 7:46

Good Morning, Israel · Episode 40

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1. Settlers Establish Outpost Near Jericho After Secret Home Purchase
2. Herzog to Task Eisenkot With Forming Government Sunday Amid Coalition Doubts
3. Nithya Raman Wins Los Angeles Mayor Race Amidst Controversy
4. Joint List Recommends Eisenkot for PM, Aims to Block Netanyahu
5. Massive Cigarette Smuggling Ring Worth $55 Million Busted at Ashdod Port
6. Palo Alto Networks in Advanced Talks to Acquire Israeli Startup Clutch Security for $500 Million

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Maya

On Sunday, President Isaac Herzog will hand Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form Israel's next government.

Daniel

With sixty-seven Knesset members behind him, and the President still not sure he can pull it off.

Maya

This is Good Morning, Israel from baba News. It's Friday, November sixth. I'm Maya.

Daniel

And I'm Daniel.

Maya

Yesterday we said the mandate could come as early as today. It's Sunday instead. Remind listeners how this works.

Daniel

After an election, Israel's President meets every party and asks who they recommend for Prime Minister. Then he gives one candidate the mandate, the first shot at building a coalition.

Maya

And a coalition means a majority in the Knesset, Israel's parliament.

Daniel

Right, at least sixty-one of the one hundred and twenty seats. Eisenkot, the former I D F Chief of Staff, has sixty-seven recommendations.

Maya

Sixty-seven is comfortably more than sixty-one. So why the doubt?

Daniel

Because recommending someone isn't the same as sitting in government with each other. Herzog said openly he's uncertain Eisenkot can build a coalition, because some of the parties that back him refuse to work together.

Maya

So the numbers add up, the people don't.

Daniel

Exactly. And we know one of the sticking points. On Tuesday we told you Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beytenu backs Eisenkot, but won't support a minority government.

Maya

Which brings us to who else got Eisenkot over the line.

Daniel

The Joint List, one of the alliances of Arab parties. It voted unanimously to recommend Eisenkot, and presented that to the President on Thursday.

Maya

An enthusiastic endorsement?

Daniel

Not really. They said openly that Eisenkot's bloc hasn't done enough to oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies. But they called him the best path to changing the government. Their stated goal is keeping Netanyahu from returning to power.

Maya

So, anyone but Netanyahu.

Daniel

That's the logic. And it's a hard one for a coalition, because a recommendation from the Joint List doesn't mean everyone in Eisenkot's camp wants to sit with them.

Maya

What's Herzog doing about it?

Daniel

He plans more talks with the parties to push them toward cooperating. And Eisenkot's own party, Yashar, is pressing him to move fast.

Maya

Fast, because?

Daniel

Because if nobody can form a government, Israel heads back to the polls. Yashar wants to avoid new elections.

Maya

Given how the markets reacted this week, a lot of people want to avoid that.

Daniel

Very much so. So Sunday is the start. The hard part is turning sixty-seven names into one government.

Maya

To the West Bank, and the eight homes near Jericho we covered yesterday. There's more on how this happened.

Daniel

Right. The homes were bought through the Nachala settlement movement together with the Binyamin Regional Council, the local authority for many Israeli communities north of Jerusalem. The purchase was done quietly, and then dozens of Israelis moved in on Wednesday.

Maya

Where exactly are these homes?

Daniel

In Area C, the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control. But they're close to Jericho itself, which is run by the Palestinian Authority.

Maya

And yesterday we heard the I D F wasn't happy.

Daniel

The I D F says they entered without permission. That's the key point for the army, because unplanned moves force it to redeploy troops.

Maya

What do the buyers say?

Daniel

Nachala says the purchase was legal. Critics disagree. Peace Now, an Israeli left-wing group that monitors settlement activity, condemned it and raised security concerns. So did the Palestinian Authority, which claims it defies international law.

Maya

Israel's position on that last claim is long-standing.

Daniel

It is. Israel rejects that framing of Area C. But the practical issue right now is coordination with the army, and the I D F has been clear about that.

Maya

Now a smuggling bust at Ashdod, Israel's big port on the southern Mediterranean coast.

Daniel

Israeli customs seized smuggled cigarettes worth two hundred million shekels, about fifty-five million dollars. Hundreds of thousands of boxes.

Maya

How did they get in?

Daniel

In containers from Egypt, declared as wheat flour.

Maya

That's a lot of flour that doesn't bake.

Daniel

And this isn't only about tax. Authorities suspect the operation may be linked to funding terror, and possibly to supplying Gaza.

Maya

Why does that matter?

Daniel

Cigarettes are a well-known moneymaker in Gaza, and smuggling profits can end up with the terrorist organization Hamas. One suspect's arrest has been extended, and the investigation continues.

Maya

To Canada now. A kosher bakery in Montreal has been set on fire.

Daniel

The bakery is called Mimimelon. It was badly damaged in a suspected arson early Wednesday, the second incident targeting it in two days.

Maya

Two days running. Hard to call that a coincidence.

Daniel

Police aren't. They're investigating both fires as a hate crime, because of the bakery's ties to the Jewish community.

Maya

What are the owners saying?

Daniel

Co-owner Jennie Volfson called the damage devastating and said she's afraid. She also said the business had received an antisemitic threat before this.

Maya

And Montreal has a history here.

Daniel

A troubling one. The city has seen a series of antisemitic incidents since October seventh, twenty twenty-three.

Maya

From Montreal to Los Angeles, where the new mayor is drawing concern from the Jewish community.

Daniel

Nithya Raman won, defeating incumbent mayor Karen Bass. She's been compared to New York's Zohran Mamdani, for her democratic socialist views.

Maya

And on Israel?

Daniel

She's supported B D S, the campaign to boycott Israel. And she's used the harshest possible language to accuse Israel over the war in Gaza.

Maya

An accusation Israel flatly rejects.

Daniel

Completely. Israel went to war after Hamas's massacre of October seventh, against a terrorist organization that hides among civilians. Jewish organizations in Los Angeles congratulated Raman, but urged her to confront antisemitism and rebuild trust with the community.

Maya

Which fits a bigger picture from this week's U S midterms.

Daniel

It does. More progressive lawmakers critical of Israel won seats, including Abdul El-Sayed and James Talarico. And on the right, there's growing skepticism about foreign commitments.

Maya

Yesterday we heard Vice President J D Vance on why Republicans lost. Where does Israel fit in?

Daniel

Vance has been questioning the relationship with Israel. AIPAC, the main pro-Israel lobby, is facing more criticism. And U S Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says the issue is becoming increasingly polarized.

Maya

Bipartisan support was always Israel's safety net.

Daniel

Exactly, and that net is under more strain than it's been in a long time.

Maya

Something brighter to finish. Israeli tech.

Daniel

Palo Alto Networks, the U S cybersecurity giant, is in advanced talks to buy the Israeli startup Clutch Security for about five hundred million dollars.

Maya

How old is Clutch?

Daniel

Founded in late twenty twenty-three. So, barely two years.

Maya

Half a billion dollars in two years. What do they do?

Daniel

They built a platform to manage non-human accounts, the logins used by software rather than people. With A I agents spreading everywhere, those accounts are multiplying fast, and each one is a door attackers can try.

Maya

And Palo Alto keeps shopping in Israel.

Daniel

It's a pattern. Israel is one of the company's major research and development centers, and this would be another Israeli acquisition.

Maya

So, what to watch. Herzog says he'll keep talking to the parties before Sunday.

Daniel

The question is whether anyone who refuses to sit with a partner in Eisenkot's camp softens before the mandate is even handed over.

Maya

Follow Good Morning, Israel so tomorrow's episode is waiting for you.

Daniel

See you tomorrow morning.