Netanyahu Urges National Unity Government, Invites Eisenkot to Unconditional Talks

Good Morning, Israel · Sunday, November 15, 2026 · 8:14

Good Morning, Israel · Episode 49

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1. Netanyahu Urges National Unity Government, Invites Eisenkot to Unconditional Talks
2. Grenade Attack Kills Woman in Northern Israel; Protection Racket Suspected
3. Woman Killed in Kafr Manda Bakery Grenade Attack
4. India Arrests Youth Suspected of Spying on Mumbai Chabad House
5. Arkia Takeover Battle Intensifies as Employee Investors Join Nakash Group
6. EU Urges Israel to Grant Urgent Aid Access to Gaza Amid Flooding

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Maya

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants a unity government, and he's asking the man who walked out on him to come talk, no conditions attached.

Daniel

And one of his own lawmakers has pitched a tent outside parliament to make the same point.

Maya

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

Daniel

And I'm Daniel.

Maya

Quite a turn. All week we've had Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot sniping at each other. Now this.

Daniel

Right. Netanyahu has called for a national unity government, and he's invited Eisenkot to unconditional talks.

Maya

Remind people who Eisenkot is.

Daniel

He's a former I D F Chief of Staff who now chairs the Yashar party. And he currently holds the mandate to form Israel's next government.

Maya

So the man with the mandate gets an invitation from the man without one.

Daniel

Exactly. Netanyahu is leading a caretaker government while coalition talks drag on. Earlier this week, Eisenkot walked out of talks with Netanyahu's Likud party.

Maya

And then on Friday he accused Netanyahu of fueling what he called a violent and racist campaign against Arab citizens.

Daniel

Right. So the tone hasn't exactly been warm. That's what makes this offer interesting.

Maya

What's Netanyahu's case?

Daniel

Security, mainly. He pointed to Iran's nuclear ambitions and other security challenges. He says a broad coalition is essential to ensure Israel's future, and for what he called national reconciliation.

Maya

And that's not abstract this week, given everything we've covered on Iran.

Daniel

Not at all. We told you about the Mossad Director's trip to Washington, the American force buildup, and the arguments in Israel over who can authorize military action.

Maya

So Netanyahu is saying, let's face this together.

Daniel

That's the pitch. And notice Eisenkot himself has been talking about what he calls an emergency government. So both men are using similar language, from very different starting points.

Maya

What about the issues that actually divide them?

Daniel

Netanyahu named one specifically. He proposed resolving Haredi conscription inside a unity framework.

Maya

Haredi meaning ultra-Orthodox.

Daniel

Right. Whether young ultra-Orthodox men should be drafted into the army like other Israelis is one of the most explosive questions in Israeli politics. It's broken governments before.

Maya

So he's offering to put the hardest problem on the table.

Daniel

Inside the tent, so to speak.

Maya

Speaking of tents.

Daniel

Yes. Likud Member of Knesset Elisha Medan has pitched one outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel's parliament.

Maya

Literally a tent.

Daniel

Literally. He started Saturday night, and he says he'll stay there day and night. He calls it a way of voicing the public's longing for unity.

Maya

A Likud lawmaker, camping for his own party leader's proposal.

Daniel

Which tells you Likud wants this idea to look like it's coming from the street, not just the Prime Minister's office.

Maya

So what comes next?

Daniel

The ball's with Eisenkot. He can accept talks, reject them, or try to set terms, even though the invitation says unconditional. And remember, he still has his own coalition puzzle, including disagreements with Avigdor Lieberman's party over relying on an Arab party.

Maya

A busy few days ahead for him.

Daniel

Very.

Maya

To northern Israel now, and a deadly grenade attack in Kafr Manda.

Daniel

Kafr Manda is an Arab town in the Galilee, in the north. On Saturday, a fragmentation grenade was thrown at a shop selling sweets. A woman was killed, and three other people were injured.

Maya

What do we know about her?

Daniel

She's been named as Lina Qassem, also known as Zidan. Reports differ on her age, one says fifty-one, another about sixty. She was there buying sweets. Her husband was among the injured.

Maya

Just buying sweets.

Daniel

Yes. Police have arrested three suspects.

Maya

And the motive?

Daniel

Police are investigating a possible protection racket. The same store was targeted by a drone attack about a week earlier.

Maya

A drone, then a grenade, a week apart. That's not random.

Daniel

No. It looks like a business being pressured, and an innocent customer paying the price.

Maya

And the police leadership?

Daniel

Police Commissioner Danny Levy visited the scene. He vowed to catch those responsible and hold them accountable, and to keep up the fight against criminal organizations.

Maya

This connects to what we've been covering all week.

Daniel

It does. According to the reports, this is the twentieth murder of a woman in Israel's Arab community this year. We've talked about police deploying snipers in Rahat, and the first conviction under Israel's new organized crime law. Kafr Manda is another reminder of why those steps exist.

Maya

Next, a security story from India, involving a Jewish center.

Daniel

Indian authorities arrested a twenty-year-old named Yash Singh. He's suspected of gathering intelligence on the Chabad House in Mumbai.

Maya

Chabad being the Jewish outreach movement with centers all over the world.

Daniel

Right. Its houses serve local Jews and Israeli travelers. According to the A T S, India's anti-terror squad, Singh was tasked with surveilling the Chabad House, and documenting vehicles, locations and Jewish people in the area.

Maya

Tasked by whom?

Daniel

He's suspected of communicating with an international crime syndicate. Investigators say he used social media and Telegram to send sensitive information about Jewish institutions, and also about foreign companies.

Maya

Mapping who comes and goes from a Jewish center. That's how attacks get planned.

Daniel

Exactly, which is why this arrest matters. Israel has repeatedly warned that Jewish and Israeli sites abroad are targets, and this is a case of surveillance caught before anything happened.

Maya

What happens now?

Daniel

The investigation continues. The key question is who was actually behind the syndicate he was talking to.

Maya

Business now. On Friday we told you Arkia had been sold. Turns out it's not that simple.

Daniel

Not at all. Arkia is one of Israel's main airlines. A deal was signed for a controlling stake, with investors including Kidyan Dahari and Yaron Adib.

Maya

And the employees aren't happy.

Daniel

They're scrambling. Their representatives are looking for alternative investors to preserve their stake, about twenty-two percent of the airline.

Maya

Any luck?

Daniel

Here's the twist. Some of the investors the employees found have now joined the rival bid from the Nakash group.

Maya

So the workers went shopping for allies, and the allies went shopping elsewhere.

Daniel

Pretty much. And they have only a limited window to find someone new.

Maya

What's at stake money-wise?

Daniel

The airline is set to receive a capital injection of forty-five million dollars. Whoever controls that controls Arkia's future.

Maya

Quick round. Gaza, and a demand from Europe.

Daniel

The European Union urged Israel to provide urgent humanitarian aid and reopen border crossings into Gaza after severe flooding there. It called for immediate and unimpeded access.

Maya

Israel's answer?

Daniel

It came from COGAT, the Israeli defense body that coordinates civilian matters with Gaza. COGAT says preventive measures were taken before the flooding. It rejected the accusation that Israel is limiting aid, and placed the responsibility on the terrorist organization Hamas.

Maya

Staying in Gaza, Hamas has confirmed a significant loss.

Daniel

The terrorist organization says its Rafah brigade commander, Samir Abu Younis, was killed in an Israeli strike in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

Maya

And Hamas's own description of him?

Daniel

Hamas says he took part in numerous operations against the I D F, and helped plan the October seventh massacre.

Maya

By their own account, then, one of the planners of October seventh.

Daniel

By their own account, yes.

Maya

Something to watch today?

Daniel

Gadi Eisenkot's answer. Does he accept Netanyahu's invitation to unconditional talks, or turn it down?

Maya

And whether Elisha Medan's tent gets any neighbors.

Daniel

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

Maya

See you tomorrow morning.