On the opening day of Israel’s new Knesset, there was no let-up in the high drama. First, the man selected to form the new government, Gadi Eisenkot, presented a joint statement, signed by the other four leaders in his bloc, that they were united in their first order of business—deposing Netanyahu’s divisive Speaker of the House, Amir Ohana, and replacing him with Matan Kahana, a member of Eisenkot’s Yashar party. That represents 48 of the needed 61 votes.

The head of the (Arab) Joint List, Ahmad Tibi, added their 11 seats. He told Kan public broadcaster: “The first crucial step signaling change is the replacement of the Knesset speaker. The Yashar party informed us that it would be Matan Kahana. I congratulate him, and we will vote for him, because we want to be part of the change.” With that, all that is needed for the initial successful Jewish-Palestinian collaboration in the Knesset are two votes from the 8-seated Ra’am, the other Arab-majority party. Ohana has already declared, peremptorily, that he plans to delay any vote for up to a week.

After gaining the Speaker position, Eisenkot’s coalition plans to set up the long-delayed state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and introduce term limits for Israel’s prime ministers—both aimed at Netanyahu.

Further, Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas deepened his offer to the Eisenkot bloc, telling them, according to the Times of Israel’s coverage of various Hebrew media reports, that he is prepared to explicitly recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization in exchange for “genuine partnership.” At issue is the fourth of Eisenkot’s four key principles for open collaboration and joining his governing coalition. And when the leader of The Democrats, Yair Golan, was asked about Abbas’s offer, he said: “I don’t think recognition will be an obstacle for Abbas and that negotiations will take place.” At his own press briefing, Abbas explained that he and his party had “repeatedly accepted the dismantlement of Hamas” as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan and also that Ra’am “rejects and condemns all forms of terrorism.”