Israel just lost its path back to Netanyahu and the opposition has the votes

And Netanyahu is losing people from inside his own camp. Degel HaTorah holds four of United Torah Judaism's seven seats. It says it won't recommend either candidate. Why? Netanyahu failed to pass a law exempting ultra-Orthodox men from military service.

The Joint List says its decision reflects public demand to keep Netanyahu's government from coming back. It also says the opposition bloc hasn't done enough to confront Netanyahu or fight incitement against Arab citizens.

So that's a party backing Eisenkot, and warning him at the same time. This isn't a blank cheque.

And here's the catch in that number 67. A recommendation to Herzog is not a seat in a coalition. The Times of Israel reports that having more recommendations than Netanyahu doesn't mean those parties will actually join Eisenkot's government once real talks start. His own bloc of 48 seats is fractious. Some of his allies, including Avigdor Liberman, don't want to rely on Arab parties to govern at all. Eisenkot himself hasn't said whether he'd accept their support, even though he needs their numbers to reach a majority.

Netanyahu's camp has its own story for why it's losing ground. He and his Likud party have repeatedly alleged, without evidence, that Arab parties committed fraud in the election, in some cases pointing to foreign backing. But Israel's Central Elections Committee certified the results two days ago and found no evidence of fraud. Gali Baharav-Miara, the Attorney General, separately rejected a request to question elected officials without supporting evidence.

Herzog has been meeting party leaders since the start of this week to decide who gets the job of forming a government. He has said not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled, and has urged compromise to avoid another election. Talks with the remaining parties, including Likud and Eisenkot's own Yashar party, were still going on this evening.

Once Herzog picks someone, the clock starts. They get four weeks to form a government, and can ask for two more. If neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot pulls it off, Israel goes back to the polls early next year.

So right now, the recommendations favour Eisenkot. But turning 67 names on paper into an actual working government is a different question entirely. And nobody has answered it yet.