In a country where the same question of leadership has returned again and again, President Isaac Herzog has handed the first opportunity to form a government to Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief who now leads the opposition. The choice follows an October election that left neither camp with a majority, and it opens a path, however narrow, toward ending the long tenure of Benjamin Netanyahu. Whether that path holds depends on a question Israel has never fully settled: whether the Arab citizens who make up a fifth of the population can be part of its political arithmetic, or only its margin
Herzog Taps Eisenkot to Form Israel's Next Government, Setting Up Challenge to Netanyahu
Neither side won a majority, and the deadline clock starts Sunday
Mark
Eisenkot has 67 recommendations to Netanyahu's 46. Why isn't this settled?
Mimi
Because recommendations aren't votes for a coalition. Some of the 67 come from Arab parties, and parts of the opposition won't govern with their support.
Luke
Right, and the numbers say nothing about whether those parties would actually vote for a government he assembles. That's still unknown.
Mark
Liberman is the pivot, then?
Mimi
He's the clearest case. He said he won't sit with Eisenkot if Arab votes are needed, yet on Friday he softened on the ultra-Orthodox draft exemption.
Luke
Softened, to be precise, means he's open to discussing a law. It's not a commitment, and the reporting doesn't say where he'd land.
Mark
Why does the draft matter so much?
Mimi
He and Bennett campaigned on ending the exemption, and reservists are serving multiple tours. Eisenkot's civilian service idea is the bridge.
Luke
It's a proposal, not an agreement. We don't know that the ultra-Orthodox accept it.
Mark
And Netanyahu's position?
Mimi
He calls for unity among Zionist parties and says an Arab-backed coalition would dismantle the state from within.
Luke
That's his characterisation. The opposition's demand that he go first is the sticking point, and nothing here shows either side moving.
Il Polso
- Parties backing Eisenkot count 67 seats against 46 for Netanyahu's bloc, yet neither side can yet claim the 61 needed to govern.
- Eisenkot must lean on Arab-minority lists that his right-leaning rivals refuse to sit beside, and Netanyahu is warning that such a alliance would dismantle the state from within.
- Liberman's sudden openness to a deal on ultra-Orthodox service shows how quickly old red lines are bending under the pressure of coalition math.
- The clock is running: 28 days to assemble a majority, with a 14-day extension, before Israel faces its sixth election since 2019.
In a country where the same question of leadership has returned again and again, President Isaac Herzog has handed the first opportunity to form a government to Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief who now leads the opposition. The choice follows an October election that left neither camp with a majority, and it opens a path, however narrow, toward ending the long tenure of Benjamin Netanyahu. Whether that path holds depends on a question Israel has never fully settled: whether the Arab citizens who make up a fifth of the population can be part of its political arithmetic, or only its margins.
On Saturday, President Isaac Herzog announced that Gadi Eisenkot would be the first to try to build the next government. The formal appointment comes Sunday at the president's residence in Jerusalem. For Netanyahu's rivals, it is the first real step toward ending the tenure of Israel's longest-serving prime minister.
The decision follows the October 27 election, which produced no majority. A country already polarised by Netanyahu's hard-right rule and worn down by three years of war now faces another stalemate. Eisenkot, a political newcomer who leads the Yashar party and has courted secular and liberal voters, was recommended by parties holding 67 seats, against 46 for Netanyahu's bloc.
His path runs through the Arab-minority parties, whose strong showing reflected anger at Netanyahu. Right-leaning opposition figures, Avigdor Liberman chief among them, refuse to rely on those votes. Yet Liberman has also softened on the ultra-Orthodox draft exemption he once campaigned against, and Eisenkot's proposal for national service with a civilian option offers a route toward integrating that community. Netanyahu, for his part, calls for a unity government and warns that an opposition coalition with Arab lists would undo the state. Eisenkot answers by urging Netanyahu's own allies to form a unity government under him.
Netanyahu's stakes are personal, with corruption charges and an international arrest warrant hanging over him. Eisenkot has 28 days to win 61 votes, with a possible 14-day extension. If he fails, Israel returns to the polls.
On Saturday, Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, announced that he would give Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to assemble the country's next government. The formal appointment is set for a ceremony on Sunday at the president's residence in Jerusalem, according to Herzog's office. Netanyahu's rivals read the decision as the first step toward removing the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history.
The decision follows the October 27 election, in which neither side won a majority. The country is deeply polarised by Netanyahu's hard-right rule and worn down by three years of war. Herzog said he reached his choice after consulting all parties during the week. Eisenkot was recommended by parties representing 67 lawmakers, against 46 for Netanyahu's bloc.
Eisenkot is a former military chief and a political newcomer who has courted secular and liberal Israelis. His party is called Yashar. The recommendations behind him include Arab-minority parties, whose seat count rose sharply in the election on the back of anger at Netanyahu. That is the complication. Right-leaning parts of the opposition oppose relying on Arab votes.
Avigdor Liberman is the clearest example. A former Netanyahu aide turned fierce critic, he shares Netanyahu's hawkish views on the Palestinians. He has said he will not sit with Eisenkot if Eisenkot depends on Israeli-Arab votes. Yet on Friday Liberman reversed himself on another group he had shunned. He said he was open to discussing a law that would enshrine the ultra-Orthodox exemption from mandatory military service. He and fellow opposition leader Naftali Bennett had made ending that exemption a core campaign promise. They had harshly criticised the ultra-Orthodox as burdens on the state, speaking to wide resentment among Israelis while reservists serve multiple tours in Gaza and Lebanon.
Eisenkot has proposed national service for all Israelis, with a civilian option in place of the military, which would open a path to integrating the ultra-Orthodox. His bloc has opened the door to an alliance with them, once improbable, which could supply the numbers for a coalition. In a message delivered Friday before Israel shut down for the sabbath, he called replacing Netanyahu urgent and described him as a threat to the "very existence of Israeli democracy". He urged a swift government that could initially rely on outside support, with more parties joining later.
Netanyahu has answered by pressing for a unity government and attacking the opposition for considering Israeli Arabs as partners. Arab citizens are descendants of Palestinians who stayed after Israel's creation in 1948. On Saturday he said a coalition of opposition parties and Arab lists, which he called Islamists, would "dismantle the State of Israel from within". He urged a government of "all the Zionist parties that want to safeguard our state." Yashar replied by urging Netanyahu's allies and Likud members to form a unity government led by Eisenkot and to publicly dissolve their alliance with "the extremists". The opposition has insisted on removing Netanyahu first.
Herzog, who began in the now defunct Labour Party but holds a non-partisan role and has built a working relationship with Netanyahu, has signalled interest in a national unity government of Jewish Israelis across the spectrum. Pressure for one could grow if Netanyahu carries out threats to resume war on Iran. President Donald Trump has not given the green light for that, and he took his own drubbing in Tuesday's midterm elections.
The stakes for Netanyahu are personal. He faces corruption charges and possible jail if he leaves office, and an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over the Gaza war, whose authority he rejects.
Once appointed, Eisenkot has 28 days to find the 61 votes a government needs. If he falls short, Herzog can grant a 14-day extension before offering the mandate to someone else. If neither side succeeds, Israel goes back to the polls, after holding five elections between 2019 and 2022 because of repeated deadlock.
Citazioni salienti
A coalition with Arab lists would dismantle the State of Israel from within.— Benjamin Netanyahu
Netanyahu is a threat to the very existence of Israeli democracy.— Gadi Eisenkot, in a Friday message
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Politics & Governance