Israel's president names Eisenkot to try to form a government
Seven Lights
Israeli President Isaac Herzog chose former military chief Gadi Eisenkot on Saturday to try to form a government, handing the prime minister’s strongest rival the first opportunity to build a coalition after an October 27 election that left Israel deadlocked.
Herzog’s spokesman said Eisenkot would be invited to the President’s Residence and formally tasked with forming the government on Sunday. He will have 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension. If he fails, another candidate may try, and if that candidate fails the Knesset can nominate one; the process carries a deadline of about 100 days, after which another election would be held.
The vote left no bloc near the 61 seats needed in the 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu’s Likud won the most seats of any single party, 27, and his wider religious-nationalist coalition reached 53. Eisenkot’s Yashar party emerged second with 21 seats, while his camp of four centre-left to right-wing Jewish-led parties won 48. Parties representing Israel’s Arab minority took an unprecedented 19 seats. Their leaders, angered by what they view as the racist policies of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, nominated Eisenkot during marathon consultations with the president, though Eisenkot has refused to join forces with them in government.
Analysts said Eisenkot’s three plausible routes — a minority government with outside Arab support, a coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties he has shunned, or a unity government with Netanyahu — were each unlikely to take shape. Weeks of protracted negotiations are expected.
Eisenkot, 66, is a son of Moroccan immigrants who would be Israel’s first prime minister from the Mizrahi community, Jews tracing their roots to the Middle East and North Africa. Reserved and media-shy, he entered politics only in 2022 and briefly served in Netanyahu’s wartime cabinet after the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, before returning to the opposition. His family has paid a personal price in the Gaza war: a son and two nephews were killed fighting there. He has criticized settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, which has surged since 2023.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, is fighting to hold onto office and says voters chose him for the premiership. The formal mandate Sunday opens the clock on the longest government-formation process in Israel’s history.