Herzog to decide Sunday who will try to form Israel's government
Seven Lights
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will announce Sunday which rival will receive the first mandate to form a government. Parties recommending 67 of the Knesset’s 120 lawmakers have backed Gadi Eisenkot, and parties representing 46 have backed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Herzog’s office said the formal appointment would take place in a ceremony Sunday at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.
Herzog said Thursday that the “results of the consultations may appear clear,” but that “mutual vetoes between the blocs and within the blocs themselves” made the choice difficult. He held personal talks with some party leaders over the Israeli weekend before settling the question.
Eisenkot, a former chief of the general staff, pledged to “do everything” to form a government. He called for a “national emergency government” and urged Likud lawmakers to “publicly announce the dissolution of their alliance with the extremists.” Netanyahu warned Saturday that a coalition leaning on Arab parties would “dismantle the State of Israel from within,” and urged a unity government of “all the Zionist parties that want to safeguard our state.”
The October 27 election left Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist camp on 53 seats and Eisenkot’s Change bloc on 48, with parties representing Israel’s Arab minority taking a record 19 seats. Turnout among Arab citizens, who constitute 20 per cent of the population, more than doubled to about 80 per cent. United Torah Judaism endorsed neither man.
The coalition arithmetic shifted Friday when Avigdor Liberman, whose party sits in Eisenkot’s camp, said he was open to discussions on a law that would enshrine an exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews from mandatory military service. Liberman and Naftali Bennett had made closing that exemption a core campaign promise. Eisenkot has proposed national service for all Israelis with a civilian option, opening the door to an alliance with the ultra-Orthodox parties that could supply the missing votes.
A designated candidate would have 28 days to gather the 61 seats needed, with Herzog able to grant a 14-day extension before offering the mandate to someone else. Israel held five elections between 2019 and 2022 amid repeated deadlocks. Netanyahu, who faces corruption charges and an International Criminal Court arrest warrant he rejects, has called for a unity government. Pressure for one could build should he follow through on threats to resume the war on Iran, though US President Donald Trump has not given the green light.