Israel's President Taps Netanyahu Rival Gadi Eisenkot to Try to Form the Next Government
Likud won the most seats but could not reach a majority. Isaac Herzog gave the mandate to the former army chief, who has up to six weeks to build a coalition.
Israel's president has chosen Gadi Eisenkot, the main rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to try to form the country's next government, NPR reported Sunday. The decision is a setback for Netanyahu, whose Likud party won the most seats in last month's election but failed to secure a parliamentary majority.
Likud took 27 seats, six more than Eisenkot's Yashar party. Neither man commands enough support in the 120-seat Knesset to govern alone. President Isaac Herzog was due to formally hand Eisenkot the mandate at 5 p.m. local time Sunday. Herzog acted after parties representing most of the members of parliament recommended Eisenkot.
Eisenkot is a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, serving as the country's top military commander from 2015 to 2019. He later joined Netanyahu's emergency war cabinet after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, but left the following year, accusing Netanyahu of failing to make progress toward ending the Gaza war and securing the release of hostages. He lost his son Gal, a reservist, in Gaza, along with two nephews during the war. Eisenkot founded Yashar, a center-right party, on an anti-corruption and government reform platform.
He now has 28 days to assemble a coalition, with a possible 14-day extension, giving him as long as six weeks to find the 61 seats needed for a majority. NPR said the task promises to be difficult. A workable coalition could require strange bedfellows, from ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties to Arab-led parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up about 20 percent of the country and turned out in record numbers in this election.
Those Arab-led parties could now be kingmakers. Both Eisenkot and Netanyahu ruled out working with them before the vote, but there is public pressure on Eisenkot to change his mind. On Saturday, Netanyahu released a video warning against it, saying it would mean partnering with what he called Hamas supporters and "those who oppose Judaism." Eisenkot answered by calling the video hysterical.
The fight echoes what happened after the vote. As this site reported in late October, Netanyahu claimed Arab voters stole the election after his bloc lost its majority, and Likud said Arab parties "stole" the result as the count came in with no clear winner.
If Eisenkot fails, Herzog can give another lawmaker a chance to form a government. If those efforts also fail, Israel could face yet another election. Netanyahu would remain caretaker prime minister in the meantime, keeping his hold on the office while the coalition talks play out.
