Israel’s President Isaac Herzog announced on Saturday evening that he would task Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot with forming the country’s next government, after last week’s election left neither side with a majority in parliament.
Eisenkot will formally receive the mandate at a ceremony at the President’s Residence on Sunday at 5 p.m. He will then have 28 days to form a government, with Herzog able to grant an extension of up to 14 days if necessary. If he fails, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could next be given the chance.
During Herzog’s consultations with party delegations, Eisenkot received 67 recommendations for the premiership — a majority in the 120-member Knesset — while Netanyahu got 46. The seven-seat United Torah Judaism party made no recommendation.
Reacting to the announcement, Eisenkot said in a post on X: “now is the time for the formation of a national emergency government,” adding: “I will do everything to make us worthy.”
Eisenkot, a former military chief, leads the so-called change bloc. His path to a governing coalition is far from straightforward: hawkish members of his bloc are publicly opposed to any reliance on the Arab-led Ra’am and Joint List parties, while many bloc members campaigned on sending both Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties to the opposition. Eisenkot has repeatedly said he will not partner with Netanyahu, and that anybody who held a major position of power when Hamas invaded on 7 October 2023 must leave public life.
Netanyahu, in a video statement on Saturday evening, called on the Eisenkot-led bloc parties to form what he termed a “national unity government” — but said it would have to include all of his allies from the last coalition, including the ultranationalist Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties and the ultra-Orthodox parties, a likely non-starter. Yashar said Likud and its allies could potentially join an Eisenkot-led coalition, but did not extend that offer to Netanyahu.
There are signs the ultra-Orthodox parties could break with Netanyahu: Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman said on Friday he was prepared to reverse years of opposition to sitting with ultra-Orthodox parties, and United Torah Judaism voiced openness to discussing a partnership. Shas, however, called reports that it could join an Eisenkot-led government “total fake news” — though the reports had said only that the party might avoid opposing such a government, not join it.
Eisenkot has set out four principles for any coalition partner: recognising Hamas as a terrorist organisation and a commitment to destroying its military and governing power; recognising Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; accepting the values of the Declaration of Independence; and mandatory service for all.
The new Knesset is expected to be sworn in on 10 November.
Source: The Times of Israel
