Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Saturday night handed opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the first opportunity to assemble a governing coalition, a significant blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after an Oct. 27 election that left neither man with a clear majority.
Eisenkot, a former military chief who heads the Yashar party, ran as Netanyahu’s principal challenger at the helm of a bloc of parties seeking to unseat Israel’s longest-serving leader. He is set to formally receive the mandate at a ceremony at the President’s Residence on Sunday at 5 p.m., The Times of Israel said.
“President Herzog has invited Gadi Eisenkot to the President’s Residence, where he will be tasked with forming the government tomorrow,” a spokesperson for Herzog said, Reuters noted. The Israeli presidency is largely ceremonial, but the president is responsible for nominating a candidate to build a coalition after elections.
Eisenkot responded on X. “Now is the time to form a national emergency government. I will do everything I can to ensure we are worthy,” he wrote, in Reuters’ translation.
The decision had been anticipated for Sunday. It came soon after Netanyahu issued a video statement calling for a “national unity government” and cautioning against “hastily swearing in a government with terrorist supporters,” an apparent reference to Arab-led parties.
How the numbers stack up
Herzog said he informed both Eisenkot and Netanyahu of his decision earlier Saturday evening, following consultations Wednesday and Thursday with every Knesset party and additional weekend talks with figures across the political spectrum, The Times of Israel said.
During those consultations, Eisenkot collected 67 recommendations for prime minister, a majority in the 120-seat parliament, while Netanyahu received 46. The seven-seat ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party made no recommendation.
Those endorsements, however, do not translate into a working coalition. Netanyahu’s Likud won the most seats of any party, with 27, but his broader religious-nationalist alliance secured only 53 seats, short of the 61 needed to govern, Reuters said. Eisenkot’s Yashar came in second with 21 seats, while his four-party bloc, which spans Jewish-led parties from the center-left to the right, won 48. Two parties representing Israel’s Arab minority captured an unprecedented 19 seats.
Arab party leaders, angered by what they regard as racist policies of Netanyahu and his far-right partners, recommended Eisenkot even though he has declined to form a formal alliance with them, Reuters said. Eisenkot has signaled openness to cooperation only under conditions that include labeling Hamas a terrorist organization that must be destroyed.
Eisenkot now has 28 days to put together a government, with a possible 14-day extension from Herzog. If he falls short, Netanyahu could be given the next chance. If that effort also fails, parliament can nominate another candidate. The entire process runs about 100 days, after which a new election would be triggered.
Clash over ‘unity’
In his Saturday video, Netanyahu urged the opposition bloc to join a “national unity government,” but made clear it would have to include all of his previous coalition partners, among them the ultranationalist Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties and the ultra-Orthodox factions, The Times of Israel said.
“There is someone who wants, as soon as next week, to hastily swear in a government with terror supporters. To establish a government in the State of Israel with those who want to eliminate the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said. He argued that “a government dependent on Hamas supporters won’t fight Hamas,” and added: “With a government like that, Israel simply won’t survive.”
The appeal marked another change in Netanyahu’s language since election night, when he promised a “strong, national, right-wing coalition.” On Nov. 2 he called for a “broad national government” under his leadership.
Public broadcaster Kan cited an unnamed Netanyahu associate as saying the prime minister would be willing to discuss a power-sharing rotation if unity talks took place. Kan also said a Netanyahu envoy sent to sound out Eisenkot was “rejected out of hand.” Yashar said it was unaware of any such approach.
Yashar dismissed the video as “hysterical” and accused Netanyahu of hypocrisy. “The man who divided, tore apart, and sowed discord within Israeli society is heard speaking of ‘unity’ only now that he realizes his days in office are numbered,” the party said.
The party said Likud and its allies were welcome to join a government under Eisenkot if they dropped their alliance with “extremists” and accepted his four principles: recognizing Hamas as a terrorist organization and committing to destroy its military and governing power; recognizing Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; accepting the values of the Declaration of Independence; and mandatory service for all. That offer did not extend to Netanyahu himself. Eisenkot has repeatedly said that anyone who held a senior leadership role during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack must leave public life.
Ultra-Orthodox parties weigh their options
The most closely watched maneuvering involves Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties, long Netanyahu’s reliable partners.
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman said Friday that he was ready to drop years of opposition to sitting with ultra-Orthodox parties and accept “painful compromises” on military enlistment for Haredi men in order to form a government without Netanyahu or the Arab parties. The head of United Torah Judaism signaled openness to such talks.
Channel 12 quoted a source from Shas’ Council of Torah Sages as saying that if UTJ’s spiritual leader approved joining an Eisenkot-led government, Shas would not oppose it. “There is no scenario in which Shas rabbis will act against United Torah Judaism rabbis,” the source said.
Combining the 48-seat change bloc with UTJ’s seven lawmakers, and securing the non-opposition of Shas’ six members, could yield a fragile 61-seat majority. Shas, however, called reports that it might join such a government “total fake news,” insisting it remains part of the right-wing bloc.
Channel 13 said Liberman and the ultra-Orthodox parties had quietly maintained a secret backchannel for months, even while campaigning against one another. The network also said Netanyahu was applying heavy pressure on UTJ to stay out of any government with Liberman.
Other bloc leaders appear less flexible on the draft issue. Eisenkot reiterated Friday that any coalition partner must back mandatory military, national or civil service. Democrats chairman Yair Golan said he was open to partnering with the Haredim but would not grant them “a blank check,” calling for young ultra-Orthodox men to be conscripted and integrated into the workforce.
A political newcomer with a military pedigree
Eisenkot, 66, the son of Moroccan immigrants, would become Israel’s first prime minister from the Mizrahi community, Jews with roots in the Middle East and North Africa, Reuters said.
Reserved and media-shy, he entered politics only in 2022 and briefly served in Netanyahu’s wartime cabinet after the Oct. 7 attack before returning to the opposition. A son and two nephews were killed fighting in Gaza.
He campaigned on his security record, including the “Dahiyeh doctrine” of disproportionate response he applied as a commander during the 2006 war with Hezbollah. He has also criticized settler violence against Palestinians and opposes Netanyahu’s far-right partners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom have faced sanctions from some Western countries.
A mandate without a clear map
Herzog’s decision gives Eisenkot momentum and the symbolic advantage of moving first, but it does not resolve the arithmetic that produced the deadlock. Analysts cited by Reuters consider each of his main options unlikely: a minority government relying on Arab party votes, a coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties his allies have long shunned, or a unity arrangement with Netanyahu, which Eisenkot has ruled out.
The ultra-Orthodox route appears to be the most actively explored, and Liberman’s reversal is notable given that opposition to Haredi draft exemptions has defined his politics for years.
But it creates a direct tension within the bloc. Yashar, Golan’s Democrats and others campaigned on ending broad exemptions, and any deal would require one side or both to give ground on an issue central to their voters.
Netanyahu’s strategy appears aimed at narrowing Eisenkot’s options by framing any reliance on Arab parties as a security threat while presenting himself as the champion of unity.
His supporters see that as a defense of Israel’s security interests; his critics, including Yashar, view it as an effort to delegitimize Arab citizens and to hold onto power. Netanyahu’s insistence that a unity government include his far-right partners effectively makes the offer a nonstarter for the opposition.
The Arab parties’ record 19 seats remain a decisive factor even if they stay outside any coalition. Their recommendations gave Eisenkot his majority of endorsements, and their stance on any minority arrangement could determine whether an alternative to Netanyahu is viable.
With the clock now running, the coming four weeks will test whether Israel’s fractured parliament can produce a government at all, or whether the country is drifting toward another election.
Sources: Reuters/TimesofIsrael
