tel aviv
\nIsrael\u2019s president on Saturday chose Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s strongest rival, to try to form a new government following a deadlocked election that left neither man with a clear path to power.
\nNetanyahu, Israel\u2019s longest-serving leader, is fighting to stay in office after his religious-nationalist coalition lost its majority in an October 27 election but still emerged as the largest bloc in parliament.
\nEisenkot, a former military chief, has declined to join forces with Arab parties, whose support would give him a majority of seats in parliament. But Arab leaders, incensed by what they view as the racist policies of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, still nominated Eisenkot to try to form a government first \u2014 giving him the most endorsements.
\n\u201cPresident Herzog has invited Gadi Eisenkot to the President\u2019s Residence, where he will be tasked with forming the government tomorrow,\u201d said the spokesperson of President Isaac Herzog, whose largely ceremonial role involves nominating a candidate to form a coalition after elections.
\nIn a post on X, Eisenkot wrote, \u201cNow is the time to form a national emergency government. I will do everything I can to ensure we are worthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eisenkot faces long-shot bid to form govt
\nWeeks of protracted negotiations are expected to follow Eisenkot\u2019s nomination. He has 28 days to try to forge a government, with a possible 14-day extension.
\nHis potential pathways to power include trying to form a minority government with Arab party votes on key issues; forming a coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties that he and his allies have shunned in the past; or forging a unity government with Netanyahu.
\nAnalysts say that all three options are unlikely to take shape. If Eisenkot fails, another candidate can try to form a government and if that candidate fails, parliament can nominate another. There is a deadline for the process of around 100 days. If no one succeeds, another election is \u200bheld.
\nLikud won the most seats of any single party with 27 in the 120-seat Knesset, but Netanyahu\u2019s wider religious-nationalist coalition garnered only 53 in total, short of a 61-seat majority.
\nEisenkot\u2019s Yashar party emerged as the second-largest party with 21 seats, while his coalition, spanning four centre-left to right-wing Jewish-led parties, won just 48 seats. Two parties representing Israel\u2019s Arab minority won an unprecedented 19 seats.<\/p>\n
Eisenkot critical of settler violence
\nA son of Moroccan immigrants, Eisenkot, 66, would be the country\u2019s first prime minister from Israel\u2019s Mizrahi community, Jews who trace their roots to the Middle East and North Africa.
\nReserved and media-shy, Eisenkot only entered politics in 2022. He briefly served in Netanyahu\u2019s wartime cabinet following Hamas\u2019 October 7, 2023, attack on Israel before returning to the opposition.
\nFrom opposition, he publicly rebuked Netanyahu over his leadership, including his management of the military campaign in Gaza, and has sworn that he would not serve in government with him.
\nEisenkot\u2019s public standing is also bound up with the personal price his family has paid since 2023: a son and two nephews were killed fighting in Gaza.
\nEisenkot highlighted his security credentials on the campaign trail, citing his \u201cDahiyeh doctrine\u201d of responding to attacks with disproportionate force, which he deployed as a commander during Israel\u2019s 2006 war with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
\nEisenkot has criticised settler violence against Palestinians, which has surged since 2023, raising tensions in Israel\u2019s ties with Western states, and he opposes Netanyahu\u2019s far-right coalition partners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who have both faced sanctions by some Western countries for inciting violence against Palestinians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
tel aviv Israel\u2019s president on Saturday chose Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s strongest rival, to try to form a new government following a deadlocked election that left neither man with a clear path to power. Netanyahu, Israel\u2019s longest-serving leader, is fighting to stay in office after his religious-nationalist coalition lost its majority in an …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":105616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105648,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105635\/revisions\/105648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}