Israeli President Isaac Herzog has tasked opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot with forming the country’s next government, handing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival the first attempt at assembling a coalition.
Eisenkot now has 28 days to try to form an administration, with a possible 14-day extension, the Daily Mirror reported, citing the BBC. Hiru News gives the same 28-day window and specifies the threshold he must reach: the support of 61 of the 120 seats in the Knesset.
“Now is the time to form a national emergency government. I will do everything to ensure we are worthy,” the former military chief of staff wrote on X.
A statement from the president’s office said Herzog had informed both Eisenkot and Netanyahu of the decision, and confirmed the consultation tally: 67 recommendations for Eisenkot against 46 for Netanyahu. Those are the same figures reported on Thursday, when Herzog closed his talks with the parties but declined to name a candidate, citing “mutual vetoes between the blocs and within the blocs themselves.”
The arithmetic that makes this difficult
No Israeli party has ever won an outright majority, so every government has been a coalition.
- Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud and its far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies hold 53 seats.
- Eisenkot’s centrist Yashar party and three other Jewish opposition parties hold 48.
- Two Arab-led alliances, the United Arab List and the Joint List, together won an unprecedented 19 seats after a surge in Arab turnout.
That leaves the Arab-led blocs as potential kingmakers — but all but one of the Jewish parties pledged before the election not to work with them to form a government. Eisenkot and every member of his bloc bar one have previously refused to sit in government with Arab parties, though there has been speculation that an arrangement could be reached.
The president has broad discretion in this choice and is not obliged to pick the leader of the largest party.
The three paths the result left open
The election implied three possible outcomes: a national unity government including both Netanyahu and Eisenkot; a right-wing coalition built on Netanyahu plus defectors from Eisenkot’s bloc; or an Eisenkot-led government resting on the support of the Arab parties.
Eisenkot’s own words point to the first. Neither filing reports which option he intends to pursue, what coalition talks have taken place, or what Netanyahu has said since being informed of the decision.
Not reported
Neither account gives the date the 28-day clock starts, names any party Eisenkot has approached, or says what happens if he fails — under Israeli law the mandate can pass to another member of the Knesset or trigger a further election, but neither filing addresses that. No comment from the Arab-led alliances is reported.
