President Isaac Herzog has chosen Gadi Eisenkot to have the first opportunity to form a new Israeli government, according to a statement released by his office on Saturday evening. Herzog informed Eisenkot, the leader of the centrist Yashar party, of his intention to task him with forming a government, and the formal appointment is to take place in an official ceremony on Sunday at the president’s residence in Jerusalem.
The choice follows the consultations Herzog held with the Knesset factions this week, in which, Reuters reported, the opposition bloc leader received a majority of recommendations. Both Arab majority lists announced during the week that they would recommend Eisenkot, and The Guardian reported that he received the endorsements of both lists, which could now play kingmakers after making unprecedented gains in the October 27 vote.
The arithmetic explains why Herzog had a real choice. Eisenkot’s wide ranging opposition bloc won 48 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, while Netanyahu’s camp secured 53, leaving neither with the 61 seats a majority requires. Netanyahu’s religious nationalist coalition lost its majority in the election but still emerged as the largest bloc, and he is fighting to hold on to office. Under the process this site reported on November 5, the lawmaker given the mandate has 28 days to form a government, extendable by up to 14 days.
Whether Eisenkot can get there is the open question. It remains unclear whether his bloc would accept support from the Arab lists in forming a government, and he has so far declined to join forces with the Arab parties, whose support could enable him to govern with a majority. Netanyahu, for his part, ruled out working with Arab parties to gain a majority. Deutsche Welle described the move as the first step toward what will almost certainly be complicated coalition talks.
Eisenkot, 66, was Israel’s military chief of staff from 2015 to 2019 and has set out to unite Israelis after Netanyahu’s tenure. If he succeeds in forming a coalition, he would take over as prime minister from Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving premier. If he fails, the mandate process moves on, with a repeat election the outcome Herzog warned the factions against during the consultations.