Gadi Eisenkot Israel government formation, Digi Mart USA News: Israel’s president has chosen Gadi Eisenkot, Benjamin Netanyahu’s strongest rival, to try to form a new government. The decision follows a deadlocked election result and President Isaac Herzog’s meetings with representatives from each party.
Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, will have 28 days to form a coalition after he receives the formal offer from the president. Herzog’s office said factions totalling 67 members of the Knesset recommended Eisenkot be tasked with forming the government, while factions totalling 46 members recommended Netanyahu, and one faction of seven members recommended no one.
Despite that clear majority, Herzog took the weekend to consider the issue, as some parties remained vehemently opposed to working with each other. At the centre of the debate is the role of the Arab-Israeli or Palestinian-Israeli parties, which hold a record 19 seats in the next Knesset.
Without those parties, Eisenkot would need to win over the ultra-orthodox parties that previously sat in Netanyahu’s coalition. Yashar and other anti-Netanyahu parties campaigned on forcing ultra-orthodox men to complete compulsory military service, an issue the ultra-orthodox parties have opposed, demanding exemptions that Israel’s supreme court tore up in 2024.
Herzog will formally offer Eisenkot the chance to form a government at 5pm Sunday local time. The president can extend the 28-day period by another 14 days if talks are ongoing.
If there is still no outcome, Herzog can ask Netanyahu to attempt to form a government, and if deadlock persists, fresh elections could be called for the new year.
Netanyahu, in a video statement, again condemned the Arab-Israeli parties and called for a so-called “unity government” with Eisenkot. Herzog had earlier rejected Likud’s demands for a unity government, saying the party’s campaign against Eisenkot had effectively ruled that option out.
Israeli police and the Shin Bet intelligence agency have launched investigations into allegations of foreign funds flowing into Israel before the election, aimed at encouraging voter turnout in Arab-Israeli communities. The head of Israel’s elections committee said the concerns were important to investigate but were not serious enough to undermine the integrity of the election.
