Israel president taps Eisenkot to form new government

Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Saturday evening announced his choice to have opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot attempt to form a governing coalition following the country's elections on October 27. Eisenkot, a former military chief and main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now stands a step closer to possibly removing Israel's longest-serving premier.

He has six weeks to assemble a coalition, a challenging task given the deeply divided nature of the country still recovering from the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks and the subsequent three years of wars in Gaza and beyond. During their discussions, representatives from the majority of Israel's main parties recommended Eisenkot take on the task of forming a new government, but the process of establishing a parliamentary majority remains complex.

While Netanyahu and his allies lost their majority in parliament in the recent elections, the bloc led by Eisenkot also failed to secure a majority. This left the Arab-led parties, who achieved historic gains, as potential but politically sensitive partners in a coalition. Forming an alliance with these Arab-led parties would be particularly contentious for Eisenkot, given the ongoing three-year conflict in Gaza and Netanyahu's campaign to obstruct any such partnership.

Netanyahu has accused the Arab-led parties of "stolen" elections and presented them as a threat to national security. Eisenkot, however, has expressed openness to teaming up with them under certain conditions, such as acknowledging Hamas as a terrorist organization. Although Netanyahu and Eisenkot could potentially form a broad unity government with major Jewish parties, their fundamental disagreements—particularly over Netanyahu's reliance on religious parties demanding draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men and his opposition to an investigation into the Oct.

7 attacks—make it difficult to bridge their differences. Eisenkot might also pursue a "minority" government, secured by external support from Arab parties not officially part of his coalition. However, some members within his bloc have expressed their rejection of such an alliance. Yashar, Eisenkot's party, criticized Netanyahu's video statement and urged members of Likud to disavow their potential alliance with "radical parties," a clear reference to the far-right factions within his religious-nationalist base.