Gadi Eisenkot has a chance to form a new government in Israel

On November 8th, Gadi Eisenkot was granted the mandate by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to form a new government in the wake of Binyamin Netanyahu's coalition losing its majority in the October 27th election. However, Eisenkot faces several challenges, including breaking election promises, to replace Netanyahu. In a brief ceremony at the president's residence, Eisenkot acknowledged that "no one can stand for all the commitments they made," and agreed to make compromises.

He aims to create a minority "emergency" government composed of four Jewish opposition parties, though Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties will not be part of the coalition initially but may provide support later. Eisenkot argues that removing Netanyahu is the most urgent priority, as he has been pushing for a potential war with Iran and has demanded an investigation into the Arab votes.

The formation of a coalition with a majority would require lengthy negotiations, and Eisenkot only has six weeks before the president asks someone else to attempt forming a government. The four Jewish opposition parties pledged to implement universal national service during the election campaign, while the ultra-Orthodox parties demand exemption from military service for religious seminary students as a condition for coalition inclusion.

Three of the four Jewish parties oppose including the Arab parties in a coalition, and Eisenkot himself has set conditions, including condemning Hamas as a terrorist organization. Despite his relative newness to politics, Eisenkot's party performed well in the election, outperforming other opposition parties. However, Eisenkot faces the challenge of uniting an unruly coalition and must persuade enough parties to secure a majority, which could involve breaking promises.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu's Likud party is challenging the election result, claiming foreign interference and irregularities among Arab voters. The investigation by the Shin Bet security agency has found insufficient evidence to question Arab politicians. Netanyahu's fallback plan is to attempt to form a unity government, which he would lead, instead of a government reliant on Islamist parties.