Israel's president tasks opposition leader Eisenkot with forming government — SkimNews
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- Isaac Herzog gave Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to try to form a government instead of Benjamin Netanyahu, assigning Eisenkot 28 days and a possible 14-day extension.
- Eisenkot's bloc won 48 of the Knesset's 120 seats, while Netanyahu's Likud party and its far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies won 53, leaving both camps without a majority.
- United Arab List and Joint List won a combined, unprecedented 19 seats following a surge in Arab turnout, placing the two alliances in the position of potential kingmakers.
- Eisenkot and all but one member of his bloc had previously refused to enter government with Arab parties, while all but one Jewish party had pledged before the polls not to work with them.
- Gadi Eisenkot collected 67 recommendations for the premiership from incoming Knesset members, compared with 46 for Netanyahu, after Herzog consulted party delegations.
- The election results implied three possible government paths: a national unity administration involving Netanyahu and Eisenkot, a Netanyahu coalition with defectors from Eisenkot's bloc, or an Eisenkot government backed by Arab parties.
- Gadi Eisenkot called for a national emergency government and wrote on X, "I will do everything to ensure we are worthy."
Why it matters: Netanyahu does not get the first opportunity to form the next administration, while Eisenkot gains a 28-day mandate with a possible 14-day extension. The arithmetic remains unresolved: his bloc holds 48 seats against Netanyahu’s 53, and the 19 Arab-held seats are pivotal even though his bloc previously refused to govern with Arab parties.
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