Israel's Herzog tasks Eisenkot with forming government

Jerusalem — Israel's President Isaac Herzog has handed Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party and a former military chief, the first shot at forming a government, passing over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a deadlocked election. Herzog told Eisenkot of the decision on Saturday evening and will formally deliver the mandate at a ceremony on Sunday, the president's spokesperson said, according to Al Jazeera.

The arithmetic explains the choice. In consultations this week, 67 lawmakers endorsed Eisenkot — including Arab-led parties — while 46 backed Netanyahu, The Hindu reported. Neither bloc won a majority in the October 27 vote: Netanyahu's religious-nationalist alliance took 53 seats and Eisenkot's four-party alliance 48, both short of the 61 needed in the 120-seat Knesset. Arab-led parties won a record 19 seats. Wide World News had reported that Eisenkot led the race for the mandate as Herzog weighed his options.

Eisenkot now has 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension, to assemble a coalition. His routes are narrow. He has ruled out governing with the Arab-led parties, though Ahmad Tibi of the Joint List told Al Jazeera he expects a minority government "with external support from the Arab parties". Winning over the ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism and Shas would give him exactly 61 seats; a unity deal with Netanyahu is a third option analysts describe as unlikely.

"This is the time to establish a national emergency government. I will do anything possible to prove us worthy," Eisenkot posted on social media after the announcement, the South China Morning Post reported.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving premier, warned hours before the decision that a government dependent on what he called "Islamists" would "dismantle the state of Israel from within". Tibi rejected the charge, telling Al Jazeera that bringing down Netanyahu's government was the priority for Arab-led parties even if an Eisenkot cabinet would not be their "dream government".

Eisenkot, 66, led the military from 2015 to 2019 and briefly sat in Netanyahu's wartime cabinet before returning to opposition. A son of Moroccan immigrants, he would be Israel's first prime minister from the Mizrahi community, The Hindu noted.

The test comes fast. If Eisenkot fails within his 28 days, Herzog nominates a second candidate; failure again lets a Knesset majority back a third, with a final 14 days. Should no one succeed, Israel heads back to the polls within 90 days — with Netanyahu governing as caretaker throughout. The first hard number to watch is the confidence vote Eisenkot must eventually win on the Knesset floor.