President Isaac Herzog has tasked Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief and the leader of the Yashar party, with forming Israel’s next government. The choice passed over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Herzog announced it on Saturday after last week’s election. Netanyahu’s rivals see the mandate as a first step toward removing the country’s longest-serving prime minister. [E1][E5][E7][E8]
Herzog said he reached the decision after consulting all parties during the week. He will give Eisenkot the first chance to form a government after the Oct. 27 election, in which neither side secured a majority in a country deeply polarised by Netanyahu’s hard-right rule and worn down by three years of war. Herzog’s office said the formal appointment was due at an official Sunday ceremony at the president’s residence in Jerusalem. [E2][E3][E5]
Parties representing 67 lawmakers, including Arab-led parties, recommended Eisenkot. Parties representing 46 lawmakers backed Netanyahu, the current prime minister. Eisenkot later pledged to “do everything” to form a new government. [E4][E8] Eisenkot said that it was time to form a national emergency government and that he would do everything he could to ensure Israel was worthy. [E6] He has 28 days to assemble a coalition of at least 61 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, the minimum threshold for a government. A possible extension would add 14 days to that period. [E9]