Jerusalem, Nov 5 Former Israel Defence Forces chief Gadi Eisenkot is set to secure majority support among newly elected Knesset members to be tasked with forming the next government, after Arab parties recommended him during consultations with President Isaac Herzog on Thursday.
Based on the seat tally in the October 27 elections, Eisenkot is expected to receive 67 recommendations against 46 for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving premier, whose prospects suffered a setback after longtime ally United Torah Judaism (UTJ) decided not to recommend any candidate.
Netanyahu’s bloc secured 53 seats against 48 won by Eisenkot’s bloc in the 120-member Knesset (Israeli parliament), while Arab parties emerged as kingmakers with a record 19 seats.
Earlier in the day, Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas, whose party has eight seats, recommended Eisenkot and reiterated his support for a two-state solution and US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan.
Abbas also called for “Hamas and all the military or armed organisations to be disarmed”.
Ra’am had extended outside support to the short-lived government led by Naftali Bennett. Abbas has previously recognised Israel as a Jewish state and expressed his intention to participate actively in mainstream Israeli politics.
The Joint List, the other major Arab political grouping with 11 seats, also recommended Eisenkot, describing its decision as a choice between “bad and even worse” in its effort to replace Netanyahu’s government.
Joint List chair Yousef Jabareen said the delegation’s support reflected Arab voters’ demand for change, citing racism, discrimination, crime and exclusion faced by Arab citizens under the current coalition.
“Our public really went out to vote for change,” he said, while acknowledging “disagreements with Eisenkot on many issues”, including his positions and what Jabareen described as his failure to take a firm stand against incitement targeting Arab citizens during the election campaign.
“We are not choosing between good and better, but between what we see as bad and even worse,” Jabareen said.
Veteran Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi said the Joint List would support a minority government from outside, acting as a “blocking bloc”, but would not help form a government only to see it collapse soon afterwards.
“If we support a government from outside, we don’t want to give it a safety net only to bring it down a month, two months or three months later,” he said.
The Arab parties’ recommendations come amid a political deadlock following the elections, which left neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor Eisenkot’s camp with the 61 seats required for a majority in the Knesset.
Herzog began consultations with political parties elected to the Knesset on Wednesday, after the Central Election Committee formally handed over the results.
The process was marked by allegations of vote theft and electoral fraud. Election officials, however, said that even if suspicions were established, their possible impact would not be sufficient to invalidate the results.
The Israeli president usually tasks the Knesset member he believes has the best chance of forming a government, taking into account the recommendations made by political parties during consultations, which are streamed live.
The leader tasked with forming the government gets 28 days to put together a coalition and can seek a 14-day extension at the President’s discretion if there is a reasonable prospect of success.
(PTI News)
