Israel's opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, who was formally handed the task of assembling the country's next government by President Isaac Herzog, said on Sunday that he would be willing to bring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into his coalition, according to Al Jazeera.
Speaking at the mandate ceremony at Herzog's office in Jerusalem, Eisenkot also indicated that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right figure in the current government, would be welcome to take part. The remarks came as the former military chief began a six-week window to put together a governing majority.
Eisenkot, who positioned himself as Netanyahu's principal challenger in the recent election, told those present that he would work for the good of the public and seek to represent every segment of Israeli society. Al Jazeera reports that he framed the invitation to Likud and Religious Zionist figures in terms of their own stated positions, saying that if they genuinely regarded this as a moment for unity, as they had told the president, he could see no reason for them to withhold support from a government led by him and built on the principles he has laid out.
Why it matters
The mandate given to Eisenkot marks the first concrete step toward replacing or reconfiguring the current government after an election that left neither of the main blocs with a working majority. Herzog's decision to hand the task to the opposition rather than to Netanyahu sets up a contest in which the incumbent remains in office as caretaker prime minister while his rival attempts to assemble a coalition.
The outcome will shape not only Israel's domestic direction but also its relations with Washington, where the political landscape shifted after the November 3 midterm elections in the United States. Herzog used the ceremony to point to what Al Jazeera describes as a "new political reality" in the US, noting that several figures critical of Israel and of American military support had won races. He said the country required a stable government in light of those uncertainties.
A fragmented result and a narrow arithmetic path
The October 27 elections produced a divided parliament. Eisenkot's four-party alliance took 48 seats, while Netanyahu's right-wing and religious bloc won 53, leaving both sides below the 61 needed for a majority in the Knesset. Arab-led parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel secured a record 19 seats, according to Al Jazeera.
That result gives Eisenkot several possible routes, none of them straightforward. Arab-led parties backed him for the mandate, but he has ruled out governing with them — a combination that would have given him a 67-seat bloc. Bringing in the two ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, would bring him to exactly 61. Al Jazeera also notes that a government can take office with fewer than 61 seats if it survives a confidence vote in parliament.
Eisenkot's background cuts across the usual lines of Israeli politics. He commanded the military from 2015 to 2019 and served as an observer in Netanyahu's war cabinet during the first eight months of the war on Gaza that began in October 2023. Despite that history, Arab-led parties endorsed him for the mandate to replace Netanyahu.
Netanyahu's options and the opposition's dilemma
Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said Netanyahu retains the ability to disrupt Eisenkot's efforts and to work against a confidence vote. In the meantime, Netanyahu continues as caretaker prime minister. Should Eisenkot fail, Netanyahu would be the natural next candidate to receive the mandate; if he also failed, new elections would follow, and Netanyahu would stay on as caretaker in that scenario as well.
Odeh said many of Netanyahu's critics believe that is precisely what he is working toward. She described the central question in Israeli politics as whether the opposition genuinely intends to remove Netanyahu, or whether opposition to the participation of Palestinian Israelis in mainstream politics runs deep enough that parties would accept the risk of keeping him in power rather than settle the matter at the ballot box.
What to watch: whether Eisenkot can close a deal with the ultra-Orthodox parties within his six-week window, and whether Netanyahu's bloc holds together as the confidence vote approaches.
