EASTORA REPORT | Gadi Eisenkot received the first chance to replace Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. Then he invited Netanyahu’s own allies to help him do it.
At the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on November 8, President Isaac Herzog tasked the former army chief and Yashar leader with forming Israel’s next government after the inconclusive October 27 election. Eisenkot called for a national emergency coalition and urged members of Likud and Religious Zionism to join it.
“My door is open and my hand is extended,” he said. But the invitation carried four conditions: recognition of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; acceptance of the values of its Declaration of Independence; military, national or civilian service for everyone; and recognition of Hamas as a terrorist organization, with a commitment to dismantling its military and governing capabilities.
Eisenkot warned of unfinished wars, a diplomatic crisis and growing distrust in state institutions. He said anyone obstructing a government for personal rather than substantive reasons would be remembered for failing Israel in an emergency.
The numbers explain his appeal. In consultations with Herzog, 67 lawmakers recommended Eisenkot, 46 backed Netanyahu and seven recommended neither. Eisenkot said 74 members of the Knesset had lost confidence in Netanyahu’s government. That was his political assessment, not the number committed to a coalition under him.
His four-party bloc has 48 seats in the 120-member Knesset, compared with 53 held by Netanyahu’s wider camp. Arab-led parties hold the other 19, but their possible support divides Eisenkot’s prospective partners. Talks with ultra-Orthodox parties face another obstacle: his demand for national service obligations that would apply to their communities.
Eisenkot has 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension. The new cabinet must win the Knesset’s confidence; that vote requires a simple majority of votes cast, not necessarily 61 affirmative votes.
Netanyahu remains caretaker prime minister. Eisenkot has the mandate to negotiate, not the premiership. Only a government that wins the Knesset’s confidence can change t