Eisenkot invites Netanyahu's party to form coalition after elections in Israel

Gadi Eisenkot, designated to form a new government in Israel, said he was open to the possibility of outgoing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and some of his far-right allies joining a government coalition, as long as it was under his command.

Eisenkot, former head of the Armed Forces, was the current prime minister's main politician in the Israeli legislative elections, held on October 27, which ended without any of the political blocs winning a majority in Parliament.

"If members of Likud and the Religious Zionist Party truly believe that this is a time for unity, as they have told the president, I cannot conceive of any reason why they would not support a government under my leadership and the principles I have presented," Eisenkot said, referring to Netanyahu's party and the finance minister's party, the extremist Bezalel Smotrich.

President Isaac Herzog nominated Eisenkot on Saturday (7), after consulting the parties represented in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament.

He received the largest number of nominations among the parties, including parties representing the country's Arab minority, although he ruled out forming a coalition with them. In this scenario, he could sign an agreement with them to obtain support for the Executive's proposals, without them formally joining the governing coalition.

During the campaign, the opposition bloc parties, led by Eisenkot's Yashar, focused their criticism on Netanyahu's management and the conduct of wars in the region.

Last month's election was the first since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, on October 7, 2023. Voters went to the polls to choose the 120 members of the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset.

Likud, Netanyahu's party, won the largest group, with 27 seats, but this was not enough to guarantee the prime minister the right to form the government, as the president chose whoever gathered the most support among the parties.

The prime minister's party currently governs with the support of other religious and far-right parties. Together, the parties that make up Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats, an insufficient number to guarantee a parliamentary majority of 61 seats, and which requires new alliances to form a government.

Eisenkot has 28 days to negotiate the formation of a new government, a period that can be extended for another 14. If he is unable to reach an agreement — whether to form a majority coalition or to govern with external support —, the president may nominate another name to try to form the government.

The son of Moroccan immigrants, Eisenkot, 66, could become the country's first prime minister from Israel's Mizrahi community, made up of Jews whose roots date back to the Middle East and North Africa.

Reserved and considered averse to the media, he only entered politics in 2022. Eisenkot briefly joined Netanyahu's war cabinet after the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023, before returning to the opposition.

With the conflict ongoing, he even reprimanded Netanyahu for his conduct of the military campaign in the Gaza Strip and stated that he would not join a government alongside him again.

Eisenkot's image is also linked to the personal price paid by his family since 2023: a son and two nephews died fighting in Gaza.