The president of Israel instructs opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot to form a government

The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, announced this Saturday that he will commission the main opposition leader in Israel, the former chief of the General Staff Gadi Eisenkot, to form a government. Herzog has brought forward the announcement to the conclusion of the sabbatical day, after completing the consultations with the different political groups, in which Eisenkot received up to 67 supports, of the 120 in Parliament: those of the four main Jewish opposition parties and those of the two Arab lists.

The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, however, barely obtained 46. They are those of his current coalition with ultra-Orthodox and ultra-nationalists, except for one of the parties, United Torah Judaism, which has abstained from naming a candidate.

Herzog invited Eisenkot to the Presidential Residence this Sunday afternoon to entrust him with the formation of the Executive. Now, the opposition leader has 28 days and another 14 days of extension if necessary.

Shortly before the presidential announcement, Netanyahu issued a nervous and Islamophobic message in which he warned against any pact with Arab parties, whom he accuses of being radical Islamists and of supporting terrorism and wishing for the end of Israel. Governing with them will turn the streets of Israel like those of Paris or Amsterdam, he said.

The commission now opens an uncertain path, with significant divergences within the Jewish opposition bloc on how to act. Lately Eisenkot has hinted at the possibility of governing as a minority and the option of making an agreement with the ultra-Orthodox instead of with the Arabs is gaining more and more weight, as the leader of Israel Beitenu, the right-wing Avigdor Lieberman, rejects.