In Israel, Gadi Eisenkot says that Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu's party, is welcome to form a government coalition

Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the main opposition bloc to Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Sunday, November 8, that he was open to the participation of the Likud party of the outgoing Prime Minister, and the formation of one of his far-right allies in a coalition government that he would lead.

“If the members of Likud and the Religious Zionist Party [of outgoing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich] sincerely believe that the time has come for unity (...) I see no reason why they would not support a government led by me and based on the principles that I have presented,” declared Gadi Eisenkot. “We are going through one of the most critical periods that Israeli democracy has ever known,” he also said.

The Israeli president officially handed Gadi Eisenkot, head of the main opposition bloc, the mandate to form the next government on Sunday, while noting that Israel was facing a "new political reality" after the American elections. “The State of Israel needs a stable government (...) Eisenkot, I expect you to do everything possible to form a government that will serve both those who voted for you and those who did not,” Isaac Herzog said during a ceremony at the presidential residence in Jerusalem. "We must advance diplomatic processes in the region after the war, implement President Trump's 20-point plan [for the Gaza Strip]" and "face a new political reality" in the United States, he added.