The centrist Gadi Eisenkot pledged on Tuesday, November 10, to form a new government “as quickly as possible” to replace that of his rival Benjamin Netanyahu, shortly before the first session of a profoundly reshuffled Parliament.
The opposition, in a position of strength, has several sensitive issues in its sights, firstly the creation of a commission of inquiry into October 7 and possible failures of the outgoing Prime Minister.
“I am committed to forming a national emergency government as quickly as possible,” Mr. Eisenkot said upon arriving at the Knesset, where MPs are due to take the oath of office around 2 p.m. GMT. This new legislature opens in a transformed political landscape, after legislative elections which deprived the outgoing Prime Minister and his allies of their parliamentary majority.
Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats at the end of the vote but in the meantime, the seven deputies from the United Torah Judaism (JUT, ultra-Orthodox) party have distanced themselves. Gadi Eisenkot and his allies have 48, short of the 61 seats needed to obtain an absolute majority in the Knesset. The former chief of staff can nevertheless boast of the declared support of the lists with an Israeli Arab majority (19 additional seats). The new Knesset will also include 33 women, a record for a parliamentary start, as well as the youngest deputy ever elected in Israel, Yonatan Shalev, aged 24.
The ceremonies will begin in the afternoon on the Parliament Square in Jerusalem, where President Isaac Herzog will be welcomed by a guard of honor. In particular, he will lay a wreath in front of the monuments dedicated to Israeli soldiers who died in combat and to the victims of attacks, before officially opening the session in the hemicycle and delivering a speech.
Beyond the protocol, the deputies opposed to Benjamin Netanyahu quickly want the creation of an independent commission of inquiry into the security failures which allowed the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, the deadliest day in the history of Israel. This body, a campaign commitment from Gadi Eisenkot, would be responsible in particular for determining possible failings by Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.
The outgoing Prime Minister, who denies any wrongdoing, has until now opposed the creation of a state commission of inquiry, endowed by law with broad investigative powers. On the legislative level, the opposition also intends to repeal several texts adopted by the outgoing coalition. They target in particular the provisions restricting the prerogatives of the Supreme Court and a law facilitating the dismissal of the attorney general.
The first issue for the new deputies, however, will be the election of the president of Parliament, a position currently occupied by Amir Ohana, member of Likud, the party of Benjamin Netanyahu, of whom he is close. The opposition has appointed Matan Kahana, a former Israeli army officer with a prestigious career and ex-minister who appeared fifth on the Yashar list, the party of Gadi Eisenkot, to succeed him.
Several far-right organizations called for demonstrations outside Parliament during the swearing-in, to protest the prospect of seeing a new Knesset speaker elected thanks to the votes of the Israeli Arab-majority parties, which won a record number of seats in the elections.
The rally is organized under the slogan: “We cannot replace a president of the Knesset with the votes of Hamas supporters”, with the organizers accusing these groups of supporting the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Arab party leaders condemned the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, without formally qualifying the Palestinian Islamist movement as terrorist. The parliamentary guard was placed on heightened alert in anticipation of these demonstrations.
