The situation in the formation of the Israeli government has many similarities with the Swedish one. After the election, there are two main blocs that are roughly equal in size and then there are parties that nobody really wants to cooperate with, but whose mandate is needed. Now the first "presidential rounds" have ended in Israel - but in Jerusalem it is the Israeli president Isaac Herzog who meets the parties to probe.
His task, like Andreas Norlén's, is to choose a candidate who has the opportunity to form a government. After the first round, it is clear that that candidate should not be able to become incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- This is how it looks: 67 representatives recommend Yashar's leader, Gadi Eisenkot, to form a government, while 46 representatives recommend Prime Minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, Isaac Herzog said on Thursday evening.
The Knesset, the Israeli parliament, consists of 120 seats. A majority therefore requires 61 and Eisenkot has collected more than that. At the same time, one of the ultra-Orthodox parties that previously supported Netanyahu has chosen not to vote for anyone at all. The situation should therefore be crystal clear.
- The result may seem clear, but my task is to determine who has the opportunity to form a government and it is not entirely clear, given the various vetoes that exist between the blocs and also within the blocs. I will try to resolve this quickly and directly in personal conversations with some of the party leaders, Herzog continued.
What he is referring to also brings the thought to the Swedish process. Immediately after Israelis voted, accusations of electoral fraud began to emerge, mainly from Netanyahu's allies. It has been speculated that Qatar has financed vote buying and that left-wing women have "escorted" Arab voters to polling stations. In addition, Arab voters have been equated with Islamist terrorists. The Israeli election committee has ruled that the election is approved and has been carried out according to all the usual rules, but the right refuses to give up.
"The choice is between Bibi and Tibi!" has become a catchphrase on Israeli streets. Bibi as in Netanyahu and Tibi as in Joint List's Ahmed Tibi.
There are problems within the bloc which has now backed Gadi Eisenkot. Eisenkot has laid out conditions for parties that want to be part of his upcoming alliance: they must support the demand for universal conscription for all and they must designate Hamas as a terrorist organization that must be fought, among other things.
These may sound like two simple requirements, but they are not. Conscription is by far one of Israel's most hotly debated issues in this year's election campaign, and it has caused ultra-Orthodox groups to protest wildly in recent months. But the Arab party groups, the Joint List and the United Arab List, which have been voted into the Knesset, are not for it either.
President Herzog's exploratory meetings are being recorded. During his meetings with the Arab politicians, he asked the same question: Do you see Hamas as a terrorist group?
All Arab representatives have condemned the terrorist attack on October 7, but the issue of Hamas is more sensitive than it might appear. First, both Arabs and Palestinians generally find it humiliating that they should have to take some form of responsibility for the actions of Hamas - when, for example, Israelis are rarely held accountable for whether extremist settlers are terrorists. Second, he wants to clash with his constituents, who do not think this issue is black or white. Both in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank, one often hears the view that what Hamas did on October 7 was wrong, but that the group is a resistance movement that "at least tried to do something."
There is much else that the parties disagree on. Within the Arab Joint List there are also politicians on the extreme left, such as the communist Ofer Cassif who has been repeatedly thrown out of the Knesset for his, by Israeli standards, controversial positions.
- We disagree with Eisenkot on many things. We do not choose between good and better, but between bad and less bad. We know what it means, for the Arab population as well as for the Israeli population, to replace this government, Ahmed Tibi said this week.
This after his party group decided not to demand anything in exchange for their vote for Eisenkot. To prevent another term with Netanyahu, they are willing to do anything - even to lie down.
Herzog will announce on Sunday who will get the chance to form a government.
