Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Saturday tasked opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot with forming a governing coalition following the October 27 elections, handing a major setback to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Eisenkot, a former military chief and leader of the Yashar party, has up to six weeks to assemble a majority following three years of war triggered by the October 7, 2023 attacks. Writing on X, he called for establishing a "national emergency government."
With neither Netanyahu's Likud-led bloc nor Eisenkot's alliance securing a majority, Arab-led parties have emerged as historic kingmakers. Shortly before the announcement, Netanyahu urged a "national unity government" and warned against teaming up with Arab parties, whom he termed "terrorist supporters."
Yashar criticized Netanyahu's remarks and urged Likud to disavow its far-right allies. Eisenkot faces tough choices: forming a broad unity government with Likud despite deep rifts over ultra-Orthodox draft exemptions and October 7 failure probes, or relying on external support from Arab-led parties.