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Nearly two weeks after Israelis voted in the country's parliamentary elections, opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot has received the mandate from President Isaac Herzog to form the next government. Eisenkot now has an opportunity to unseat PM Benjamin Netanyahu, whose bloc fell short of a parliamentary majority, despite his party, the Likud, being the single-largest outfit. While this clears the path for Eisenkot to take Israel's top office, forming the next government might be an uphill task for the former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief.
Eisenkot's alliance does not have enough seats to form a government on its own. He now faces tough negotiations to bring other parties on board, with potential allies divided over the role and inclusion of Arab parties, ultra-Orthodox factions and key policy issues.
The October 27 elections to Israel's 120-member Knesset produced a hung parliament. Neither major bloc secured the 61 seats required for a majority. Eisenkot's Yashar-led opposition bloc won 48 seats, while the bloc led by PM Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud secured 53.
Despite Netanyahu's bloc emerging with the larger seat tally, Eisenkot managed to secure recommendations from representatives of parties holding 67 seats in the Knesset, compared with 46 for Netanyahu. This included the backing of Israel's two Arab parties, the Joint List and Ra'am, which together won 19 seats. Their support helped Eisenkot secure the mandate from President Herzog on Sunday (November 8).
But receiving the mandate is one thing. Forming the government is an entirely different ball game. Eisenkot and his allies will need to garner enough among Israel's political parties to win a vote of confidence in the Knesset required to officially form a new government. The leader has, for his part, pledged to take all measures to keep Netanyahu out, including what he described as "creative and unconventional political steps to form a "national emergency government," reported The Times of Israel.
So, will Eisenkot bring the Arab parties into his coalition fold? Or will he strike a compromise with ultra-Orthodox (Haredi parties), whose voter base of religious Jews Eisenkot wants to enlist in the IDF?
A TIGHT TIMETABLE FOR EISENKOT
Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party-led bloc has received the mandate to form the government for President Isaac Herzog. They will to now work fast.
According to a report in the Tel Aviv-based newspaper, Haaretz, Eisenkot has 28 days to form Israel's next government after President Herzog tasked the Yashar chairman with the job on Sunday, setting in motion a race to secure the votes needed to win the Knesset's confidence.
According to the report, if Eisenkot is unable to present a government for a Knesset confidence vote by December 6, Herzog could grant him an additional 14 days if he believed an extension could help secure a deal. That would give Eisenkot until December 20 to form a government.
Herzog, for his part, was reported by Haaretz as being willing to give Eisenkot a free hand in his efforts to form a "national emergency government" comprising parties from his bloc.
However, if it becomes clear that Eisenkot is unable to form a government, the president is expected to apply pressure to promote a national unity government with PM Benjamin Netanyahu, reported Haaretz. Netanyahu has been pitching a unity government with Eisenkot that would see both share the Prime Ministership among themselves, although the former IDF chief of staff has ruled out such a step.
If Eisenkot fails to form a government, Herzog will hold another round of consultations before assigning the mandate to another Knesset member. The second candidate will have 28 days to form a government, with no possibility of an extension, meaning the deadline would be January 20, 2027.
If the second candidate also fails, 61 Knesset members can submit a written request to Herzog by February 10 asking him to assign the mandate to a candidate agreed upon by the lawmakers. That candidate would then have 14 days, until February 26, 2027, to form a government.
If this attempt also fails, the Knesset will dissolve and new elections will be called for no later than the last Tuesday in May 2027, unless the Knesset passes a law to dissolve itself earlier.
WHAT DOES GADI NEED TO FORM A GOVERNMENT?
Gadi Eisenkot received President Isaac Herzog's mandate to form the government thanks to recommendations from representatives of 67 of the 120 members of the Knesset. But this does not mean he will enjoy the same level of support when the Knesset holds the confidence vote required for a new government to take office.
To win the confidence vote, Eisenkot needs to secure sufficient support in the Knesset, meaning at least 61 votes. His own Yashar-led opposition bloc has only 48 seats. This leaves him with two principal options to build a parliamentary majority.
The first is to secure support from the Arab parties. The Joint List and Ra'am, which won 11 and eight seats respectively, proved instrumental in helping Eisenkot secure the mandate. Both parties had expressed their willingness to cooperate with the opposition to keep Benjamin Netanyahu as far away from the Prime Minister's office as possible.
But relying on the Arab parties may be out of the question. According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, one of Eisenkot's allies, Avigdor Liberman, chairman of Yisrael Beytenu, which won seven seats in the October 27 elections, has ruled out forming a government with the backing of Ra'am or the Joint List, or even relying on their abstention.
Although Liberman has pledged to support Eisenkot's bid to form a government, his position places a significant constraint on the coalition-building process.
The second option, endorsed by Liberman, involves reaching out to Israel's right-wing ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ).
Both parties were previously key allies of Netanyahu, but disagreements over legislation granting ultra-Orthodox men exemptions from Israel's compulsory military service have strained their ties with the Likud leader.
Liberman, meanwhile, has a long history of working with the Haredi parties, The Jerusalem Post reported. His years of political cooperation with them have helped build a degree of familiarity and trust that, according to the newspaper, may even exceed what they have with Eisenkot.
The Shas and the UTJ collectively have 13 seats, six and seven respectively. If both agree to support Eisenkot, they could take his bloc's strength from 48 to exactly 61 seats, allowing him to secure a parliamentary majority without relying on the Arab parties.
However, there are significant political hurdles. Shas leader Aryeh Deri recommended Netanyahu during the presidential consultations, while the UTJ withheld its recommendation, leaving their willingness to join an Eisenkot-led government uncertain, reported The Times of Israel.
This approach is also fraught with risks. Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff, has long opposed blanket exemptions from compulsory military service for ultra-Orthodox communities, particularly students enrolled in religious seminaries, or yeshivas, who form a key support base for the Haredi parties. Any alliance with the Shas or the UTJ would therefore require him to soften his position on conscription and negotiate a compromise over the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men.
Furthermore, an alliance with the Haredi parties could alienate the Joint List and Ra'am, whose recommendations were instrumental in securing Eisenkot the mandate. It would also risk undermining the broader opposition coalition, particularly if the Arab parties withdraw their support in the Knesset. Eisenkot must therefore balance competing political demands while trying to put together a government that can win the confidence vote and remain stable.
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(Written by Shounak Sanyal)
