Joint List backs Gadi Eisenkot to form Israel's next government
Israel's Joint List says it will formally recommend Gadi Eisenkot to President Isaac Herzog as the candidate to form the country's next government. The announcement comes after last week's parliamentary election, in which Arab-led parties won a record 19 seats in the 120-member Knesset. If confirmed, the move would strengthen Eisenkot's position in the coalition race and add to the pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc.
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The alliance said on Thursday that its 11 lawmakers would inform Herzog of their decision later in the day. According to the figures cited in the statement, Eisenkot is expected to have the backing of 67 lawmakers once the recommendation is submitted, which would put him above the 61-seat threshold needed for a parliamentary majority. Ra'am, another Arab-led party with eight seats, had already said it would also recommend Eisenkot.
The development matters because Israel's president plays a central role in the government-formation process after elections. Herzog has already accepted the certified results and begun consultations with party leaders on whom to task with forming the next government. On Wednesday, he said he had met representatives of Religious Zionism and Zehut, Shas, and Yisrael Beytenu, and that consultations would continue on Thursday.
Netanyahu's bloc currently holds 53 seats, but the number of endorsements it can secure is uncertain. Degel HaTorah, which holds four of United Torah Judaism's seven seats, has said it will recommend neither candidate. The faction's split from Netanyahu is linked to disagreement over legislation that would exempt Haredi men from military service, according to the reporting cited in the supplied material.
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The post-election arithmetic gives Arab-led parties unusual leverage in the current round of consultations. Their combined 19 seats make them a significant factor in deciding which candidate Herzog may ask to try to form a government. Under the process described in the supplied material, the president will choose the person he believes is best placed to assemble a coalition, almost certainly Netanyahu or Eisenkot.
Herzog has several days to announce his decision, after which the nominee will have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension. If neither candidate succeeds, Israel would head to another election early next year. What remains unclear is whether the recommendation tally will hold once all consultations are complete and whether either camp can convert endorsements into a workable coalition.
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