The president of Israel has selected Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most formidable opponent, to attempt to form a new government after an inconclusive election that left neither man with a clear route to power.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, is battling to remain in office after his religious-nationalist coalition lost its majority in the October 27 election but still came out as the largest bloc in parliament.
Eisenkot, a former military chief, has refused to align with Arab parties, whose backing would hand him a majority of seats in parliament.
Yet Arab leaders, angered by what they see as the racist policies of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, still put Eisenkot forward to try to form a government first giving him the most endorsements.
“President Herzog has invited Gadi Eisenkot to the President’s Residence, where he will be tasked with forming the government tomorrow,” said the spokesperson of President Isaac Herzog, whose largely ceremonial role involves nominating a candidate to form a coalition after elections.
In a post on X, Eisenkot wrote, “Now is the time to form a national emergency government. I will do everything I can to ensure we are worthy.”
Eisenkot’s nomination is likely to be followed by weeks of drawn-out negotiations. He has 28 days to attempt to build a government, with a possible extension of 14 days.
His possible routes to power include seeking to form a minority government backed by Arab party votes on key issues; building a coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties that he and his allies have avoided in the past; or creating a unity government with Netanyahu.
According to analysts, none of these three options is likely to materialize. Should Eisenkot fail, another candidate can attempt to form a government, and if that candidate also fails, parliament may put forward another nominee.
The process has a deadline of roughly 100 days. If nobody succeeds, a fresh election is held.
In the 120-seat Knesset, Likud took the most seats of any single party with 27, but Netanyahu’s broader religious-nationalist coalition secured only 53 overall, falling short of the 61 needed for a majority.
Eisenkot’s Yashar party came out as the second-largest party with 21 seats, while his coalition, made up of four Jewish-led parties ranging from center-left to right-wing, captured just 48 seats. Two parties representing Israel’s Arab minority achieved an unprecedented 19 seats.
A 66-year-old son of Moroccan immigrants, Eisenkot would become the country’s first prime minister from Israel’s Mizrahi community—Jews whose roots trace back to the Middle East and North Africa.
Reserved and reluctant to engage with the media, Eisenkot entered politics only in 2022. After Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, he served briefly in Netanyahu’s wartime cabinet before going back to the opposition.
From the opposition, he openly criticized Netanyahu’s leadership, including his handling of the military campaign in Gaza, and has vowed that he would not serve in a government alongside him.
Eisenkot’s public standing is also tied to the personal toll his family has suffered since 2023: a son and two nephews were killed while fighting in Gaza.
On the campaign trail, Eisenkot emphasized his security credentials, invoking his “Dahiyeh doctrine” of answering attacks with disproportionate force, which he applied as a commander during Israel’s 2006 war with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Eisenkot has condemned settler violence against Palestinians, which has escalated since 2023 and strained Israel’s relations with Western states, and he opposes Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom have been sanctioned by some Western countries for inciting violence against Palestinians.
