Israeli President Isaac Herzog has selected Gadi Eisenkot, the leading political rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to attempt to form the country's next government. The decision deals a blow to Netanyahu, whose party finished first in last month's election but could not assemble a parliamentary majority.
Netanyahu's Likud party captured 27 seats in the vote, giving it a six-seat edge over Eisenkot's Yashar party. Even so, neither bloc managed to gather the backing required to control the 120-seat Knesset, leaving the choice of who gets the first chance at coalition building in the president's hands.
Herzog is set to formally hand Eisenkot the mandate at 5 p.m. local time on Sunday.
Eisenkot is a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, having served as the nation's top military commander from 2015 to 2019. A veteran of multiple military campaigns, he joined Netanyahu's emergency war cabinet in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. He departed the following year, charging that Netanyahu had failed to make progress toward ending the war in Gaza and winning the release of hostages held there.
The conflict has touched Eisenkot personally. His son Gal, a reservist, was killed in Gaza during the war, and two of his nephews also died in the fighting.
Eisenkot now heads the centrist Yashar party, which he established on a platform of fighting corruption and reforming government. He will have 28 days to assemble a coalition, with the possibility of a 14-day extension if needed.
In total, that gives him as long as six weeks to negotiate with competing parties and lock down the 61 seats required for a majority in parliament.
Should Eisenkot come up short, Herzog has the option of offering another lawmaker the opportunity to form a government. If those efforts also collapse, Israel could be headed toward yet another election. Netanyahu would stay on as caretaker prime minister while the process plays out.
