![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/theme\/images\/th-online\/1x1_spacer.png\" "\\"Former")
<\/picture><\/div>\nIsrael\u2019s president on Saturday (November 7, 2026) chose Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s strongest rival, to try \u200cto form a new government following a deadlocked election that left neither man with \u200ba clear path to power.<\/p>\n
Mr. Netanyahu, Israel\u2019s longest-serving leader, is fighting to stay in \u2060office after his religious-nationalist coalition lost its majority in an October 27 election but still emerged as the largest bloc in parliament.<\/p>\n
Mr. Eisenkot, a former military chief, has declined to join forces with Arab parties, with whose support he \u200cwould have a majority of seats in parliament. But Arab leaders, incensed by what they view as the racist policies of Mr. Netanyahu and his far-right allies, still nominated Mr. Eisenkot \u200cto try to form a government first \u2014 giving him the most endorsements.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Herzog has invited \u200cGadi \u2060Eisenkot to the President\u2019s Residence, where he will be tasked with forming the government tomorrow,\u201d \u2060said the spokesperson of President Isaac Herzog, whose largely ceremonial role involves nominating a candidate to form a coalition after elections.<\/p>\n
Eisenkot faces long-shot bid to form government<\/h4>\n
Weeks of protracted negotiations are expected to follow Mr. Eisenkot\u2019s nomination. He has 28 days \u200bto try to forge a government, with a \u200cpossible 14-day extension.<\/p>\n
His potential pathways to power include trying to form a minority government with Arab support from the outside; forming a coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties that he and his allies have shunned in the past; or forging a unity government with Mr. Netanyahu.<\/p>\n
Analysts say that all three options \u200care unlikely to take shape. If Mr. Eisenkot fails, another candidate can try to form \u200ba government and if that candidate fails, parliament can nominate another. There is a deadline for the process of around 100 days. If no one succeeds, another election \u2060is held.<\/p>\n
Likud won the most seats of any single party with 27 in the 120-seat Knesset, but Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s wider religious-nationalist coalition garnered only 53 in total, short of a 61-seat majority.<\/p>\n
Mr. Eisenkot\u2019s Yashar party emerged as \u200cthe second-largest party with 21 seats, while his coalition, spanning four centre-left to right-wing Jewish-led parties, won just 48 seats. Two parties representing Israel\u2019s Arab minority won an unprecedented 19 seats.<\/p>\n
Eisenkot critical of settler violence<\/h4>\n
A son of Moroccan immigrants, Mr. Eisenkot, 66, would be the country\u2019s first Prime Minister from Israel\u2019s Mizrahi community, Jews who trace their roots to West Asia and North Africa.<\/p>\n
Reserved and media-shy, Mr. Eisenkot only entered politics in 2022. He briefly served in Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s wartime cabinet following Hamas\u2019 October 7, 2023, attack \u200con Israel before returning to the opposition.<\/p>\n
From opposition, he publicly rebuked Mr. Netanyahu over his leadership, including his management of the \u200bmilitary campaign in Gaza, and has sworn that he would not serve in government with him.<\/p>\n
Mr. Eisenkot\u2019s public standing is also bound up with the personal price his family has paid \u2060since 2023: a son and two nephews were killed fighting in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Mr. Eisenkot highlighted his security credentials on \u2060the campaign trail, citing his \u201cDahiyeh doctrine\u201d of responding to attacks with disproportionate force, which he deployed as a commander during Israel\u2019s 2006 war with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Mr. Eisenkot has criticised settler \u200cviolence against Palestinians, which has surged since 2023, raising tensions in Israel\u2019s ties with Western states, and he opposes Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s far-right coalition partners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who have both faced sanctions \u200bby some Western countries for inciting violence against Palestinians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n