Eisenkot’s Coalition Bid Turns Power Into Bargaining

President Isaac Herzog gave Yashar! Chairman Gadi Eisenkot the task of forming Israel’s next government after parties representing 67 MKs recommended him, against 46 for Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu. United Torah Judaism, with seven seats, made no recommendation. The mandate now passes through the familiar machinery of party blocs, parliamentary numbers and negotiations over who gets to govern.

Eisenkot is due to receive the mandate at a ceremony at the President’s Residence on Sunday at 5 p.m. He’ll have 28 days to form a government, with Herzog able to grant an extension of up to 14 days. Israel Hayom reported that the initial mandate expires on Dec. 6 and that the expected deadline, if extended, is Dec. 20. If Eisenkot fails, Netanyahu could get the next chance.

The Arithmetic of Unity

Eisenkot said, “This is the time to establish a national emergency government. I will do everything to ensure we are worthy of the responsibility.” In a post on X, he repeated that “now is the time for the formation of a national emergency government,” and said, “I will do everything to make us worthy.” The words promise responsibility; the negotiations will decide which parties hold power.

The route to a coalition remains uncertain. Hawkish members of Eisenkot’s bloc oppose relying on the Arab-led Ra’am and Joint List, while many bloc members campaigned to send both Netanyahu and the ultra-Orthodox parties into opposition. Yashar said “Likud and its friends” could potentially join an Eisenkot-led coalition, but did not extend the offer to Netanyahu. Eisenkot has repeatedly said he won’t partner with Netanyahu and that anyone who held a major position of power when Hamas invaded on October 7, 2023, must leave public life.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, called for a “national unity government” that would include all his allies from the previous coalition: Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit and the ultra-Orthodox parties. He did not specify who should lead it. Hours after polls closed on October 27, he had called for a “strong, national, right-wing coalition”; on November 2, he called for a “broad national government” under his leadership. Before the election, in interviews with right-wing Channel 14, he said “broad” meant a “broad right-wing government” and, in one appearance, said there would be “no unity government.”

Netanyahu hasn’t offered a power-sharing rotation agreement. Kan public broadcaster cited an unnamed Netanyahu associate as saying he’d agree to discuss one if unity-government negotiations took place. The report also said a person Netanyahu sent to explore a unity government with Eisenkot was “rejected out of hand”; Eisenkot’s party said it was unfamiliar with the approach.

Who Gets Counted In

Netanyahu warned against a government formed with Arab parties, calling them “terror supporters.” He alleged that “a government dependent on Hamas supporters won’t fight Hamas” or defend IDF soldiers operating in Gaza and Lebanon, and said severe riots witnessed in Europe in recent weeks would be repeated in Israel if a government backed by Arab parties were formed. He said, “With a government like that, Israel simply won’t survive.” His proposed unity, he said, would include “all the parties of the national camp, and all the Zionist parties which want to protect our country, the one and only state of the Jewish people.”

Yashar accused Netanyahu of speaking about unity only because “he realizes his days in office are numbered,” and said he had “divided” Israeli society and undermined unity governments he established. The party said an Eisenkot-led emergency government would include only parties and MKs backing four principles: recognition of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; acceptance of the values of the Declaration of Independence; mandatory service for all; and recognition of Hamas as a terrorist organization, with a commitment to destroying its military and governing capabilities.

The party invited Likud and its allies to publicly dissolve their alliance with “the extremists,” accept Eisenkot’s principles and join a government under him. Israel Hayom reported Yashar also called Netanyahu’s appeal a “cynical exploitation” of unity. That argument, like Netanyahu’s, is being made inside a contest over who gets to run the government.

The bargaining reaches into military service and religious life. Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman said he was prepared to reverse years of opposition to sitting with ultra-Orthodox parties and accept “painful compromises” on Haredi enlistment to form a government without Netanyahu or Arab parties and avoid another election. The United Torah Judaism chief voiced openness to discussing a partnership.

Together, the 48-member change bloc and seven United Torah Judaism lawmakers, with the non-opposition of Shas’s six MKs, could potentially produce a narrow majority of 61 in the 120-member parliament. Shas called reports that it might join an Eisenkot-led government “total fake news,” while saying it was part of the right-wing bloc. The reports said Shas might refrain from opposing the government, not necessarily join it.

Service as a Coalition Price

Channel 13 reported that Liberman and the Haredi parties maintained a secret backchannel for months, starting before the election, while publicly campaigning against one another. The network said Liberman associates, including Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and Haredi political adviser Avi Abuhatzeira, kept the contacts secret from most Yisrael Beytenu members. An unnamed ultra-Orthodox official said Liberman had “paid upfront” and “burned himself publicly” on an issue central to his political identity.

Yashar, B’Yachad and the Democrats had campaigned to end broad military exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men and state benefits for families of draft evaders. Eisenkot said future partners must back mandatory military, national or civil service to strengthen and expand the IDF. Democrats chairman Golan said he was open to a government with the Haredim but set conditions, including conscripting young Haredim and integrating them into the workforce. “The middle class alone can no longer continue to carry the economic and security burden,” he said.

Golan said he was open to cooperation but opposed giving the ultra-Orthodox “a blank check.” On the table are enlistment rules, public life and the terms on which parties will share authority. The public gets the declarations. The parties are counting seats.