Update: Herzog Says 67 Lawmakers Back Eisenkot for Israeli Prime Minister; Mandate Due Sunday
President Isaac Herzog ended his talks with every Knesset faction Thursday night with Gadi Eisenkot well ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu, but said he will meet party leaders again before naming who gets the first try at forming a government.
Learn more ›JERUSALEM —
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Thursday night, Nov. 5, that factions holding 67 seats in the Knesset have recommended Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot to form Israel's next government, the Times of Israel reported. Factions holding 46 seats recommended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Learn more ›Herzog announced the count at the end of two days of consultations with all of the Knesset's factions in Jerusalem. He said he will hold more talks with party leaders to decide who can actually build a government, and that he intends to assign the mandate on Sunday.
“The results of the consultations appear clear,” Herzog said. But he added that the picture was “not entirely clear in light of the mutual vetoes between the blocs and within the blocs themselves,” and said he would try to encourage the parties to reach out to one another.
Earlier Thursday the count stood at 56 for Eisenkot after the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party declined to recommend anyone. The Times of Israel reported that the Arab Joint List, which won 11 seats in the Oct. 27 election, had said it would also recommend Eisenkot. Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas, whose party won eight seats, recommended Eisenkot as well but declined to call Hamas a terror group, saying he feared for his family's safety. Herzog noted that Abbas had said in his meeting that he supported disarming Hamas.
Learn more ›Yashar urged Herzog to give Eisenkot the mandate “as soon as possible,” saying 67 recommendations is the most any candidate has received since 2015. “Benjamin Netanyahu is a caretaker prime minister leading a minority of just 46 seats,” the party said.
Likud lawmakers pressed the opposition to end what they called its boycott of Netanyahu and join a broad unity government. MK Yoav Kisch called for a “broad national government,” and MK Miri Regev said Eisenkot's camp was willing to sit with the Joint List. Herzog replied, “He didn't say he would sit with them.”
See where this is ›What we don't know yet: Which candidate Herzog will choose on Sunday, and whether either leader can put together a coalition of at least 61 of the Knesset's 120 seats. Recommendations are not the same as coalition partners, and several parties backing Eisenkot have not said they would sit in his government.
