Gadi Eisenkot reaches out to Netanyahu allies as he strives to form government

Eisenkot, 66, formally received his mandate on Sunday, a day after Netanyahu’s divisive tenure ended. The veteran prime minister had brought the country to a historic crisis, leaving a fractured political landscape.

At a ceremony at the presidential office, Eisenkot declared, "We are in a state of emergency, approaching a point of no return for the state of Israel." He pledged to form a national emergency government using creative and unconventional steps.

Eisenkot’s wide-ranging opposition bloc won 48 of the 120 seats in the October elections, while Netanyahu’s camp secured 53. Neither side holds a majority, forcing a delicate coalition-building process.

The former army chief has three primary options to secure the 61 votes needed for a government. These include a power-sharing agreement with Netanyahu, support from Arab-led parties, or an agreement with the ultra-Orthodox parties.

Eisenkot has laid out strict conditions for any Arab party to join his coalition. They must recognise Israel as a Jewish state and declare the Palestinian militant group Hamas a terrorist organisation.

One of his partners, the conservative Yisrael Beiteinu party, has already stated it will not join a coalition with Arab-led parties. This creates a significant hurdle for Eisenkot’s plans.

Eisenkot has appealed to Netanyahu’s Likud party and the far-right party of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join, but only with himself as prime minister. He has vowed to bridge Israel’s deep polarisation.

Both Eisenkot and Herzog acknowledged Israel’s growing isolation under Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court. The country is facing a devastating diplomatic crisis.

In the United States, Israel’s closest ally, Democrats swept the midterm elections. There are growing calls to rein in Israel after the devastation in Gaza and the unpopular Iran war, which Netanyahu launched with Donald Trump.

Eisenkot, who commanded the military during the 2006 war with Hezbollah, devised the so-called "Dahiya doctrine". This strategy involves vowing to use massive force against civilian infrastructure in areas controlled by the Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah.

He has vowed to crack down on extremist West Bank settlers who have attacked Palestinians with impunity, decrying recent incidents as "Jewish terror" abetted by Netanyahu’s government.

Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed the election was "stolen" by Arab parties, which rallied their supporters to vote in large numbers. However, he has offered little to no evidence to support his claims.

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has launched an investigation into possible foreign interference in the vote. The country’s Central Elections Committee and Herzog have said the vote was valid and that any wrongdoing did not have a significant impact on the result.

Netanyahu called for a "national unity" government with Eisenkot on Saturday night. It remains unclear whether the two rivals could agree on a power-sharing agreement, as such coalition governments are notoriously fragile.

Eisenkot, the military chief of staff from 2015 to 2019, has set out to unite Israelis after Netanyahu’s divisive tenure, under which the country moved sharply to the right.

He has vowed to end Hamas’s rule in Gaza and destroy the Islamist movement’s military wing. However, he opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.

Eisenkot’s partners made equal military service a central part of their campaign, specifically seeking an end to the longstanding draft exemptions enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.

Should Eisenkot succeed, he would take over as prime minister from Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving premier. If he comes up short, Herzog can provide a 14-day extension before he has to offer the mandate to someone else.

If neither side succeeds, Israel will head to fresh elections. The country held five elections between 2019 and 2022 owing to repeated deadlocks.