Eisenkot tasked with forming government

(The Times of Israel) Gadi Eisenkot formally received the mandate on Sunday to form the next Israeli governing coalition, and vowed to pursue “creative and unconventional” pathways to assembling what he termed a “national emergency government.”

Eisenkot’s nomination was expected, after 67 of the incoming Knesset’s 120 members asked President Isaac Herzog to give him the opportunity. Now, after a ceremony Sunday at the President’s Residence, the leader of the centrist Yashar party will have up to six weeks to form a government that, he has pledged, will unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and usher in a new era for the country.

“Israel is in a challenging and fateful state of emergency,” Eisenkot declared near the beginning of his remarks. He pointed to active combat on multiple fronts, Israel’s plummeting international standing among allies and adversaries alike, and what he termed “one of the most vulnerable moments Israeli democracy has ever known.”

“If we continue in the present situation, we risk descending to dark places, to a point of no return from which it will be very hard for us as a society and country to come back from,” he said. “Therefore, there is great urgency for new leadership, leadership that you can look in the eyes and trust, whose concerns will always be Israel’s welfare and Israel’s security.”

Eisenkot acknowledged that success is far from guaranteed. The parties endorsing him are split into a Jewish-led bloc of 48 and an Arab-led bloc of 19. While the Arab parties have vowed to support an Eisenkot-led government, or to refrain from voting against it, members of the Jewish bloc have said they will not join a government that relies on the Arab factions’ support. Talk has mounted of Eisenkot swearing in a minority government, or of joining forces with Haredi parties, which have long been allies of Netanyahu.