Israel’s President Isaac Herzog starts talks on who can form next government

President Isaac Herzog of Israel began meeting with party leaders and officials to decide who would get the first chance at trying to form a government after last week’s inconclusive election.

Over the next two days, Israeli politicians will hold discussions with Herzog at the president’s official residence in Jerusalem. They will make their cases for why either Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; his leading rival, Gadi Eisenkot; or another candidate should be given the mandate.

The Israeli president met Wednesday afternoon first with the far-right Religious Zionism party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Further discussions included conversations with Avigdor Liberman’s right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. Parts of the discussions were live-streamed.

Herzog urged the parties to compromise on some of their election demands in order to end the country’s political crisis.

“In the current reality, in which there is no clear winner after the elections, I ask for originality and creativity, courage and goodwill, so that the State of Israel emerges the winner,” he said Wednesday ahead of the meetings.

Netanyahu and his current allies won 53 seats in Israel’s 120-member parliament in the recent election, and his Likud party won more votes than any other — defying critics who hoped that the vote would serve as a reckoning over his failure to prevent the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. Eisenkot’s opposition bloc picked up 48 seats. Both fell short of a 61-seat majority.

While Herzog has few formal powers, the president does have the authority to choose the candidate he believes has the best chance of forming a government. That chosen party leader will then have up to six weeks to establish a coalition.

If no one manages to form a government, Israel would head to new elections. Herzog has vowed to do everything in his power to prevent another vote. But it would not be the first time: Israel had five elections between 2019 and 2022.

Netanyahu and Eisenkot are wrangling with allies and opponents alike to shore up their positions. Netanyahu will remain caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed.

Eisenkot was likely to be given the first chance to form a government, analysts said, as Netanyahu’s opponents won the most votes. But actually putting the puzzle pieces together will be far more difficult.

He could turn to the two Arab-led parties, which picked up a historic 19 seats in parliament, but doing so could be fraught. Forming a coalition with Arab parties has long been taboo to many in Israeli politics, and it become more contentious since the Oct. 7 attacks. Eisenkot would also still most likely command only a minority of the Israeli parliament, although that could be enough to prevent a no-confidence vote by Likud and its allies.

Moreover, some of his own would-be political partners are also as opposed to one another as they are to the prime minister — especially over how far they are willing to cooperate with the two Arab parties, Raam and the Joint List.

Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu faction recommended Eisenkot to Herzog on Wednesday. But party officials repeated they did not currently see the Arab parties as acceptable partners in a potential alternative to Netanyahu’s rule.

“I don’t think anyone can expect us to sit in a government supported by and dependent on votes from parties that claim Hamas is not a terrorist group,” Oded Forer, a lawmaker from the party, told Herzog.

The Religious Zionism party, a member of Netanyahu’s coalition, backed the prime minister when meeting with Herzog. Orit Strouk, a minister from the faction, insisted that the Arab parties were “not legitimate and not relevant,” in part because their leaders “believed the land was stolen by us.”

Herzog challenged her: “How do you distinguish between racism and what you’re saying?”

Netanyahu has called instead for a “wide national government” with him as prime minister, arguing that “a clear majority of the Jewish public” had chosen his bloc. His opponents, including Eisenkot, would most likely struggle to accept that, as they campaigned on unseating him.

Netanyahu and his allies have also launched a concerted effort to accuse Arab parties of “stealing the election,” citing an ongoing inquiry by Israeli intelligence into a suspected attempt by foreign actors to sway the vote. Political analysts say the attacks could aim to stymie Eisenkot’s attempt to build a coalition with Raam and the Joint List.

Noam Sohlberg, the Supreme Court justice who oversaw the vote, has rebuffed accusations of widespread voter fraud. On Wednesday, as the results were officially certified, Sohlberg said there was no reason at present to cast doubt on the integrity of the results.

“This cannot be used as a justification to reject the results of the vote,” Sohlberg said. “At this stage, we are talking about suspicions, which, even if proven, would have limited potential impact.”