With Israel once again facing the familiar prospect of coalition brinkmanship, President Isaac Herzog urged political leaders to accept that in the aftermath of an inconclusive election, compromise will be unavoidable.
“I am not asking anyone to give up their core values. But 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,” Mr Herzog said as he received the official results.
Although the presidency is largely ceremonial, Mr Herzog holds the pivotal authority to decide who gets the first opportunity to form a government — a process that can stretch for weeks or even months, and can still collapse into failure and fresh elections.
He is set to begin two days of consultations with party representatives at 5pm local time (3pm Irish time), starting with the ultranationalist Religious Zionism.
Demonstrators protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in West Jerusalem
According to Mr Herzog’s office, the president is intentionally opening with smaller factions in an effort to hear a full range of positions. He will wait until late tomorrow to meet the two largest parties: Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud and Yashar, a broad centre to centre-right opposition party launched by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief.
The arithmetic remains unforgiving. Neither Mr Netanyahu nor Mr Eisenkot controls the 61 seats required for a majority in the 120-member parliament.
Mr Netanyahu’s bloc has the advantage, holding 53 seats to Mr Eisenkot’s 48.
Mr Eisenkot could, however, reach the governing threshold by partnering with parties representing the Arab minority, whose combined strength rose to 19 seats amid outrage at Mr Netanyahu’s hard-right government.
That option remains politically fraught, with some opposition figures reluctant to depend on the votes of non-Jewish politicians.
Mr Netanyahu has pressed for a broad coalition that excludes Arab lists, after alleging that Arab groupings had “stolen” the vote.
Israel’s attorney general called yesterday for the intelligence agency Shin Bet to provide an update on its inquiry into claims of electoral fraud by Arab Israeli parties, saying no evidence had yet been presented.
Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot has pledged to form a government quickly
Arab-Israeli leaders have forcefully rejected the allegations. Mr Eisenkot, meanwhile, accused Mr Netanyahu and Likud of attempting to stage a “pogrom against democracy”.
‘Fresh thinking’
Mr Herzog, a mild-mannered lawyer whose political career was rooted in the now-defunct left-wing Labour Party but who serves as an official nonpartisan, has said he wants to encourage “fresh thinking” and avert another trip to the polls.
“It is important to exhaust every option, broaden the dialogue and explore every path that may advance the process,” his office said in a statement, adding that he may convene additional rounds of consultations before making his decision.
Once Mr Herzog assigns the mandate, the designated candidate will have 28 days to form a government, with the possibility of a 14-day extension.
If the first attempt fails, Mr Herzog will hand the mandate to another candidate. Should that also fall short, lawmakers can try to rally a majority behind an alternative nominee within 21 days — otherwise Israel goes to new elections.
After the last election in November 2022, it took Mr Netanyahu — then buoyed by a stronger Likud showing — 58 days to assemble a government.
Israel held five elections between 2019 and 2022 amid repeated deadlocks.
Mr Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, has moved in and out of office for nearly two decades.
Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a ‘broad national government’
The prime minister is facing corruption charges, and he also faces the risk of jail if he loses power — and with it, immunity.
In the campaign’s closing days, he repeatedly warned he would order a resumption of full-scale war on Iran alongside US President Donald Trump.
On election night, Mr Eisenkot warned the military not to follow orders shaped by Mr Netanyahu’s “political needs”, arguing that he has no mandate — even if he remains prime minister in a caretaker capacity.
No unity
Mr Netanyahu has appealed for a “broad national government” — with himself at the top.
Opposition leaders say that is not an option, citing Mr Netanyahu’s character and his failure to prevent the 7 October 2023 attack, the deadliest day in Israel’s history.
At a strategy meeting yesterday, Mr Eisenkot and fellow opposition leaders pledged to act quickly to form a government and remove Mr Netanyahu, though they offered no indication of how they would secure the numbers.
Yousef Jabareen, leader of the largest Arab-majority party in the incoming parliament, said the opposition must accept “political reality” and join forces to unseat Mr Netanyahu.
Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly warned Jewish Israelis that the opposition would rely on Arab parties, which he accuses of supporting Hamas.
Leaders of Arab-Israeli parties have unanimously condemned the 7 October attack by Hamas, but have stopped short of describing the Palestinian Islamist movement as a terror group.
