Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to limit security-force deployments, saying action should address only a direct, immediate threat that cannot wait as he tries to form a successor government.
Ynet reported that Eisenkot’s letter said using security forces in other circumstances could damage democratic institutions and public confidence. Eisenkot also characterized Netanyahu’s caretaker government as having lost adequate parliamentary backing. That was Eisenkot’s assessment; it did not result from a formal Knesset confidence vote on Netanyahu’s government.
President Isaac Herzog’s office said on Nov. 8 that he had assigned Eisenkot the task of forming a government. Factions representing 67 lawmakers recommended Eisenkot for the mandate, compared with 46 who recommended Netanyahu; a faction representing seven lawmakers made no recommendation. The tally showed whom factions wanted Herzog to appoint, not whether the sitting government had Knesset confidence.
Under Basic Law: The Government, the outgoing government continues to function until a successor takes office. Eisenkot has 28 days from the assignment to form a government, and Herzog may grant an extension of up to 14 days. A government Eisenkot proposes must still win the Knesset’s confidence before taking office.
The recommendations do not establish that Eisenkot has majority support for a future government. Earlier EconoTimes coverage of the faction recommendations and coalition arithmetic said his four-party alliance won 48 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while Netanyahu’s wider bloc held 53; a majority requires 61. Two Arab-led parties with 19 seats between them recommended Eisenkot, but the earlier report said neither Eisenkot nor Netanyahu had agreed to include them in a government. Their recommendations helped Eisenkot lead the mandate tally without settling how he could assemble a governing majority.
Eisenkot’s next step is to negotiate a coalition during the 28-day mandate. Any government he forms will need Knesset confidence, and Herzog can grant up to 14 additional days.
