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There’s an offer from Israel’s Arab parties to support a government led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, while Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t have a majority in the Knesset. Eisenkot has not accepted.
According to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) dispatch from Oct. 29, Netanyahu’s 53 seats in the Knesset fall eight seats short of a majority of 61. Eisenkot’s 48 seats plus the eight of the Arab Ra’am party and 11 of the Arab Joint List make up for the difference to reach 67 seats and thus a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
The Arab Movement for Change, led by MP Ahmad Tibi, is prepared to support Eisenkot’s bid for the premiership, but not Netanyahu’s, The National reported. The Joint List, led by Yousef Jabareen, chairman of the list, “is ready and prepared to pave the way for the ousting of the Netanyahu government,” he said. What terms would be required were not disclosed.
Prior to the election, Mansour Abbas, the leader of the Ra’am party told Channel 12 that he “will know how to bring a government to the Knesset”. After the vote, he said he was in talks with politicians from both sides of the electoral divide.
It’s worth noting that the offer has not been accepted by Eisenkot. The JTA wrote that Eisenkot has in the past stated that he and the other parties in his bloc would not form a government with the Arab parties. In a Channel 12 interview from late September, Eisenkot said that the Arab parties do not meet his criteria for a coalition. The conditions Eisenkot laid out for a coalition were that his potential partners must commit to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, to the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence, to require mandatory military or national service, and to consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
Yair Golan of the Democrats is an exception to this trend. The National reported that Golan said Israel needs a government of change in partnership with the Arab citizens of the country.
While Eisenkot didn’t offer a hand to the Arab parties, he declared that the public has voted for change and urged Netanyahu not to use Israel’s security for his own political needs.
Netanyahu called cooperation with the Arab parties a “disgrace” in a speech on the eve of the election, the JTA reported. Netanyahu’s partners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich also ruled out in the course of the elections any cooperation with the Arab parties. In order to reach a majority, however, Netanyahu needs eight seats.
As of now, no agreement was reached, and a minority government that would depend on outside support from Arab parties who are not part of the coalition would also face political opposition. In such a case a second round of elections could not be ruled out.
President Isaac Herzog urged all parties to go into talks with open minds in order to avoid another election, The National reported. Some 77.7% of Israel’s voters went to the polls, the highest rate since 1999, according to The National.
