Israel's president taps opposition candidate, not Netanyahu, to form a government

Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar ("Straight") party, waves an Israeli flag onstage last month
in Tel Aviv following the release of the first exit poll results in Israel's general election. Ariel Schalit/AP hide caption

Ariel Schalit/AP

Israel's president has tapped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main political rival, Gadi Eisenkot, to try to form the next government. It's a setback for Netanyahu, whose party won the most seats but failed to secure a parliamentary majority.

Netanyahu's Likud party won 27 seats in last month's election, six more than Eisenkot's Yashar party. But neither secured enough support to command a majority in Israel's 120-seat parliament.

President Isaac Herzog will formally give Eisenkot the mandate at 5 p.m. local time on Sunday.

Eisenkot is a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, serving as the country's top military commander from 2015 to 2019. A veteran of several military campaigns, he later joined Netanyahu's emergency war cabinet following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, but left the following year, accusing Netanyahu of failing to make progress toward ending the Gaza war and securing the release of hostages. Eisenkot lost his son, Gal, a reservist killed in Gaza, as well as two nephews during the war.

Eisenkot leads the centrist Yashar party, which he founded on an anti-corruption and government reform platform. He will now have 28 days to put together a coalition government, with a possible 14-day extension.

That gives him up to six weeks to negotiate with rival parties and secure the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority.

If Eisenkot fails, Herzog can give another lawmaker a chance to form a government. If those efforts also fail, Israel could face another election. Netanyahu would remain caretaker prime minister in the meantime.