“This is disappointing, but not surprising,” Noah Landau wrote in the left-leaning newspaper. haaretzto see how Eisenkot “set up the election results for a government he led in the form of a ‘Zionist’ majority, and fell exactly — and I mean, exactly — into the trap that Netanyahu had set for him.”
Under Israel’s electoral system, the next step is for the country’s president, Isaac Herzog, to ask party leaders which candidate for prime minister they recommend. The candidate has about a month to form a majority. As it stands, it is unclear whether that task will fall to Netanyahu, the leader of the largest party, or to Eisenkot, who could become the leader of the largest party. group All parties. But Eisenkot needs the support of Arab parties to form a coalition, and he has been coy during the campaign on whether he would be willing to do so. Some of his opposition partners flatly rejected the idea.
Only Netanyahu remains. His campaign strategy in the days leading up to the election appeared to rely on intimidating the Israeli public into voting for him. In a series of interviews, Netanyahu admitted that the multi-billion-dollar annual defense program provided by the United States to Israel “is over.” He added that serious international sanctions are inevitable, so the country should be prepared to “circumvent” them by turning to cryptocurrencies. (He seemed to believe the government’s policy of expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which has triggered sanctions from eleven European countries, was irreversible.) The comments unsettled markets and alarmed experts. A scathing letter signed by more than a hundred Israeli economists concluded: “What he can offer to the Israeli economy are bizarre solutions common among criminal organizations.”
Netanyahu will now go to great lengths to wean lawmakers away from the opposition to cobble together a majority. It’s not easy. Although some opposition leaders have vowed not to form a coalition with Arab parties, all Some of them have vowed not to join the Netanyahu-led group. This is why many Israelis fear an electoral stalemate. That means the country now faces weeks or months of alliance wrangling, jitters and bitter internal strife, but could end up in the same impasse.
Once these negotiations are concluded, two scenarios may arise. Israel will be under intense pressure at home and abroad to form some kind of national unity government led by Netanyahu and Eisenkot. Trump also stated this when unnamed U.S. sources told Israeli media that he wanted to “make sure” the next administration does not include Ben Gvir. On Wednesday, a popular Israeli news site internet A possible framework for such a government is laid out. These include Netanyahu, Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett, the former prime minister and now in the opposition. The article suggested that the three would take turns serving as prime minister, which is in line with “Trump’s vision.”
For Netanyahu, however, breaking away from his long-time ultra-Orthodox partners could mean the beginning of his political end. (The last time he turned his back on them was in 2013, and his coalition split less than two years later.) Eisenkot and Bennett also seem unlikely to agree to form a coalition anytime soon. Not only did they promise voters they would not join forces with Netanyahu, they personally believed he posed an active threat to democracy. “I know Netanyahu,” Eisenkot said at a recent campaign event in Tel Aviv. “He will do whatever it takes” to stay in power. Bennett called recent accusations that Netanyahu aides acted as agents of Qatari influence “the most serious act of treason” in the country’s history. However, they may reconsider whether Israel is about to escalate again with Iran. Wednesday, wall street journal According to reports, the United States and Israel are preparing for a possible round of strikes against Iran after the U.S. midterm elections.
Alternatively, the outcome will be so uncertain that Israelis will be sent to the ballot box again in a few months. This isn’t the first time. From 2019 to 2021, four rounds of elections were held in just two years, and the government that was finally sworn in was dissolved within eighteen months.