Can Netanyahu and Eisenkot form a ‘unity’ government in Israel?

Résumé détaillé

Yashar and Likud are scheduled to hold talks on Sunday, but will need to overcome major differences to work together.

Israel’s caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has renewed his appeal for a unity government with opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, casting a coalition that would keep him in power as integral to Israel’s national security.

In a video statement on Saturday, Netanyahu said his meeting with Eisenkot on Thursday “only strengthened the conviction that it is essential to form a national unity government”. He said such a government could “eliminate the Iranian threat once and for all” and claimed Tehran would “not hesitate to use nuclear weapons against us”.

Eisenkot, the leader of the Yashar party and the man given the first shot to form Israel’s next government by President Isaac Herzog, called Netanyahu’s appeal a “bluff”.

“Nice try, but these tricks don’t work on me. Nor on Israel’s citizens,” Eisenkot said.

But Eisenkot confirmed that Yashar and Netanyahu’s Likud Party were talking about the proposal for a shared government.

So what, if anything, would it take for them to govern together, and what other options does Eisenkot have?

In Israel’s October 27 election, the four-party bloc led by Eisenkot won 48 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious bloc secured 53. Two Palestinian-led factions, the Joint List and Ra’am, also known as the United Arab List, won a record 19 seats between them.

Last week, Eisenkot’s bloc showed what it could do with the backing of both Palestinian-led factions, securing a 63-to-50 vote to approve the makeup of the Arrangements Committee, a panel that helps set the Knesset’s agenda while coalition talks are under way. The bloc then moved to set up temporary committees overseeing finance, foreign affairs and defence.

Eisenkot’s bloc and the two Arab-led factions hold 67 seats combined, six more than needed for an outright majority. Another possibility is a minority government backed by Ra’am’s eight lawmakers.

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