The anti-Netanyahu: Can Gadi Eisenkot give the world a different Israel?

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has tasked the leader of the Yashar (“Straight”) party, Gadi Eisenkot, with assembling a government after elections left no political alliance with a majority in the Knesset. Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff, will now have 28 days, with the possibility of a 14-day extension, to put together a government before Herzog allows an alternative leader, most likely Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to try to do the same.

If this fails, then new elections would be called. But as things stand, Eisenkot is unlikely to be able to form a majority government of the kind Netanyahu has relied upon to force through his right-wing policy agenda.

He may have to rely upon the support of at least one of the two parties representing the ultra-Orthodox community, which have often been allies of Netanyahu. It will also be critical for him to persuade some of the more right-wing elements of his opposition bloc to get the support of Arab parties outside the government.