Eisenkot open to Netanyahu joining Israel’s next government

Israel’s opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot , the man officially tasked by President Isaac Herzog with trying to form the country’s next government, has said that he was open to including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his coalition lineup. In a speech at Sunday’s ceremony in Herzog’s office in Jerusalem, Eisenkot suggested Netanyahu’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was also welcome to join.

Eisenkot, who ran as Netanyahu’s main rival, has six weeks to form a new government. At the ceremony, Eisenkot said he will act in the interests of the public and represent all parts of Israeli society.

Herzog, meanwhile, warned that the country faced uncertainties after the November 3 midterm elections in the United States, which brought victories for several political figures critical of Israel and the US’s military support. Eisenkot led Israel’s military from 2015 to 2019 and sat as an observer in Netanyahu’s war cabinet for the first eight months of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which began in October 2023.