EISENKOT FAVOURED AS NETANYAHU ALLY WITHHOLDS ENDORSEMENT

Israeli opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot has emerged as the leading contender to receive the first opportunity to form a government after a longtime ally declined to endorse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

United Torah Judaism told President Isaac Herzog on Thursday that it would not recommend any candidate, withholding its seven seats from Netanyahu during consultations.

The party had backed Netanyahu after the previous five elections.

Neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor Eisenkot’s alliance secured a majority in the October 27 election. Netanyahu’s camp won 53 seats, compared with 48 for Eisenkot’s, while Arab-majority parties secured a combined 19.

Eisenkot received a recommendation from Mansour Abbas’s Raam party, strengthening his position as Herzog considers whom to task with coalition negotiations.

However, receiving the mandate would not guarantee that Eisenkot becomes prime minister. He would still need to assemble enough parliamentary support to govern.

The lawmaker selected will initially have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension.

Military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox religious students remain a major obstacle in negotiations.

United Torah Judaism said resolving the students’ status would be its immediate priority. Eisenkot, meanwhile, has advocated ending the exemptions.

Support from Arab parties could provide Eisenkot with a route to a majority, but such an arrangement risks resistance from some members of his own opposition alliance.

Netanyahu has criticised the prospect of that cooperation and raised allegations of foreign interference in the election. The supplied report did not establish evidence supporting those allegations.

Herzog had not announced his final choice at the time of the report.