Israel’s Political Landscape Shifts as Arab Parties Back Eisenkot for PM

In Israel, an alliance of Arab political parties and Arab-led Ra’am party have backed Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot as their choice for Prime Minister, giving him recommendations from 67 of the 120 Knesset members. The Joint List said yesterday it would formally recommend Eisenkot to President Isaac Herzog during consultations on government formation. As a result eleven lawmakers joined Ra’am’s eight members in backing him. The support puts Eisenkot ahead of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose bloc has 53 seats. The backing comes despite Eisenkot’s earlier opposition to including Arab parties in his government, saying they did not meet his coalition conditions. President Isaac Herzog has begun consultations with political parties following last week’s election and will appoint the candidate he believes has the best chance of forming a government. The chosen candidate will have 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension, to form a coalition and failure could trigger another election.