Herzog Holds Israel's Mandate Until Sunday: Eisenkot Has 67 Recommendations, but the Vetoes Come First

Sixty-seven is the largest number of recommendations any candidate has collected since 2015, and Israel's president still did not hand it a mandate. After two days of consultations, Isaac Herzog said on Thursday evening that he would announce on Sunday, 8 November, whom he will task with forming the next government, Al Jazeera reported. Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, was recommended by 67 members of the 120-seat Knesset. Benjamin Netanyahu was recommended by 46.

The gap of 21 is the headline. The caveat is Herzog's own: the results, he said, "may appear clear", but there are mutual vetoes between the blocs and inside them. He plans personal talks with party leaders over the Israeli weekend. Our earlier report followed the Joint List and Ra'am as they added their votes to Eisenkot's column.

Who recommended Eisenkot and who recommended Netanyahu?

According to Ynet, Eisenkot was backed by Yashar, Together, the Democrats, Yisrael Beytenu, Ra'am and the Joint List. Netanyahu was backed by Likud, Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, Shas and Zehut. United Torah Judaism recommended no one, having broken with Netanyahu over the failure to pass a law exempting ultra-Orthodox men from military service. Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats in the 27 October election, Eisenkot's four Jewish-led parties 48, and the two Arab-led parties a record 19.

Why not simply give Eisenkot the mandate?

Because 67 is not the same as 61 seats in a coalition. Both Eisenkot and Netanyahu have ruled out sitting in government with the Arab-led parties. Without their 19 seats Eisenkot has 48, well short of a majority. The Joint List's chairman, Yousef Jabareen, has said it would support an Eisenkot government in the Knesset without joining it, according to Haaretz's live coverage, which also noted rival demonstrations outside the President's Residence, one for an Arab-Jewish government and one for a unity government with Netanyahu. Likud has warned against any government that relies on Arab parties, and its Yoav Kisch pointed to Iran's nuclear programme and Palestinian statehood as the dangers such a coalition would face. Yashar's Yoram Cohen and Orit Farkash-Hacohen answered that Netanyahu has no real mandate.