To Form Unity Government, Israel’s Herzog Tells Factions To ‘Open Mind’

President Isaac Herzog of Israel is attempting to break a post-election deadlock, warning against a repeat vote, and hinting at a preference for a ruling government that would unite the two largest political blocs. Once a vote count is completed, the president’s role is to charge an elected Knesset member with composing a new government. Mr. Herzog needs to assess who can best get a majority support in the 120-member Knesset. On Wednesday, after an almost final count of ballots, neither Prime Minister Netanyahu, nor former army chief Gadi Eisenkot commanded the support of 61 Knesset members. A politician who gets the first chance to compose a ruling coalition has 29 days to complete the task. If he fails, the candidate gets an additional 14 days to keep trying. After that, someone else gets the same chance, and if he too fails, the Knesset dissolves, declaring a new election. “We need to do everything to prevent a repeat election,” Mr. Herzog said Wednesday in his first comment after the Tuesday vote. Once the election committee chairman, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, hands over the official vote tally early next week, Mr. Herzog will launch consultations with all elected Knesset members to determine who has the best chance to capture the next prime ministership. “Keep an open mind,” Mr. Herzog said, urging all elected Knesset members to think creatively. The statement was likely a hint that the president believes that to prevent a new round of bruising election politicians will need to overcome the deep animosity that divides the country. “Even before next week’s official tally, the president might separately invite Eisenkot and Bibi to his residence to feel them out and see if there’s any way for them to unite,” a top political analyst at Reshet Bet radio, Yoav Krakovsky, said Wednesday. Mr. Eisenkot’s four-party “change bloc” has concentrated much of its campaigning on calling to unseat Mr. Netanyahu. Now, though, the only way to fulfill that task is a reliance on two Arab parties that surprised pollsters by getting a historic record 19 Knesset seats. A new election could be fatal to Mr. Eisenkot’s political career. The former general has said that to become prime minister, he would only rely on “Zionist” parties rather than the non-zionists of the Arabs and certain Jewish religious parties. Arab citizens’ enthusiasm is likely to diminish in a second round, which would strengthen the right.Another round would likely lead some of Mr. Eisenkot’s “change bloc” partners to demand seizing the bloc leadership away from him. One such partner is the leader of the Israel Is Our Home party, Avigdor Liberman, who abhors Mr. Netanyahu personally, but is just as hawkish as the premier, or even more so. Alone among the change bloc leaders, Mr. Liberman refrained from declaring victory on Tuesday night. He might need to opt between three evils: return to the opposition benches; support a coalition that leans on Arab parties; or overcome his animosity to Mr. Netanyahu. Analysts say the last is more likely than the first two options. Another opposition leader, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, might also prefer a unity government to a coalition with the Arab parties. In that case Mr. Eisenkot would be left out. Unlike Mr. Eisenkot, Mr. Netanyahu might bet that his coalition could do better in a new election. Yet relying on some of his current partners, such as the right winger Itamar Ben Gvir, could harm his relation with President Trump, who reportedly is pushing Israelis for a unity government that would reject extremists. At the age of 77, Mr. Netanyahu might be thinking of a legacy, including a new round of joint Israeli-American strikes in Iran and widening the Abraham Accords. The premier has hinted he would like to rearrange his coalition. Mr. Netanyahu might calculate that coalescing with his election rivals would ease his path for completing these goals.To get to a unity government, Mr. Herzog could dangle a pardon that would end Mr. Netanyahu’s legal troubles. Unity might be a long shot, but it could be the least bad political outcome of the election.

To Form Unity Government, Israel’s Herzog Tells Factions To ‘Open Mind’

To Form Unity Government, Israel’s Herzog Tells Factions To ‘Open Mind’

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