Gadi Eisenkot met Naftali Bennett and Yair Golan after Israel’s vote count left both major blocs short of a majority. Golan separately met Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas, while Eisenkot rejects a partnership with Arab-led parties. The provisional allocation gives Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc 53 seats, the opposition 48 and Arab parties 19; formal certification is due Wednesday.
Gadi Eisenkot, leader of Israel’s opposition party Yashar and a former military chief, met former prime minister Naftali Bennett on October 29 to discuss forming a government quickly. Bennett leads the Together party. Eisenkot also held talks with Yair Golan, who heads the Democrats. The meetings followed the parliamentary election on October 27 and the completion of vote counting.[1]
Golan separately met Mansour Abbas, who leads Ra’am, a party representing Palestinian citizens of Israel. Golan supports bringing Arab-led parties into a governing partnership. Eisenkot has pledged against such a partnership, and the other opposition groups have rejected it too. That division remains part of the negotiations among politicians seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[1]
The count leaves Netanyahu’s bloc with 53 seats and Eisenkot’s opposition bloc with 48, both short of the 61 needed for a majority. Arab-led parties together hold 19 seats in the 120-member Knesset, Israel’s parliament. More than 99 per cent of ballots had been counted. The allocation remains provisional, with formal certification and announcement scheduled for Wednesday.[1], [2]
