A mandate handed over amid disputed claims

President Isaac Herzog formally gave opposition leader and former army chief Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form Israel's next government on Sunday evening, after concluding that a majority of Knesset members supported the move following consultations with the parties. The mandate came after the October 27 parliamentary elections left neither bloc with a majority.

The handover takes place against a contested backdrop. Benjamin Netanyahu, the outgoing prime minister Eisenkot is trying to unseat, has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that the election was "stolen" by Arab parties, and calls any alliance with them an act of betrayal. At the same time, Israel's Shin Bet security agency has opened an investigation into possible foreign interference in the vote - even as the Central Elections Committee and Herzog maintain the vote was valid and that any wrongdoing would not have significantly affected the results.

Herzog, for his part, pointed past the dispute and toward reconciliation. "I hope with all my heart that whatever government is formed will lead to unity, connection and healing among all segments of our people," he said at the ceremony.

What Eisenkot said as he took the task

Eisenkot told the ceremony that he has the numbers to govern. "An absolute majority of Knesset members representing the Israeli public support change. I intend to navigate the situation with patience, humility, composure and a deep commitment to a Jewish, equal, liberal, and secure Israel," he said.

He pledged leadership that people can trust, that will act in the interests of the public and that represents all parts of society. And he signalled that his effort to replace Netanyahu would not be fought along narrow lines: "My door is open and my hand is extended, wholeheartedly and willingly, to anyone who understands the gravity of this moment," Eisenkot said.

The partners in play

The most consequential players are the Arab-led parties, which made historic gains in the election thanks to high voter turnout among Israel's Arab citizens, making them potential kingmakers. Their positions differ sharply:

• •Ra'am is the only Arab party ever to have joined a governing coalition, in 2021, and it supports Eisenkot - but its seats alone cannot deliver him a majority.
• •The Joint List, breaking with decades of precedent, has offered to support Eisenkot from outside the coalition in order to end Netanyahu's grip on power.
• •Yisrael Beytenu, one of Eisenkot's own prospective partners, says it will not sit in a coalition with Arab-led parties.

Eisenkot has set four conditions for any partner: recognising Israel as Jewish and democratic, accepting its declaration of independence, backing military, national or civil service for all citizens, and declaring the Hamas militant group a terrorist group.

He has also appealed beyond his own camp, courting Netanyahu's right-wing Likud Party and the far-right party of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on the condition that he, not Netanyahu, leads the government as prime minister. United Torah Judaism has left the door open to cooperating with him, anticipating its role as a swing vote.

The hardest open question is the draft. Eisenkot and his partners made equal military service central to their campaign, seeking an end to the long-standing exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox - exemptions the religious parties from Netanyahu's outgoing coalition want preserved, calling them essential to their lifestyle of religious study. If the arithmetic fails, Eisenkot's alternatives are a power-sharing agreement with Netanyahu or a deal with the ultra-Orthodox parties, which demand military exemptions for their community.

Clock and caretaker government

Eisenkot has 28 days to form a coalition, with a possible two-week extension from the president - six weeks in all, and no guarantee that being tapped makes him prime minister. If he fails, Netanyahu could get a chance; should he also fail, Israel returns to elections early next spring.

New Knesset members will be sworn in on Tuesday evening. Until a coalition is formed, Netanyahu and his cabinet remain in office in a caretaker capacity, with limited powers. The constraints of that interim period are sharpened by the wars still under way: despite tenuous ceasefires, Israel's military continues to fight Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, where Israel has occupied swathes of the south, and the war launched with the United States against Iran also continues.