Herzog asks Eisenkot to form Israel's next government as he courts rivals

President Isaac Herzog on Sunday formally gave Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar! party, the task of assembling Israel's next government, Israel Hayom reported. The ceremony took place at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, a day after Herzog announced his choice on Saturday night.

Speaking at the event, Eisenkot invited two parties from the opposing camp, Likud and Religious Zionism, to sit in a government he would lead, according to Israel Hayom, which said the offer came with conditions attached. In a post on X shortly afterwards, Eisenkot wrote in Hebrew that Israel is in a time of emergency and needs new leadership "like the air it breathes". He said he was convinced an Israeli emergency government could be formed quickly, built on four principles he had set out, and that it should command a large majority in the Knesset, Israel's parliament.

What the president's mandate means

Israel's president is largely a ceremonial head of state, but one of the office's few substantive powers comes after an election. The president consults the parties elected to the Knesset and then asks one member to try to build a coalition. That request is commonly called "the mandate", the word Eisenkot himself used in his post when referring to the ceremony.

Receiving the mandate does not make someone prime minister. It gives that person a period in which to negotiate a coalition able to win the confidence of the Knesset. If the attempt fails, the president can turn to another candidate. No Israeli party has ever won a parliamentary majority on its own, so every government in the country's history has been a coalition, and the negotiations that follow the mandate often decide who governs as much as the vote itself does.

Who Eisenkot is, and who he is courting

Gadi Eisenkot is a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the country's military, who moved into politics after leaving the army. Yashar! is the party he heads. Being handed the mandate places him at the centre of the coalition talks now under way.

The two parties he addressed by name sit on the right of Israeli politics. Likud is the country's main right-wing party. Religious Zionism represents a nationalist religious constituency. Reaching out to them signals that Eisenkot is seeking a coalition broader than his own political camp, which is consistent with the call in his X post for a government backed by a large Knesset majority.

Eisenkot's own framing

In an earlier post on X, also written in Hebrew, Eisenkot said Israel needs a new government and leadership that would emphasise what Israelis share and open the way to what he described as a new era of Zionism, solidarity and comradeship. He acknowledged that the task was hard and that much work remained, but said he believed success was within reach. "Israel must win," he wrote, adding that he would do everything to make that happen.

These statements are Eisenkot's own description of his aims and of the political moment. They set out his pitch to potential partners; they are not evidence that any party has agreed to join him.

How this fits the coalition process

The appeal to rival parties at the moment of receiving the mandate is a familiar opening move in Israeli coalition building. A candidate's first public remarks typically set the terms for negotiations: which parties are welcome, and on what basis. In this case Eisenkot has framed the effort as an emergency government organised around a set of principles, and Israel Hayom's report indicates that his invitation to Likud and Religious Zionism depends on their accepting certain terms.

What the reports do not say

The Israel Hayom report available to us is cut off before it lists the conditions Eisenkot attached to his offer, and his X posts refer to four principles without spelling them out, so what Likud and Religious Zionism are being asked to accept is not stated in the material. No response from either party has been reported. The reports also do not say how long Eisenkot has to complete his task or which parties have already committed to backing him.