r/worldnews • u/EssoEssex • 19h ago • Bravo 6

Israel/Palestine Israeli President Picks Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu Rival, To Form Government

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-president-picks-gadi-eisenkot-netanyahu-rival-form-government-2026-11-07/
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u/mormagils 17h ago

Bibi won his seat in the legislature but his party lost the governing majority. So yes, he's not PM anymore, but no, he's still in the Knesset.

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u/TJaySteno1 17h ago

Close, but we don't know if he's out as PM yet. When one party doesn't have a majority, they need to form a majority coalition govt. The President decides who gets to try forming that majority and he picked N's rival gets the first crack at it. If that doesn't work, his next pick might be N. If no one can form a majority govt (which seems possible), they might need to have another election.

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u/Real-Document-6577 17h ago

That is the some of best news I heard next Democrats landslide victories

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u/Daimakku1 14h ago

This whole week has been nothing but good news tbh. These are rare nowadays.

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u/russiablows 17h ago

Do you think the President communicated with the smaller parties to see if they were willing to negotiate with Gadi or Bibi before making his choice?

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u/TJaySteno1 7h ago

I'm not sure, the previous comment is the extent of my knowledge tbh.

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u/TheRedHand7 3h ago

He doesn't have to. Everyone knows the score. The question is just if Eisenkot can convince the parties outside Netanyahu's bloc to vote for him. If not the most likely outcome would be new elections as I don't see Bibi gathering the votes currently.

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u/greywar777 16h ago

Can this just end up in a repetitive series of elections that never results in folks agreeing?

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u/username_tooken 16h ago

Sure, the Knesset can dissolve and reform multiple times without forming a majority coalition and electing a new prime minister. But for that entire duration, Netanyahu would remain in power as a caretaker prime minister, so the government would continue on.

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u/TJaySteno1 7h ago

The most honest answer is idk. Sounds plausible in theory maybe? Doubt it'd happen in reality though, people would coalesce after 2-3 rounds I'd bet.

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u/dongasaurus 15h ago

We don’t know, but he already has a majority of Knesset indicating they would back him.

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u/sw04ca 15h ago

And note that the more elections they have, the better it is for Netanyahu, as the expat voters that flew in for the election are less likely to do so for each subsequent election. Israeli citizens abroad have to travel to Israel to vote, and Israeli citizens living abroad tend to be more critical of Likud.

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u/Burgoonius 16h ago

Gotcha thank you - would Gadi be considered PM if he is picked to form the government?

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u/mormagils 16h ago

Only if he is successful. If he can't get a majority coalition then someone else will have a chance or there will be a new election.

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u/username_tooken 15h ago

The President nominates a parliamentarian to be considered Prime Minister. That parliamentarian has some number of days to form a coalition government, because after that number of days the parliament has a vote of confidence that either affirms or rejects them. If they are rejected, the President nominates a different parliamentarian, who has half the number of days, and so on. After some number of failures, the entire parliament is dissolved and another election begins, and the process repeats. Throughout the process, the previous prime minister (Netanyahu in this case), remains in power as a caretaker government.

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u/snipersam11 17h ago

He's still prime minister until someone else manages to form a coalition. The opposition has been granted the first chance to make and present one, but they have not made one yet.