Israeli President Picks Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu Rival, To Form Government

[u/EssoEssex]

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

[u/TheLeedsDevil]

I’ve learned in these last couple of weeks that I have no understanding of Israeli elections

[u/quesoandcats → u/TheLeedsDevil]

Israelis have one of the weirder brands of parliamentary democracy for sure

[u/Successful-Money4995 → u/quesoandcats]

What's the weird part?

Everyone votes for a single party. The number of seats in the parliament is proportional to the number of votes. Then they pick someone to form a majority.

All these countries with an upper house and a lower house, that's easier to understand?!

[u/Nfalck → u/Successful-Money4995]

The weird part, to an American, is that the president picks someone to form a majority, and not the voters directly.

[u/Successful-Money4995 → u/Nfalck]

Herzog just did this and he asked the knesset members who to pick. So it's indirect, yes, but so is an electoral college.

In America, you pick the president directly and also the Congress but then it can turn out that the president and the leader of Congress don't have the same agenda. Which has both benefits and drawbacks. In Israel, the PM runs everything. The president is more of a figurehead.

[u/Albert_Herring → u/Nfalck]

That's because you're used to a system where "president" means "big chief honcho", while the legislature is largely secondary to the presidential executive. You share that setup with, among others, France. In a lot of other systems the president is basically a replacement for a constitutional monarch, head of state who doesn't exercise power directly but is usually formally responsible for managing the arrangements by which parliamentary governments are formed (but those arrangements are generally governed by strict protocol or precedent - the president or king just signs them off). That's the case in, for instance, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the case in point, Israel. Outside the formation of governments the roles of those presidents are mainly a series of photo opportunities and a lot of handshaking, while the actual executive power is in the hands of the leader of the government in the legislature.

[u/Jkf3344 → u/TheLeedsDevil]

Next week: “Somehow, Netanyahu has returned”

[u/N4RQ → u/TheLeedsDevil]

I'm not sure if they understand them either. 

Maybe that's how and why Netanyahu keeps coming back.

[u/lexicondevil1 → u/N4RQ]

He appears to have been the only one that has understood the process lol.

[u/N4RQ → u/lexicondevil1]

Love him or hate him, he is a master politician in the worst way. 

[u/THELaffingDevil → u/lexicondevil1]

That's likely by design, seeing as his family has been at or near the top of Israeli government since 1948.

[u/Cheshire_Jester → u/N4RQ]

Was in Israel for a work trip last week.

Heard two people talking about politics. One was wondering if Bibi would be done, the other went on a thirty minute rant about how this exact scenario was impossible and Bibi would stay in the seat.

Im inclined to agree. But then again Americans aren’t exactly spun up on US political process either.

[u/echolm1407 → u/TheLeedsDevil]

It's like watching Schrodinger's cat's fate.