World
Herzog Accepts Election Results, Begins Coalition Talks
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has accepted the certified results of last week’s parliamentary elections and has started consultations with party leaders to determine who will be tasked with forming the next government. The move came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc failed to secure the 61 seats needed to govern. Netanyahu’s coalition won 53 seats, while Eisenkot’s secured 48. The Arab‑led parties Ra’am and the Joint List together won 19 seats, a record for Arab parties. Herzog began consultations on Wednesday night. Three factions aligned with Netanyahu’s religious‑nationalist base recommended that he be given a chance to form a coalition, while a fourth, led by a former Netanyahu ally turned rival, backed Eisenkot. Eight more parties, including the two Arab‑led factions, are scheduled to meet with the president on Thursday, with Eisenkot’s Yashar party and Netanyahu’s Likud meeting last. Ra’am’s endorsement of Eisenkot raised his expected support to 56 lawmakers, still short of a majority. The Joint List has not announced its position; Channel 12 reported that it may coordinate with Eisenkot or abstain. Its 11 seats could push him past 61. Degel HaTorah, which holds four of United Torah Judaism’s seven seats, said it would recommend neither candidate. The ultra‑Orthodox faction broke with Netanyahu over his coalition’s failure to pass legislation exempting Haredi men from military service. Once consultations end, Herzog will choose the candidate he considers best placed to assemble a coalition, almost certainly Netanyahu or Eisenkot. He has several days to announce his decision, after which the nominee will have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14‑day extension. If neither succeeds, Israel would hold another election early next year. Netanyahu and his supporters have repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that the Arab‑led parties had “stolen” the election, possibly with foreign assistance. The elections commission said it had conducted a thorough investigation of all parties’ claims of fraud and found “no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results.” Attorney General Gali Baharav‑Miara also rejected a request to question elected officials without supporting evidence. Herzog urged both camps to compromise to avoid a new election, saying they must accept that “not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled.” He called for originality, creativity, courage and goodwill so that the State of Israel emerges the winner. He also backed investigating suspected interference but warned against smearing Palestinian‑Israeli voters, saying he had “great respect” for Israel’s Palestinian minority, which makes up about 20 percent of the population. He condemned the coarseness and racist expressions that have been heard recently.