Israeli Politicsupdated 26m ago3 min read
Gadi Eizenkot Sets Four Conditions for Parties Joining His National Emergency Government
“This potentially left the door open to diplomatic solutions for Gaza rather than military ones”
“Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas said the party supports the full disarmament of Hamas”
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Four core conditions for joining government include recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. Coalition talks show significant progress; any faction meeting the four principles will be invited.
Save coverage image
Eizenkot’s four conditions
Gadi Eizenkot set four conditions for any party seeking to join the government he is trying to form, including recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, treating Hamas as a terrorist organization, recognizing the Declaration of Independence, and endorsing military service. Eizenkot said he had made “significant progress” in negotiations to form a “national emergency government,” and he said the plan rests on four main parties: the Yesh Atid party led by Eizenkot, the Yamina party led by Naftali Bennett, the Israel Beiteinu party led by Avigdor Lieberman, and the Democratic Alliance led by Ya’ir Golon. Al Jazeera’s reporter in Palestine, Ilyas Karam, said the Joint List rejected most of these conditions.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent explained that Eizenkot’s condition on recognizing Israel as a Jewish state leaves, from the Arab parties’ perspective, “no real place for Palestinians within this government,” because it contradicts their concept of political participation and the position of Arabs within Israel. Avigdor Lieberman kept his opposition to Arab parties joining a government led by Eizenkot while lifting a veto he had placed on participating in a government that includes representatives from the Haredi parties, which won 13 seats.
Herzog’s mandate and deadlines
President Isaac Herzog was expected to appoint someone to task with forming a new government after the Knesset elections on the 17th of last month, which did not produce an outright winner. Herzog intended to assign the mandate on Sunday after further talks with party leaders, and Eisenkot’s team worked to swear in a new government as soon as possible. Herzog accepted the certified results of the parliamentary elections as legally binding, rejecting allegations from Netanyahu’s bloc that Arab voters had stolen the election.
The person tasked with assembling a coalition has 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension, and if the second appointee fails the president may issue a third appointment for 14 days, otherwise elections will be held again. Eisenkot received the backing of both Arab parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, and their recommendations do not commit them to ultimately joining his coalition.
Arab support, minority options
Eisenkot called for the formation of an emergency government without ruling out a minority government, and he warned that anyone who “tries to obstruct or derail the formation of a government for personal, rather than substantive, reasons will not be forgiven.” Eisenkot stood by his four demands for any party interested in joining a coalition he was working to build, and he said, “Any other party or MK who agrees to my four core principles will be invited to join.” Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas told Herzog that “Arab society, and I as an individual, as well as Arab citizens as a whole, we are a bridge,” and Abbas urged, “Let’s not destroy that bridge.”
Ahmad Tibi told AP that “We want to do things that we did not do in the past in order to remove this criminal government,” and Tibi’s bloc was prepared to support an opposition government without necessarily joining its governing coalition. Eisenkot has long ruled out forming a government with the support of the Arab parties, citing a lack of shared values, even as the Joint List and Ra’am were described as potentially giving the opposition 67 lawmakers above the 61-seat threshold.