Former Israeli general Gadi Eisenkot faces a daunting test as he tries to cobble together a ruling coalition from a divided opposition while potentially luring allies away from Benjamin Netanyahu, a master political tactician and veteran of national power struggles.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog tasked Eisenkot with forming the country’s next government on Sunday, after he secured the endorsement of 67 members of the Knesset, Israel’s newly elected parliament, compared with 46 for Netanyahu.

Yet there’s a significant gap between Eisenkot’s majority in party recommendations and his ability to translate those numbers into a functioning coalition. Some of those key endorsements come from Israeli Arab parties, and it would require a significant ideological compromise to bring them into government given public sentiment since the October 2023 Hamas attacks.

“We are in a state of emergency, approaching a point of no return for Israel,” Eisenkot said at a ceremony at the president’s residence, citing the country’s unresolved wars and diplomatic crises. “We must form a national emergency government and this will require creative and unconventional political steps,” he added.

Comparisons have been drawn by commentators between Eisenkot’s bid to unseat Netanyahu and Peter Magyar’s landmark defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary. Netanyahu and Orban both ruled for several years and became close allies as Israel faced deepening international isolation, and both drew criticism for attempting to weaken the judiciary and media to consolidate power.

Yet the political realities in the two countries are starkly different. In Hungary, Magyar’s Tisza Party secured a two-thirds parliamentary majority outright, bypassing coalition bargaining and allowing him to swear in a government within weeks. In Israel, the Oct. 27 election left both Eisenkot and Netanyahu short of the 61 seats needed to form a coalition government without further support.

Eisenkot, who has no experience navigating coalition negotiations in Israel’s fragmented political landscape, will try to expand the opposition’s 48 seats beyond Netanyahu’s 53-seat bloc.

That could require bringing in one or both ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, despite their opposition to mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox men — a policy Eisenkot’s camp has vowed to enforce.

Alternatively, he could rely on the external backing of Israeli Arab parties, whose positions on recognizing Israel as a Jewish state and designating Hamas a terrorist organization have fueled resistance among most Jewish parties. Both Arab parties, Ra’am and The Joint List, endorsed Eisenkot for leader.

“Eisenkot genuinely believes there is an urgent need to replace Netanyahu’s government and aims to move as quickly as possible,” said Barak Seri, a political analyst who formerly advised ministers including Ehud Barak and Aryeh Deri.

However, negotiations will be fraught. The opposition leader has four weeks to form a government with the option of a two-week extension.

Israeli markets rallied on Friday after Avigdor Liberman, who heads the Eisenkot-backing Yisrael Beitenu party, signaled he would partner with ultra-Orthodox parties in a new government.

The news lifted the Tel Aviv 35 and 125 indices by 3% and the shekel by 0.5% on Friday — reversing losses earlier in the week. Liberman has ruled out partnering with the Arab parties.

But tensions boiled over on Sunday as a result of Liberman’s position. Democrats leader Yair Golan publicly accused him of aiding Netanyahu, who also compromised with the Ultra-Orthodox parties. Liberman blasted the accusation as a “barrage of stupidity and malice,” highlighting the steep hurdles facing Gadi Eisenkot’s coalition negotiations.

The prospect of a unity government with Netanyahu appears close to nonexistent.

In a video statement Saturday, the prime minister called for unity, while warning that “in the coming week there are those who plan to swear in a government with the support of terror backers,” referring to Israeli Arab parties.

Since election day, Netanyahu has repeatedly alleged that Israeli Arabs “stole” the election, with the accusations centering on a Shin Bet investigation into suspected foreign interference.

The investigation continues, although the Shin Bet chief and attorney general have said the evidence does not substantiate irregularities on a scale that could significantly alter the results. The Central Elections Committee has said it found “no evidence of irregularities” affecting the ballot.

Eisenkot responded Sunday, saying, “For me, unity is neither a political bargaining chip nor an empty gimmick, but a supreme value that embodies genuine partnership.” He called on members of Netanyahu’s Likud to support a government under his leadership.

The newly elected Knesset will be sworn in Tuesday, stripping Netanyahu’s outgoing government of its parliamentary majority.

The opposition is maneuvering to replace the speaker, who comes from Netanyahu’s Likud party, and form temporary committees to repeal the previous coalition’s controversial legal and media legislation. Internal disputes over the order of operations, however, threaten to derail the initiative.

—With assistance from Carla Canivete.

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