Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, is facing new challenges in his efforts to maintain his position following the recent elections. After a ultra-Orthodox Jewish party refrained from supporting any candidate and two Arab parties backed his rival, Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu's position has been significantly weakened.
President's Meeting with Netanyahu and Eisenkot
The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, will meet with Netanyahu and Eisenkot on Thursday to decide on selecting one of the two candidates to form a government. He has until November 11 to choose a suitable candidate. The October 27 elections in Israel ended in a deadlock, with neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot able to secure a clear majority in the parliament, making it difficult for Herzog.
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Challenges Ahead for the Interim Prime Minister
Netanyahu will remain as Prime Minister in a caretaker government until a new coalition is formed or new elections are held, which are necessary if the candidates fail. Although his Likud party performed better than expected in the elections and secured the most seats, his religious nationalist coalition has lost the governing majority.
In a setback for Netanyahu, the "Yad Tovah Yehudi" party, one of the two main parties representing ultra-Orthodox Jewish voters and a consistent supporter of Netanyahu, did not nominate any candidate to form a government. While Eisenkot, like Netanyahu, has so far refused to form a government with the two Arab parties, both parties supported Eisenkot on Thursday, helping him to garner a more comfortable majority of representatives.
Herzog is trying to prevent a new round of elections and has called for cooperation among parties to resolve the country's political crisis. In this regard, he has met with smaller parties and is planning to meet with larger parties to reach necessary agreements.
Netanyahu is in a position where he may lose his power, and for this reason, he has been looking into allegations of possible voting fraud and has made accusations against the Arab parties. His critics and right-wing allies have been accused of trying to undermine the election results. While the Central Election Committee of Israel has stated that the integrity of the elections has been maintained, the head of this committee has called for preserving public trust in democracy.
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