Netanyahu seeks unity government after Eisenkot mandate

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again called Monday for a unity government that would keep him in power, a day after President Isaac Herzog gave opposition rival Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a coalition.

Eisenkot's opposition bloc won 48 seats in Israel's October 27 elections, short of the 61 needed for a parliamentary majority. Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats, but Eisenkot received a majority of party recommendations in talks with Herzog.

Eisenkot could rely on Arab-majority parties, which won a record 19 seats after high voter turnout linked to anger over racism and marginalisation under Netanyahu's far-right government. Netanyahu warned in a video against a government dependent on Arab-Israeli parties, describing them as Hamas supporters. The parties deny his accusations.

Netanyahu said a unity government around his Likud party should include all Zionist parties and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties. Eisenkot and Netanyahu have each offered a national-unity government with the rival party, but each has insisted he should lead it.

Avigdor Liberman, a right-wing Netanyahu critic and leader of the smallest core opposition party, met Eisenkot on Monday. Liberman's Yashar party said both men expressed confidence they could form a stable government for a full four-year term.