Knesset sworn in as Netanyahu and Eisenkot trade insults over Arab parties
Israel’s 26th Knesset was sworn in on Tuesday with 47 newcomers, and the fight to form a government turned bitter at once. Benjamin Netanyahu asked those contemplating a coalition reliant on Arab parties: “Are you prepared to be dependent on those whose goal is the destruction of the Jewish state?” Gadi Eisenkot called it a “delusional, divisive, hate-filled and shameful speech” and said he was “now even more convinced that he is unfit to remain in office for even one more minute”.
Isaac Herzog, who gave Mr Eisenkot the mandate on Sunday, urged members to “leave no stone unturned”, to “make concessions” and to do “everything possible to avoid a repeat election”, warning that Iran “does not stop even for a moment in its plots and threats”. Mr Netanyahu insisted he was “not talking about Arabs. Arabs vote Likud, vote for all the parties”, but that a government depending “in any way on Ra’am or the Joint List must not be formed”, and called for unity against “a nuclear Iran”; Mr Eisenkot’s bloc is reported to have cancelled planned talks with Likud after the speech. The new opposition, 67 strong, moved fast: Yashar lodged 61 signatures demanding a vote to replace the speaker, Amir Ohana, on 17 November, and the bloc tabled bills for a state inquiry into 7 October, prime-ministerial term limits and the repeal of the judicial overhaul laws. The arithmetic is unchanged — 48 seats for Mr Eisenkot, 53 for Mr Netanyahu, 19 for the Arab parties — and so is the clock: 28 days plus 14. Watch the speaker vote as the first test of the 67.