VOICE OF THE JEWISH NEWS: An Eisenkot-led coalition is essential to Israel’s future

After years of strife, months of campaigning, and 5,690,778 valid votes cast, Israel has once again found itself floundering in a quagmire of political uncertainty.

Benjamin Netanyahu did not win this election. While his party, Likud, received the most seats, it lost a quarter of its representation in the Knesset. Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with all the parties who won Knesset seats to listen to their recommendations as to who should get the opportunity to try and seek a governing mandate first. The fact that Gadi Eisenkot was given the opportunity is another indication of the size of the ‘anti-Bibi’ bloc.

84 years ago, in a very different context (a battle some 300 miles from what is now Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing), Winston Churchill remarked that “this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Gadi Eisenkot now has the opportunity to build a coalition which could pave the way for the end of the 77-year old Netanyahu’s domination of the Israeli political landscape.

This will not be easy. The one thing uniting an extraordinarily large demographic of Israeli society (even Netanyahu’s longstanding strictly Orthodox partners now seem far more amenable to cutting a deal with his opponents) is the sense that Bibi has led for too long. But it is about the only issue that unites them. Moreover, the bloc of Arab parties, which won a historic 19 Knesset seats, cannot and should not be ignored. Ra’am has served in an Israeli government before – it should do so again.

But nothing is certain, and there are few politicians more experienced – or more cynical – than Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister. Eisenkot, a former IDF Chief of Staff, has the example of his predecessor to look to. Four years ago, Benny Gantz was Bibi’s chief opponent. Last month he withdrew ahead of the elections after it became clear his party was unlikely to receive enough votes to clear the country’s electoral threshold, a lesson, if one were needed, in how military strategy is vastly different to political strategy.

This paper has made no secret of its belief that Benjamin Netanyahu should no longer serve as Israel’s Prime Minister. The slaughter of the largest number of Jews since the Holocaust happened on his watch, while he has since sought to blame anyone and everyone other than himself. Even prior to 7 October 2023, his government’s attempts to strip the country’s Supreme Court of its powers had led to massive internal discontent. The supposed Great Communicator has reduced Israel to a point where it has abandoned its previously bipartisan mode of international diplomacy in favour of close alliances with hard right politicians and barely disguised contempt for anyone else. And his decision to embrace the ideological successors of Meir Kahane is an ongoing source of deep shame to many whose love for Israel is unimpeachable. For all this and more, it is vital that Gadi Eisenkot is successful.

It would be foolish to express the hope that a change of government will improve Israel’s standing in the world – those who loathe Israel’s very existence will not change their minds simply because Netanyahu is gone. But for the sake of the Israeli people, the stability they undoubtedly long for, and the relationship between the Jewish diaspora and the Jewish State, we hope that the coming weeks herald the formation of a new coalition which can begin the process of rebuilding what has been broken. Israel’s future depends on it.