Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he intends to head a "united government" drawing in Zionist and ultra-Orthodox parties, one day after President Isaac Yitzhak Herzog transferred the authority to form a government to opposition bloc leader Gadi Eisenkot, according to Yonhap News Agency.
In a video statement distributed by the Prime Minister's Office, Netanyahu said he would exclude no one and argued that no one should exclude anyone else. He said he should lead a government that includes every party in the conservative right-wing camp, naming his own Likud party, the largest in the Knesset, as part of that bloc.
The remarks came as the Israeli leader faced the prospect of losing office after nearly two decades at the helm of Israeli politics. Yonhap reported that Herzog's decision to grant the coalition-building mandate to Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff who now leads the opposition bloc, followed the president's consultations with party representatives.
Why it matters
The transfer of the mandate is a procedural step, but its political weight is considerable. Under Israel's system, the president asks a lawmaker to assemble a governing coalition after elections, and that lawmaker normally has weeks to secure a majority in the Knesset. Handing that task to the opposition rather than to the incumbent prime minister signals that the president judged Netanyahu's path to a majority to be weaker than Eisenkot's.
For Netanyahu, the development puts an end to a long stretch in power in question. Multiple South Korean outlets framed the mandate decision in those terms: Kyunghyang Shinmun asked whether it marks the end of Netanyahu's 19 years in power, while Dong-A Ilbo described him as facing the risk of being ousted. Yonhap's own account described him as "facing a crisis of losing power."
The episode also tests the shape of Israel's right-wing politics. Netanyahu's statement was aimed at keeping his existing allies together — the far-right, hardline parties and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties that made up his previous coalition — even as the formal initiative moved to his rival.
What Netanyahu is proposing
According to Yonhap, Netanyahu's video message stressed that all the partners from his outgoing coalition must be part of any government he leads, including the far-right extremist parties and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties. He framed the proposal as one of inclusion, saying he excludes nobody and that others should not exclude anyone either.
The appeal appears designed to present an alternative to the coalition being assembled by Eisenkot, who has said he will put together a national emergency government, according to KBS News. That framing — an emergency administration rather than a conventional partisan coalition — suggests the opposition leader is pitching for support beyond his own bloc.
The two men offer voters and lawmakers sharply different models. Netanyahu's version is a continuation of the right-wing and religious alliance that backed him before. Eisenkot's is presented as a broader national arrangement, a pitch that may appeal to parties wary of another Netanyahu-led government.
The arithmetic ahead
Neither statement changes the underlying numbers. Whoever holds the mandate must still assemble a majority of Knesset members, and that requires deals with parties that have their own demands. Yonhap reported that Herzog's move came after consultations, and the president's choice reflects his reading of which lawmaker is more likely to succeed.
For Netanyahu, the immediate task is to keep his allies from drifting toward Eisenkot's camp. His video statement reads as an attempt to hold that bloc together and to signal that he remains the natural leader of the right. For Eisenkot, the task is to convert the mandate into signed coalition agreements before the clock runs out.
The South Korean coverage noted the sequence clearly: the president gave the opposition the right to form a government, and the incumbent responded the following day with a public pledge to build a rival administration. That is the contest now underway — not a single vote, but a race to assemble a majority.
Watch whether the far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties publicly commit to either camp in the coming days; their choices will determine whether Netanyahu's proposed united government has the numbers to exist.
