The Irish Times view on Israel’s election aftermth: Eisenkot’s choice

The Israeli election revolved around one issue: the position of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. And voters, 77 per cent of whom turned out, were decisive. Netanyahu’s far-right government bloc has slumped from a clear majority of 68 seats to an estimated 53 in the 120-seat Knesset, with those vehemently opposed to him probably holding 67 seats.

The country’s damning verdict may have been decisive, but whether a government can be formed remains highly questionable. It remains unclear whether anyone will share power with Arab parties, the election’s surprise star performers. A massive increase in turnout from previously disengaged Palestinian and Bedouin Israeli citizens saw their seat tally rise from 10 to 19, to hold the balance of power.

The opposition bloc led by former general Gadi Eisenkot has, however, pledged not to cooperate with the Arab parties because, he says, they do not share the values of the Zionist majority.

The alternatives he now faces in the inter-party negotiations that lie ahead all involve one or more retreats on solemn election commitments: either a deal with one or more of the Arab lists or the even more politically challenging proposition of a unity government involving Netanyahu. Or another general election.

In the meantime Netanyahu will continue to run the country as caretaker leader, largely unconstrained. Observers warn that he may use his remaining authority, and Donald Trump’s permission, to launch a massive renewed attack on Iran. Preparations have reportedly already begun.

Determined to block the political possibility of an alliance between Eisenkot and the Arab parties, who represent 20 per cent of the country’s population, Netanyahu’s Likud party has sought to challenge the result with unsubstantiated claims that Qatari money was used to push up Arab turnout and bribe voters.

Eisenkot must respond positively to the overwhelming demand from voters for change and repudiate Likud’s racist attempts to delegitimise participation by Arabs in government and its insistence on the “necessity for Jewish government”. Arab turnout was riven by a desire to see the back of Netanyahu. It was also a welcome expression of a desire for political engagement with the Jewish state and a tentative commitment to participating in the administration of that state.

Israel is at a crossroads. It can choose the path of total war, brutal crushing of the Palestinians and international isolation, driven by the most right-wing, racist government in its history. Or it can take the path promised by its own declaration of independence, “in the upbuilding of the state on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions”. That is Eisenkot’s choice.