JERUSALEM — Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu renewed his call on Saturday for a national unity government with his rival Gadi Eisenkot, saying only such a government can guarantee Israel's security — and was dismissed within minutes as a man playing political tricks.

Source: France 24 via Globe TV

In a video statement released on Saturday, Netanyahu said a meeting with Eisenkot on Thursday had "only strengthened the conviction that it is essential to form a national unity government". "Let's meet in one room, without preconditions, put aside all our disagreements and all the boycotts, and reach agreements for the security and the future of the state," he said.

Source: Al Jazeera via Barbados Gazette

Netanyahu argued that such a government could "eliminate the Iranian threat once and for all", claiming that Tehran "will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons against us" and that Iran is again working to revive its nuclear programme. He said the cabinet should be built from parties that accept Israel as the state of the Jewish people — a formula that excludes the Arab-led parties. Those claims about Iran's intentions are Netanyahu's own assertions; they were not independently verified in Saturday's reporting.

Eisenkot, a former army chief who holds President Isaac Herzog's mandate to form the next government, replied within the hour. Netanyahu "knows he lost the election", he said, and is "calling for negotiations while they are already underway". "These tricks don't work on me," Eisenkot said, adding that Netanyahu "claims to want unity but sows division and stokes tensions as if there were no tomorrow".

The numbers in the Knesset

Neither side won a majority in the October 27 election. Netanyahu's right-wing and religious bloc took 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, Eisenkot's four-party bloc won 48, and Arab-led parties won a record 19. Herzog tasked Eisenkot with forming a government after 67 lawmakers, including those from Arab-led parties, endorsed him, while 46 backed Netanyahu. Eisenkot has 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension, and has ruled out including Arab-led parties in his government.

Under Eisenkot's plan for a minority "national emergency government", his bloc's 48 lawmakers would vote in favour while the 46 who support Netanyahu vote against, and the 26 lawmakers from Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties could abstain — allowing his government to be approved without an absolute majority. Netanyahu has warned that such a government would be "weak and dangerous" and would lead to Israel's "collapse".

What Eisenkot wants instead

Eisenkot has said he would sit with members of Netanyahu's Likud party and with Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism if their commitment to unity is "sincere", but he insists on a "break with the extremists", notably supporters of far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. On Friday he described Netanyahu's campaign against the Arab-led parties as "racist". Netanyahu and his allies have made unsubstantiated claims that Arab-led parties "stole" the election.

The next test comes on Tuesday, when the Knesset elects its speaker. The post is currently held by Netanyahu ally Amir Ohana, and the opposition has put forward Matan Kahana, a former military officer who was fifth on Eisenkot's list. Eisenkot said Likud should instruct its members to back Kahana if it wants a genuine partnership, and negotiating teams from the two camps were already due to meet on Sunday — the very talks he said Netanyahu's appeal pretended did not exist.