Israeli opposition leader vows to replace Netanyahu’s government after election

By Tarek Chouiref

ISTANBUL (AA) - The leader of Israel’s Yashar party said late Wednesday that voters had rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, pledging to form a new administration committed to military conscription as neither of the two main blocs appeared set to secure a parliamentary majority.

In a post on the US social media platform X, Gadi Eisenkot said he was concluding a long day of meetings and discussions aimed at carrying out voters’ wishes.

“Long working days still lie ahead, but we are focused on the weighty task entrusted to us: bringing change to Israel and forming a Zionist government committed to conscription,” he wrote.

He said voters had expressed no confidence in “the government of Oct. 7 and draft evasion,” as well as the broader “draft-dodgers’ bloc,” referring to Netanyahu’s governing alliance.

That bloc, he said, was at its lowest point in two decades.

“I feel the weight of the responsibility and the trust placed in me by hundreds of thousands of citizens who believe in the State of Israel and in Zionism,” Eisenkot wrote.

“Thanks to you, we made history,” he told supporters, saying his party had been established within a year as a new political force representing Israelis across society and offering a credible, responsible alternative government.

He pledged to accomplish the task ahead, adding: “We will act and succeed.”

With 89.8% of the votes counted, Netanyahu’s bloc was projected to win 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, compared with 48 for the bloc led by Eisenkot. The two predominantly Arab parties were projected to secure a combined 19 seats.

Neither rival bloc had reached the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority.

The figures remained provisional, with hundreds of thousands of “double-envelope” ballots, including votes cast by soldiers and diplomats, still awaiting counting.