Netanyahu Calls for Broader National Government Excluding Arab Parties in Israel, Opposition to Meet

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for forming a "broader national government" in Israel excluding Arab parties. His bloc won the most seats in the election but did not secure the majority needed to form a government.

In Israel's 120-seat parliament, Netanyahu's camp won 53 seats. Of those, his Likud party holds 27 seats.

Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot's bloc won 48 seats. Arab parties won a record 19 seats. Their support could become important in forming a government, the report said.

The parties of the opposition bloc have backed Gadi Eisenkot as the next prime minister. They are meeting on Tuesday to decide the next steps for forming a government.

This is the first meeting among leaders of the opposition camp since last week's contested election. Eisenkot's party, Yashar, said the leaders of the pro-change bloc would discuss the bloc's next steps in Herzliya on Tuesday morning.

Netanyahu made the call on Monday. In a statement issued on the Likud party's Telegram channel, he said: "A large part of the Jewish people has chosen the Likud party as the largest party. It has also chosen me to lead the next government as prime minister."

Netanyahu also said: "We want to form a broader government with our partners and with any party that does not support terrorism."

Rejecting the possibility of a coalition with Arab parties, Netanyahu alleged that they "support terrorism and deny the existence of the Jewish state."

The report noted, however, that leaders of Israel's Arab parties had condemned Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, although they do not describe Hamas, the Palestinian pro-independence organisation, as a terrorist group.

Talks on forming a government are continuing behind the scenes. However, few details of those talks have emerged so far.

Despite differences on various issues, leaders of all parties in Eisenkot's bloc said until Monday that they would support him to form the next government. Arab parties have also indicated that they could support Eisenkot.