Netanyahu's position weakens in post-election fight as President Herzog prepares to decide

Benjamin Netanyahu's position in the post-election fight to remain Israel's prime minister has weakened. Reuters reported on Thursday that an ultra-conservative Jewish party had declined to support any candidate, while an Arab-led party backed Netanyahu's main rival.

After talks with smaller parties, Israel's president was due to meet Netanyahu and his main political rival, Gadi Eisenkot. The meeting was to determine who will be given the task of forming a government.

Israel's 27 October election produced no conclusive result; neither Netanyahu nor former military chief Eisenkot has a clear path to a parliamentary majority.

The situation has given President Isaac Herzog a difficult task. Although his role is mainly ceremonial, in the post-election phase he must choose the candidate he believes can most effectively break the deadlock in a deeply divided country.

Herzog has until 11 November to decide. Until a new coalition government is formed — or, if no candidate succeeds, until a new election is held — Netanyahu will serve as prime minister of a caretaker government.

Netanyahu performed better than expected in the election and his Likud party won the most seats, but the nationalist-religious bloc he leads lost the majority needed to form a government.

A major blow for the prime minister came on Thursday from the United Torah Judaism party. One of the two main parties representing ultra-Orthodox Jewish voters and a long-time Netanyahu coalition partner, it refused to recommend any candidate to form a government.

Like Netanyahu, Eisenkot has so far ruled out forming a government in alliance with Israel's two Arab-led parties. However, on Thursday one of those parties backed Eisenkot, and the other was expected to take the same step later in the day.

On Thursday night in Jerusalem, Herzog will meet Eisenkot and Netanyahu separately at his residence. That will conclude the party meetings he began on Wednesday after the formal election results were announced.

Herzog has urged all political parties to make every effort to avoid another election. He said that any conscientious person who looked at the security and diplomatic challenges ahead, the changing situation in the surrounding region and the causes of internal division would understand how great a responsibility had been placed on them.

In the 120-seat Knesset, Likud won the most seats as a single party, with 27. Netanyahu's wider religious-nationalist bloc won only 53 seats in total. Eisenkot's anti-Netanyahu bloc won 48 seats, while the two parties representing Israel's Arab minority won 19 seats.