Israeli President Grants Benjamin Netanyahu Mandate to Form Government

Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday received the official mandate to form a government from Israeli President Isaac Herzog, after holding a marathon of consultations with representatives of all political parties.

Sixty-four MKs from the pro-Netanyahu bloc (Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism and Religious Zionism) recommended him for prime minister, while 28 MKs from only two parties – Yesh Atid and Labor – recommended current Prime Minister Yair Lapid. 28 MKs from National Unity, Yisrael Beiteinu, Ra’am and Hadash-Ta’al, declined to recommended anyone.

Herzog said that while he was “not unaware” of Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial, which many critics have described as being on the basis of trumped up charges, the High Court has maintained this did not prevent the Likud leader from being tasked with forming a government.

“Even if there are differences of opinion between parts of the people on fundamental issues, there are more than enough issues around which the vast majority can unite and agree. We are brothers, we are meant to live side by side,” Herzog said.

“The State of Israel requires a government that even if its composition does not reflect all worldviews and sections of the legislature, nevertheless knows to lead a process of connection and unification—between all parts of our people—and to conduct a responsible, cautious, open, frank, and attentive dialogue with the other branches of government,” Herzog said.

“It is important that we remember: we, as a people, have no room for critical mistakes. Every government must behave with immense caution on matters of fateful importance for our existence, for the defense of our security, and for the preservation of our most fundamental contours as a Jewish and democratic state,” Herzog added according to a translation by The Jerusalem Post.

Herzog hailed Netanyahu as an “experienced public servant who has served in a plethora of senior roles in our country.”

“The foremost task [will be] to lead a government and a coalition that will be conscious of the immense responsibility assigned to them, and to the fact that elections in Israel are not a zero-sum game,” he finished.

For his part, Netanyahu said he was as excited to receive the mandate this time around as he was the first time he received it in 1996.

“Voters have given unequivocal trust in me and Likud, as well as in the parties partnering with us. But I want to say: I intend to be the prime minister of everyone – those who voted for me, and those who did not vote for me,” he said.

“Even if there are differences of opinion between parts of the people on fundamental issues, there are more than enough issues around which the vast majority can unite and agree. We are brothers, we are meant to live side by side,” Netanyahu added.

“There are many who welcome the election results – but there are also those who utter prophecies of doom and frighten the public. This is not the first time such things have been said. They said it about [former prime minister Menachem] Begin, and they said it about me too. It was not true then, and it is not true today,” Netanyahu said.

Outgoing prime minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party released a statement saying it was “a black day for Israel’s democracy in which an incoming prime minister is being extorted by his partners, whose whole joint goal is to rescue him from his trial and bring the State of Israel backward.

“We will never give up on our country, on its liberal values and we will not allow the future of our children to be harmed – we will fight, united, in the Knesset, at public squares and on bridges until we replace this government of destruction with a government of change,” Yesh Atid said.

Netanyahu now has 28 days to form a government. A 14-day extension can be granted by the president if needed.

Netanyahu, however, is keen to form a government as soon as possible, and intense coalition negotiations are already in the works. According to reports, he hopes to form a coalition by Nov. 15, the date of the swearing-in of the new parliament.