<p>JERUSALEM: Israel’s former military chief Gadi Eisenkot was set on Sunday to be given the tough task of forming a government, with weeks to cobble together a coalition to replace Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister.
Key takeaways
Gadi Eisenkot, a political novice, was tasked with forming Israel's government to replace Netanyahu, with 28 days to build a coalition.
- Eisenkot, 66, would be Israel's first Sephardic prime minister.
- No party secured an outright majority in the recent election.
- Avigdor Liberman opposes alliances with Israeli Arabs but considers ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Summarised automatically by AI from the original article by New Straits Times. AI can make mistakes, so check the original for details.
JERUSALEM: Israel's former military chief Gadi Eisenkot was set on Sunday to be given the tough task of forming a government, with weeks to cobble together a coalition to replace Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's longest-serving prime minister.
Eisenkot, 66, a political novice who has vowed to bridge Israel's deep polarisation under Netanyahu, was due to meet President Isaac Herzog, who will formally give him the mandate to form a government, with an initial deadline of 28 days.
Eisenkot, born to a family of working-class Moroccan immigrants, would be the first Sephardic prime minister — a descendant of Jews from the Middle East or North Africa — in a country long dominated by an Ashkenazi elite with ties to Europe.
