JERUSALEM: Benjamin Netanyahu remains Israel’s prime minister as the new parliament takes office on Tuesday, but its less friendly composition could make his life much more difficult.
Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief seeking to move Israel towards the centre, was given the mandate on Sunday by President Isaac Herzog to form a new government, a complicated task as neither he nor Netanyahu commands a majority.
Until then, Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, remains caretaker prime minister, but the new 120-member parliament can still move against him.
The lack of a new government “does not infringe upon the Knesset’s prerogatives”, said Assaf Shapira, a political expert at the Israel Democracy Institute.
