-Former military chief has a few pathways to power
-Eisenkot has 28 days to try to form government with potential for 14-day extension
-He is son of Moroccan immigrants
Nov 7 (Reuters) - Israel's president on Saturday chose Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strongest rival, to try to form a new government following a deadlocked election that left neither man with a clear path to power.
Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader, is fighting to stay in office after his religious-nationalist coalition lost its majority in an October 27 election but still emerged as the largest bloc in parliament.
Eisenkot, a former military chief, has declined to join forces with Arab parties, with whose support he would have a majority of seats in parliament. But Arab leaders, incensed by what they view as the racist policies of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, still nominated Eisenkot to try to form a government first — giving him the most endorsements.
"President Herzog has invited Gadi Eisenkot to the President’s Residence, where he will be tasked with forming the government tomorrow," said the spokesperson of President Isaac Herzog, whose largely ceremonial role involves nominating a candidate to form a coalition after elections.
Maybe I need to clarify. I'm discussing the Israeli state. The Israeli state distinguishes between a Jewish Israeli and an Arab Israeli because it practices apartheid. So to the Israeli state, Mizrahim are Israeli Jews and not Israeli Arabs. This is not my definition. This is the Israeli state's definition.
It is the state and it's supporters that enact colonial apartheid.
So using the terminology of a colonial apartheid state like "Arab parties" is to normalize the erasure of Palestinians who live within the borders of the colonial state, because that's the intent of the label. And while it is nice that younger Mizrahi are wanting to get in touch with their true cultural roots, it does not mean that it should occur at the cost of Palestinians losing their identity. Arab is still a very general term of referring to a wide swath of cultures.
I don't know if you the below is relevant in Israel's case because the younger generation in Israel are identifying more with the rightwing as seen with polls related to this election.
As is often the case, it's the next generation where hope lives.