Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's main rival has secured recommendations from a majority of lawmakers to try to form a government, though President Isaac Herzog warned the election deadlock remains unresolved — a political impetus unfolding against simmering tensions that are shaking the wider Gulf.
Herzog held a second day of marathon talks with political parties on Thursday following the Oct 27 election. Neither Netanyahu — the right-wing leader who has steered Israel through three years of war — nor Gadi Eisenkot, the former military chief promising national reconciliation, won enough votes for an outright parliamentary majority.
He was scheduled to name a candidate on Sunday. Traditionally, the mandate goes to the candidate backed by more legislators. Sixty-seven lawmakers recommended Eisenkot, 46 favored Netanyahu, and seven abstained.
"The consultation results may look straightforward, but under law, I must assess who is capable of forming a functioning government. That is far from settled, given mutual vetoes both between and within blocs," Herzog said.
Two Arab-majority electoral lists secured an unprecedented 19 seats in the poll, turning them into potential kingmakers should Eisenkot's opposition bloc choose to cooperate with them — a prospect still shrouded in uncertainty.
Both Arab lists announced their support for Eisenkot on Thursday.
The endorsement nevertheless creates a dilemma for Eisenkot: Yisrael Beiteinu, a right-wing party within his camp, has repeatedly ruled out serving in a coalition reliant on Arab-party backing.
Once nominated by Herzog, the candidate will have 28 days to try to forge a government, with a possible 14-day extension. Netanyahu will remain caretaker prime minister until a new coalition is formed, or through another election which must be held if no candidate succeeds.
Meanwhile, tensions remained high across the Gulf on Friday, with Washington and Tehran trading threats even as diplomatic outreach intensified to head off wider escalation.
The US aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt was moving closer to the Middle East, as Trump said the US may have to "destroy the rest of Iran" and that reconstruction would take 25 years.
A senior adviser to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that any state aiding US strikes against Iran would become a "legitimate target".
State media quoted him as saying Tehran possesses domestically built weapons capable of hitting Israeli military sites and US bases across the region.
Meanwhile, Iran has sent a nuclear proposal to the US through Qatari mediators, which Washington is reviewing, while Tehran waits for its seven demands to be met, Reuters reported.
The prolonged standoff has also taken a heavy economic toll on Gulf businesses.
The Emirates Group, which operates the region's biggest airline, announced a 66 percent plunge in first-half profits, blaming "unprecedented" disruption and high fuel prices caused by the war.
"It has been a demanding six months," Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
Agencies contributed to this story.
