Arab-led parties, representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, won a record 19 seats.Eisenkot has ruled out forming a government with the Arab-led parties, which would give him a 67-seat bloc. Winning over the two ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, would give him exactly 61 seats.He could also form a government with fewer than 61 seats if he wins a parliamentary confidence vote.“Netanyahu still has time to derail Gadi Eisenkot’s efforts to form a government and sabotage attempts to gain a vote of confidence,” said Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.“In the meantime, he remains caretaker prime minister.

If Eisenkot fails, Netanyahu would be the natural second in line to be tasked with forming a government. And if he fails, elections would then be called, and that would still allow Netanyahu to remain as caretaker.“Many of Netanyahu’s critics say that is his aim.

The big question in Israeli politics now is: does the opposition really want to get rid of Netanyahu? Or is the opposition to Palestinian Israelis in mainstream politics so strong that they’re willing to risk keeping Netanyahu in power by going back to the ballot box?”