By Sumayya

DUBAI: Israeli opposition chief Gadi Eisenkot is anticipated to get the support of 67 lawmakers to build the country’s next government after two Arab-led political groups supported him on Thursday. Israel’s biggest Arab party collection, the Joint List, expressed Thursday that it would suggest Eisenkot for the building of a new government following last week’s voting. The Joint List, which earned 11 seats in last week’s parliamentary voting, declared that it would suggest Eisenkot to President Isaac Herzog. This choice joins the eight-seat United Arab List, which is likewise named Ra’am, which backed him earlier during the day.

Arab-majority groups won a record-breaking 19 parliamentary seats in the voting out of 120, turning them into powerful decision-makers in Israel’s next government. The backing gives the past military chief, who leads the middle-of-the-road Yashar party, the help of groups holding a majority of seats in Israel’s 120-member parliament called the Knesset. The political group stated that the choice was made to strengthen actions to replace Benjamin Netanyahu and answer to public demands to stop his government from coming back to power. They did this despite worries over the opposition’s failure to properly challenge plans that affect Arab citizens.

The news came out while Herzog kept holding talks with newly chosen parliamentary groups to figure out who ought to be given the task of building the next government after the tied October 27 voting. The president started the talk path on Wednesday night and told party leaders that not every promise and pledge can be completed if they desired to avoid a brand-new election.

Three groups linked to Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist base suggested that he should be given a shot to build a partnership group. At the same time, a fourth group, led by a past Netanyahu partner, supported Eisenkot. Eight extra parties, including the two Arab-led groups, are planned to meet with the president on Thursday, with Eisenkot’s Yashar party and Netanyahu’s Likud party going at the very end.

Israel’s voting last week showed no clear winner because the groups of neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot won a parliamentary majority. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party and its extreme-right and highly religious Orthodox Jewish partners won 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Meanwhile, Eisenkot’s middle-of-the-road Yashar party and three other Jewish opposition parties in his group won 48 seats.

The biggest Arab-Israeli group on Wednesday spoke out against political mistreatment after one of its lawmakers was accused of taking money from other countries before last week’s voting, where the community showed up to vote in record-breaking numbers. Netanyahu repeated the claims of outside interference in the October 27 vote. He stated in a video, while speaking in front of an Israeli flag and a sign reading “Prime Minister’s Office,” that there are heavy doubts that foreign nations have used large amounts of money to alter the final results of the voting in Israel.