ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
Israel's president says he's tapped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political rival, Gadi Eisenkot, to form the next Israeli government. Neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot won a clear majority in last month's election. But parties representing most of the members of Israel's parliament have recommended Eisenkot to try to form a governing coalition. For more on what that means, let's go to NPR's Lauren Frayer, who joins us live from Tel Aviv. Hey, Lauren.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Hi, Rob.
SCHMITZ: So remind us, who is Gadi Eisenkot?
FRAYER: So he's a former military chief whose son was an Israeli soldier killed in combat in Gaza. He is a center-right politician, while Netanyahu is on the far right. Eisenkot briefly served in Netanyahu's cabinet after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, but the two had a falling out. Eisenkot founded a new political party, ran against Netanyahu and now wants to replace him. Netanyahu's been Israel's longest serving prime minister, and he is still the caretaker prime minister for now.
SCHMITZ: Got it. So what is the timeline for a possible change of power here?
FRAYER: Israel's president is holding a ceremony with Eisenkot Sunday evening local time, and that's when the clock starts. Eisenkot has about six weeks to form a coalition with other parties. If he fails, the president could ask someone else to try, perhaps Netanyahu. If that person fails, Israel could be looking at do-over elections in a few months. And the coalition building could be really tough.
SCHMITZ: Yeah, explain that.
FRAYER: So a coalition would include all these strange bedfellows, you know, from ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties to Arab-led parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel. They make up about 20% of Israel and had a record turnout in these elections - could be the kingmakers. But both Eisenkot and Netanyahu ruled out working with them. And now there's some public pressure on Eisenkot to change his mind. Tonight, Netanyahu issued a video warning against that, against partnering what - with what he called Hamas supporters and, quote, "those who oppose Judaism." You know, Netanyahu has used a lot of racist and Islamophobic language throughout this election towards the - Israel's minority-Arab population. Eisenkot tonight called Netanyahu's video hysterical. So things are very, very tense here.
SCHMITZ: Yeah, it sounds like it. I mean, so the next Israeli prime minister will also have to contend with a more strained relationship with the United States. And I'm curious here, how did the U.S. midterm election results go over in Israel?
FRAYER: Pretty badly. I mean, many Israelis I've talked to are really dismayed that criticism of Israel was a talking point for some of the winning candidates in the U.S. You know, newspapers here are splashed with photos of the Democratic senator-elect from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed. Meanwhile, President Trump on Election Day says he's cutting U.S. aid to Israel.
I spoke with Mairav Zonszein. She's an Israeli American analyst at the International Crisis Group here in Tel Aviv.
MAIRAV ZONSZEIN: The U.S.-Israel relationship has been the cornerstone of Israeli national security and foreign relations for decades. And we're seeing that completely unravel at a very accelerated pace because of Gaza, because of Iran.
FRAYER: And she says the next prime - Israeli prime minister, whoever it is - Eisenkot gets a first shot at that post - his government is gonna have to really try to rebuild relations with the U.S., especially with Democrats, at a time when U.S. public opinion of Israel has really plummeted.
SCHMITZ: That is NPR's Lauren Frayer in Tel Aviv. Lauren, thank you.
FRAYER: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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