Eisenkot given tough task of forming Israeli government over Netanyahu

JERUSALEM: Israel’s former military chief Gadi Eisenkot was set Sunday to be given the tough task of forming a government, giving him weeks to cobble together a coalition to replace Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister.

Eisenkot, 66, a political novice who has vowed to bridge Israel’s deep polarization under Netanyahu, was due to meet President Isaac Herzog who will formally give him the mandate to form a government with an initial deadline of 28 days.

Eisenkot, born to a family of working-class Moroccan immigrants, would be the first Sephardic prime minister — a descendant of Jews from the Middle East or North Africa — in a country long dominated by an Ashkenazi elite with ties to Europe.