Israel's new Knesset sworn in as opposition moves on the speaker's chair

The 120-seat Knesset convenes Tuesday, and the opposition's opening play is replacing speaker Amir Ohana, a close Benjamin Netanyahu ally who controls what the legislature debates. Gadi Eisenkot, the former Israeli military chief handed the presidential mandate to form a government at the weekend, may take the speaker's job himself, Israeli media reported Monday. If he doesn't, opposition parties have agreed the nominee comes from his Yashar party.

The fight is tense enough that more than 160 former security chiefs — military, intelligence and police — flagged plans to disrupt the day. A retired commanders' forum called Democracy's Protective Wall wrote to serving security chiefs warning that "actors who oppose replacing the Knesset speaker intend to go to the Knesset... and to prevent the MKs and their family members from entering the building." Ma'ariv reported the letter also said those actors are urging tens of thousands of supporters to help them.

The opposition bloc holds 67 seats, enough to install a consensus speaker, and every party in it calls Netanyahu a threat to the state. But several Jewish-Israeli parties have sworn not to sit with the Palestinian-led parties that hold over a quarter of the bloc's seats — or even back a minority government relying on them. Palestinian citizens are about 20% of Israel's population, voted in unprecedented numbers this year and won 19 seats; without them the bloc trails Netanyahu's diminished coalition.

Rightwing opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman is chasing a different route, trying to build an alliance with ultra-Orthodox parties frustrated by Netanyahu's failure to pass broad military draft exemptions. Lieberman has campaigned for universal conscription, prompting Haredi journalist Arye Erlich to ask in Yedioth Ahronoth whether "the biggest persecutor of Haredim Israeli politics has seen in decades" now believes he can compromise on the draft and govern alongside them.

Eisenkot has promised a national emergency government built with "creative and unconventional political acts," while warning some campaign pledges will break. "No one will be able to fulfil all the [campaign] promises they made, and all of us will need to compromise," he said. He may hold back any coalition deal until Ohana is replaced — Ohana could stall signing in a new government for up to a week. If Eisenkot fails, the mandate passes on, and if everyone fails Israel votes again while Netanyahu and his far-right allies stay on as caretakers. Political scientist Gideon Rahat of Hebrew University said that once an alternative government is in place, "they will be governing and it would be hard to oust them."