Sami Abu Shehadeh told Kan Bet that the Arab-majority Joint List will recommend Gadi Eisenkot in the consultations on forming Israel's next government.
The Arab-majority Joint List will recommend Gadi Eisenkot in the consultations on forming Israel's next government, Sami Abu Shehadeh announced.
On Thursday, the Democrats faction recommended to President Herzog that Eisenkot be tasked with forming the next government.
The Joint List's support comes with conditions. On Wednesday, Yaara Shapira of the public broadcaster Kan 11 reported that the party is expected to demand the chairmanship of a senior Knesset committee. The committees under consideration are Finance, Constitution and Education. In return, the party would provide a safety net and back the change bloc's votes in the plenum. "We will not settle again for committees like Science and Technology or the Subcommittee on the Advancement of Women's Status," a party source said.
The change bloc's path to a coalition is also complicated by the dispute over the draft. In an interview with Radio A-Shams on Thursday, Democrats MK Gilad Kariv, whose name another report renders as Karib, said his party would not compromise on chareidi enlistment. "I think United Torah Judaism will not join our government in the end, and I think we cannot throw aside the enlistment issue entirely," he said.
Abu Shehadeh is also the subject of a Shin Bet request. On Tuesday, Amit Segal reported that David Zini, director of the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security agency, wants to question Abu Shehadeh under caution as a criminal suspect. The request also covers Ahmad Tibi, Mansour Abbas and a senior Knesset member who has not been named.
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