Israeli president vows he won’t bow to Trump as Netanyahu’s fate hangs in the balance

JERUSALEM — It plays an essentially ceremonial role. But in just a few days, Israeli President Isaac Herzog will wield considerable power when he decides which political party gets the first chance to form a government — a decision that could determine the fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In an exclusive interview with MS NOW, Herzog said he would not give in to pressure from President Donald Trump in favor of his friend Netanyahu, whom Trump endorsed last week.

“I don’t think the president of the United States or anyone else can interfere with my discretion — the discretion has to be based on certain facts, and we’ll see what those facts are,” Herzog said. “There will still be a lot of pressure. »

Herzog said he had “tremendous respect” for Trump and welcomed any dialogue, but that the decision would be his and him alone.

“I know how to deliberate with him or any other world leader,” he said. “It’s Israeli democracy and the Israeli constitution, and that’s what matters to me.”

With the latest election polls showing that neither Netanyahu’s Likud party nor his challenger Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party are likely to win outright, an initial round of coalition building will likely ensue to reach the majority threshold of 61 seats in the Knesset, Israel’s 120-seat parliament.

The decision of who gets first chance at this weighs on Herzog.

“It’s going to be very tricky,” Herzog said, noting the major candidates’ public commitment to not aligning with certain factions. “So it’s really an open game, especially if the results are going to be close.”

With a diverse set of parties in the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Eisenkot faces an uphill battle in solving the mathematical problem of securing a majority: He has ruled out including both Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties in the government he would lead.

Israeli Arabs make up about 21% of the country’s population, but politicians vying to become prime minister have long excluded them from the ruling government.

Although he stressed that Arab parties are “an integral part of Israeli democracy,” Herzog would not say whether they belong to the Israeli leadership.

“The question arises what will happen if you have to make decisions now on war and peace, and that is the question at stake in the political debate and in the decisions of voters,” he said.

Herzog has repeatedly said he would do everything in his power to avoid sending Israeli voters back to the polls for more rounds of elections — including pushing for a national unity government that would include both Netanyahu and Eisenkot, while excluding extremist party leaders.

“I don’t know if it’s feasible,” he conceded, stressing that the overall process could take many weeks. What this could mean for the war in Iran, which Trump has hinted at resuming after the US midterm elections, is unclear.

“I hope that now there will be either negotiations or a further escalation of military escalation,” Herzog said, adding that the decision was up to the negotiators, the military and the US president.