Israel president urges compromise after divisive polls
Israel's president on Wednesday opened talks on forming a new government with a call for compromise, saying neither side had won divisive elections, as he also condemned "racist" rhetoric against Arab parties that made sharp gains. More than a week after Israel's first election since the trauma of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, President Isaac Herzog began meeting party leaders to decide whether to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his rival Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a government in the deeply polarised country. With neither bloc holding a majority in the 120-seat parliament after the October 27 vote, Herzog said both sides needed to accept that "not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled" and to avoid new elections. "In the current reality, in which there is no clear winner after the elections, I ask for originality and creativity, courage and goodwill, so that the State of Israel emerges the winner," Herzog said. The election saw soaring support for lists from the Arab minority, descendants of Palestinians who stayed in Israel after its 1948 creation and who have often been outraged by the harsh rhetoric and actions of Netanyahu's hard-right government. Netanyahu has gone on the offensive against Arab-majority lists, who...
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