Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made his boldest move yet since Israel's October 27 election, openly calling for a national unity government after his bloc fell well short of a Knesset majority. In a video address on Saturday evening, he urged the parties of the national camp, along with every Zionist party willing to protect the country, to join him. He claimed such a government would permanently remove the nuclear threat from Iran, preserve Israel as a Jewish state, and heal deep divisions at home. His right-wing and ultra-Orthodox bloc won just 53 of the 120 seats, eight short of the 61 needed to govern. He also warned that a rival government relying on Arab party support would put Israel's survival at risk, a claim his opponents strongly reject.

The timing matters because Netanyahu's rivals are moving fast. Gadi Eisenkot of the Yashar party was recommended by lawmakers representing 67 seats, compared with 46 for Netanyahu, and President Isaac Herzog is expected to give him the first chance to form a government. Netanyahu's version of unity comes with a catch, because he says his entire bloc, including the far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, must be part of it, and he has not said who would lead it. Yashar dismissed the speech as a "hysterical" appeal, and one Democrats lawmaker said it showed Netanyahu knows his side lost. The big question is whether Eisenkot can turn his paper majority into a working coalition, or whether this push for unity splits the opposition and gives Netanyahu a way back in.