Eisenkot allies move against Netanyahu's legacy as new Israeli parliament opens

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There were clashes as Israel's caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced the Knesset for the first time since the election.

Israeli ex-army chief Gadi Eisenkot and his allies launched a legislative onslaught against caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's legacy on Wednesday, as a new parliament convened in a heated first session.

Though questions still linger over who can form a government, Eisenkot's broad centrist bloc wasted no time in setting the Knesset's agenda with a green light from Arab-Israeli politicians, whose role has stirred heated opposition from Netanyahu's base and even right-wing supporters of Eisenkot.

Eisenkot's Yashar party said it submitted a slew of proposals before the new parliament, including establishing an independent commission to investigate security failures that allowed the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 — which Netanyahu has long opposed.

The party also moved for a sweeping repeal of a judicial overhaul implemented by Netanyahu's government, which had triggered some of Israel's largest-ever protests before being overshadowed by three years of war.

Setting the stage for legislative action, Eisenkot's bloc announced it had enough votes in the 120-seat parliament to install a new speaker, Matan Kahana, also a former senior military figure.

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The current speaker, Netanyahu ally Amir Ohana, said he had granted a request from 67 Knesset members to hold a vote for his successor next Tuesday, "despite my strong opposition to the intention of the emerging coalition".

But neither Eisenkot nor Netanyahu — Israel's longest-serving prime minister with nearly two decades in power — have the 61 votes needed to form a government.

Eisenkot, before his swearing-in, vowed "to form a national-emergency government as quickly as possible".

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