Eisenkot says ready to form government as exit polls show deadlock

Israeli opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot said on Tuesday night that exit polls showing his bloc ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition reflected a "complete lack of confidence" in Netanyahu's government, vowing to move swiftly to replace it, as the projections pointed to a parliamentary election deadlock.Exit polls by public broadcaster Kan and commercial TV Channel 13 projected 53 seats for Eisenkot's bloc against 50 for Netanyahu's, while Channel 12 gave Eisenkot's bloc 52 seats and Netanyahu's 50. Neither bloc reached the 61 seats needed for a majority."If these are the final results, this is a victory for Israel's mainstream Zionist majority," Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, said in a statement.He pledged to act immediately to "implement the people's decision, replace Netanyahu's government and establish a Zionist government committed to military conscription as soon as possible.""The public has fired Netanyahu's government," said Yair Golan, leader of the center-left Democrats party, which supports the establishment of a Palestinian state.Yair Lapid, the current opposition head, said in a statement that the Netanyahu bloc has suffered "a crushing defeat" and "a total collapse."Arab-majority parties, the Joint List and the Muslim Ra'am party, were projected to win 17 to 18 seats in the 120-member Knesset or parliament, potentially holding the balance of power. Both Netanyahu and Eisenkot have ruled out forming a coalition with them.With no outright majority, the results point to potentially prolonged coalition negotiations and political instability.The exit polls are preliminary, with final official results expected in the coming days or even weeks.A change of leader may not mean a change of policyThough a Netanyahu defeat could produce a new government and a different political style, a fundamental shift in Israel's regional policy appears far less certain.On some of the biggest security issues, Eisenkot and other opposition figures remain relatively hawkish. Opposition parties have largely maintained hard-line positions on Iran and have shown little support for establishing a Palestinian state in the near term.Analysts say Israel's political center has itself moved to the right following years of conflict. On the Palestinian issue in particular, the gap between Netanyahu and his opponents is often more about how far and how aggressively to pursue existing policies than about whether to fundamentally change them.That could mean a future opposition government might seek to restrain settler violence, repair Israel's international image or place greater emphasis on diplomacy. But it is unlikely to abandon Israel's current security doctrine or significantly ease pressure on Iran.Ahed Ferwana, a Gaza-based Palestinian political analyst and journalist specializing in Israeli affairs, said Netanyahu's continued leadership would likely prolong the conflict in Gaza and operations in the West Bank, citing displacement from refugee camps in the north and military operations in Hebron.If the opposition led by Gadi Eizenkot won, a new government might align more closely with US President Donald Trump's peace plan and work to repair Israel's international image, Ferwana said.However, he did not expect a substantive shift in favor of the Palestinians, predicting that such a government would continue to oppose Palestinian statehood.(With input from Xinhua)