A planned Wednesday meeting between Gadi Eisenkot's team and Likud was scrapped after he called Benjamin Netanyahu's Knesset speech "divisive" and said the outgoing prime minister was unfit to remain in office.
Netanyahu had urged a unity government but attacked Arab parties as terror backers, prompting repeated interruptions from Naftali Bennett over Qatar allegations and the lack of a state inquiry into the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.
The rupture complicates coalition building even though 67 lawmakers recommended Eisenkot to form a government; his Yashar party holds 21 seats and is coordinating with Bennett's 12-seat bloc, still short of the 61 needed.
Eisenkot is still keeping options open with Likud, ultra-Orthodox and Arab parties, and a unity deal remains possible if Netanyahu agrees not to serve first in a rotation arrangement.
He has until Dec. 6 to assemble a coalition, with a possible extension to Dec. 20, as disputes over conscription, Arab-party support and Netanyahu's future keep Israel's transition unresolved.