Israel’s present Prime Minister Netanyahu’s options are diminishing, as his effort to keep the opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot from working with the Arab parties is crumbling. In the last 24 hours, the Election Commission tossed aside his claim that the Arab parties stole the election, and Eisenkot’s bloc is discussing with the Arab parties increased collaboration.

Today, Benny Biton, a senior Likud figure, a Netanyahu ally and the mayor of Dimona—the site of the highly classified Israeli nuclear program—publicized today a version of the ‘Washington’ deal in an interview on Kan Reshet Bet radio. That deal, tied to President Trump’s wild endorsement of Netanyahu, involved seducing or blackmailing Eisenkot into a deal with Netanyahu, with Netanyahu doing without the embarrassing Ben-Gvir/Smotrich gang. Apparently, the discussions with the Eisenkot bloc have run aground over everyone’s belief that Netanyahu, given another term, will stab everyone in the back.

Biton offered that Trump and Israel’s President Herzog would serve as guarantors for an agreement between the two sides that Netanyahu won’t cheat. He said he talked with Herzog yesterday and argued that Herzog together with Trump could, as the Times of Israel put it, “help overcome opposition distrust of Netanyahu, who has repeatedly undercut his partners in unity governments and broken his promises to them.” Then he challenged Eisenkot: “Leave the ego aside. We’ve finished the election campaign. I’m appealing to you, Gadi Eisenkot—you were [IDF] chief of staff... Put everything aside. The State of Israel is in danger right now. A government must be formed, immediately.”