U.S. official says Trump may wait before pushing Netanyahu and Eisenkot toward a unity deal at Mar-a-Lago

President Donald Trump may wait several weeks before intervening in Israel’s coalition negotiations and could ultimately invite Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot to Mar-a-Lago to try to broker a unity government, a U.S. official told i24NEWS.

“I suspect he won’t jump right in at the start,” the official said. “He’ll wait a bit, see which way the wind is blowing, and then — after a few weeks — he might pick up the phone to Eisenkot and Netanyahu and say, ‘Guys, come on down to Mar-a-Lago,’ to close a deal.”

The remarks came as Israel’s election remained unresolved, with neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor Eisenkot’s opposition securing the 61 seats needed to form a government.

At the time of the i24NEWS report, Netanyahu’s bloc was projected at 53 seats and the predominantly Jewish opposition at 48, while between 430,000 and 480,000 double-envelope ballots remained to be counted.

Trump endorsed Netanyahu twice during the final stretch of the campaign, but figures around the president have also discussed the prospect of a broad unity government that would exclude some of Netanyahu’s far-right partners.

Netanyahu’s allies have already explored a possible partnership with Eisenkot, while Eisenkot has publicly ruled out serving in a government led by Netanyahu.

The final distribution of seats and the recommendations submitted to President Isaac Herzog will determine whether either camp can form a coalition or whether pressure for a unity arrangement intensifies.