President Isaac Herzog’s full remarks:

"Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu MK, ladies, and gentlemen having received the official results of the elections to the Twenty-Fifth Knesset last Wednesday, I set about fulfilling the task assigned to me by Paragraph 7 of Basic Law: The Government and held consultations with representatives of the parliamentary groups elected to the Twenty-Fifth Knesset.

"With your permission, I wish to say a few words about the consultations themselves, in light of questions from members of the public: questions and observations that I welcome and thank them for, as well as for the concern and responsibility that they reflect.

"Since the establishment of the State of Israel, successive presidents have all held extensive and rigorous consultations with representatives of the parliamentary groups. Specifically, they questioned and pressed them on many diverse issues, raising important and challenging issues on the agenda for discussion. As we know, until the presidency of my predecessor, the Tenth President, Reuven Rivlin, these meetings were closed to the public and the media. President Rivlin opened them up to live broadcasts, wishing to enhance transparency and public confidence in the process, and I did the same.

"Nevertheless, the tradition of deliberation during the President's meetings with the parliamentary groups, including raising challenging and fundamental questions, has neither stopped nor changed and rightly so. I thank the representatives of all the parliamentary groups of the elected Knesset for our fascinating, open, and frank conversations, which underscored the beauty and power of Israeli democracy, which draws its power from the rich and diverse mosaic of voices among us as a society and as a country.

"Ladies and gentlemen, from the consultations I held, the following picture arises: 64 members of Knesset recommended Benjamin Netanyahu MK; 28 members of Knesset recommended Yair Lapid MK, and 28 members of Knesset chose not to recommend any member of Knesset for the role of forming a government. Therefore, in light of all considerations emanating from the law and the tradition practiced by my predecessors—in terms of the greatest support for a specific candidate among members of the Knesset, and in terms of the largest party in the Knesset, and of course in terms of the central consideration, of who is the member of Knesset who has the greatest chance of forming the next government—the result was clear, and the task of forming a government must be assigned to Benjamin Netanyahu MK.

"I am not oblivious, of course, to the fact that there are ongoing legal proceedings against Mr. Netanyahu MK at the Jerusalem District Court, and I do not trivialize this at all. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the Supreme Court has already expressed itself clearly on the matter of pending indictments against a member of Knesset nominated for the role of forming a government, in a number of rulings, including with an expanded panel of eleven justices, when the task of forming a government was assigned to Mr. Netanyahu MK by my predecessor, President Reuven Rivlin.

"In light of all this, having considered the facts in accordance with the law, and after you gave your consent to this, as required by law, I have decided to assign to you, Benjamin Netanyahu MK, the task of forming a government.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the weighty responsibility that rests on the shoulders of the Government of Israel, and especially on the person who heads it, is among the greatest and most complicated in the world. Israel's citizens require a stable and functioning government. A government that serves all citizens of Israel, both those who supported and voted for it and those who opposed its establishment; a government that works on behalf of and for the sake of all shades of the Israeli mosaic, from all communities, sectors, faiths, religions, lifestyles, beliefs, and values, and that treats them all with sensitivity and responsibility. The State of Israel requires a government that even if its composition does not reflect all worldviews and sections of the legislature, nevertheless knows to lead a process of connection and unification—between all parts of our people—and to conduct a responsible, cautious, open, frank, and attentive dialogue with the other branches of government.

"It is important that we remember: we, as a people, have no room for critical mistakes. Every government must behave with immense caution on matters of fateful importance for our existence, for the defense of our security, and for the preservation of our most fundamental contours as a Jewish and democratic state.

"Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu MK, as an experienced public servant, who has served in a plethora of senior roles in our country, including several terms as Prime Minister of Israel—you know well which most urgent issues and challenges are on the agenda, including threats both internal and external, alongside important opportunities.

"Therefore, the foremost task assigned to you, as he who must now form the government-designate and head it, is to lead a government and a coalition that will be conscious of the immense responsibility assigned to them, and to the fact that elections in Israel are not a zero-sum game.

"I hereby grant you the writ of appointment, and I wish you great success in your mission. Your success is the success of the entire people. Thank you."