Benjamin Netanyahu has been given another innings at the crease; and yet it will be open to question whether his tenure as Israel’s bornagain Prime Minister will be enduring.

That uncertainty in itself reaffirms the fragility of the electoral outcome, though the Likud party leader has been given the first chance by President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday.

The anxiety to form government to end the deadlock has turned out to be more compelling than the stability of the next government.

He has been given a month’s time to cobble together a coalition; but given the fractious nature of Israeli politics, a coalition of the willing in Jerusalem is easier contemplated than achieved.

Mr Rivlin’s underlying objective is to ensure a continued shift to the Right and thus offer a potential political lifeline to Mr. Netanyahu, who runs the risk of being indicted for corruption. His position, therefore, is as brittle as the electoral outcome.

His future in office is far from assured. And that just about sums up the overwhelming uncertainty in Israel today, not to forget the historical Palestinian restiveness.

He has 28 days to assemble a majority of at least 61 seats in the Knesset (Parliament) and as yet there is no reassuring signal. Not the least because the parties that have endorsed his bid for another term have won just 55 seats.

This is the second time Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving Prime Minister, has been given the chance to form a government in five months. He and his right-wing and ultra-Orthodox allies won a plurality in the previous election in April, but failed to assemble a majority coalition in its aftermath, leading to the second election this month. He has performed slightly worse this time, leaving the electorate wondering how he could possibly find a majority now that he couldn’t last time. From one election to another, his ratings have plummeted.

President Rivin has acknowledged the uncertainty, saying he was handing the mandate to form a government to Mr Netanyahu because his chances were greater than Mr Benny Gantz’s “at the moment.”

The leader of the centrist Blue and White Party won the endorsements of only 54 lawmakers, one short of Netanyahu’s total, but 10 of them are Arab lawmakers who have let it be known that they will not join a Gantz government.

Mr Rivlin had been pushing Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gantz to forge a broad unity government including both their parties, saying that was the will of the voters.

And on Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu said a unity government was the only way out of the political stalemate.

He has hit the bull’s eye with the remark that “neither of us can form a government other than with each other.” Maybe a unity government is essential “to achieve national reconciliation.”