Netanyahu and Eisenkot blocs fall short of 61 seats in Israel
With 70% of votes counted, neither Jewish bloc has the majority, forcing a choice between a pact with Arab parties or a new election.
By Malik Salazar ·
Benjamin Netanyahu has lost his governing majority in Israel, leaving the nation's political future in a state of flux until the final ballots are tallied.
As of Wednesday morning, with 70% of the vote counted, neither the prime minister's coalition nor the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot has secured the 61 Knesset seats required to form a government. Absentee ballots, primarily from deployed soldiers, remain uncounted. These votes usually swing right, but the presence of older, moderate reservists on active duty may complicate that trend. The Joint List and Ra'am, two Palestinian parties, are on track for a record result of 16 to 19 seats.
Gadi Eisenkot, the retired general leading the opposition, declared victory overnight for a Zionist majority. However, his stance appears to rule out a broad coalition with Arab Israeli parties. Yair Golan, leader of the center-left Democrats in Eisenkot's bloc, urged a different approach. He posted on X that the opposition must stop being afraid and end racism to prevent Netanyahu from distinguishing between Jewish and Arab votes. Yousef Jabareen, leader of the Joint List, stated his party can no longer be ignored in any political scenario. He said the current government has made life bitter for Arab citizens and pledged to pave the way to oust the administration of Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Bezalel Smotrich.
Donald Trump claimed credit for Netanyahu's stronger than expected performance, stating that his endorsement helped the prime minister significantly. Trump suggested the result was heading toward a stalemate or a Netanyahu win. Noa Landau, a political commentator, argued that Eisenkot fell into a trap by using Zionism as the test for coalition partners, a standard Netanyahu did not apply to his own non-Zionist allies.
The stakes involve a potential political deadlock that could lead to new elections or a unity government. President Isaac Herzog will have six weeks to assign the task of forming a government to one of the party leaders. If the first choice fails, the opportunity passes to the rival. Netanyahu will remain in office in a caretaker capacity until a new majority is established. Tens of thousands of diaspora Israelis who returned to vote on Tuesday were largely opposed to the governing coalition and may not return for another vote.
The election took place on Tuesday with a 77.7% turnout, the highest since 1999. The vote occurred while Israel faces accusations of genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. Netanyahu, who has governed for 19 of the past 30 years, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. Since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians in Gaza, fought Hezbollah in Lebanon, occupied new territory in Syria, and launched a war against Iran alongside the United States.
