Neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor his main opponent, Gadi Eisenkot, won a majority in Israel’s election Tuesday.
As of Thursday morning, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, alongside its religious and nationalist allies, are projected to secure 53 seats. Former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar, alongside its anti-Netanyahu allies, won 48 seats.
‘If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so.’
With 61 seats needed to govern, neither leader can govern without convincing smaller parties to defect. Both blocs have sworn off cooperation with the Arab-led Ra’am and Joint List, which nabbed 19 seats total.
Arab turnout hit roughly 80%, about 25% higher than 2022, according to Israeli business publication Globes.
Netanyahu released a statement Wednesday accusing the Arab parties of voter fraud.
“The elections in the State of Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state through serious criminal offenses of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries, and the use of prohibited software to mobilize voters,” Netanyahu said.
Overall turnout reached a 27-year high of 77.7% as of Thursday, according to the Central Elections Committee.
“There hasn’t been such a nationwide voter turnout since 1973,” committee Director-General Dean Livne said, according to the Times of Israel.
Though active-duty soldiers’ and diplomats’ ballots are still being counted, it is unlikely that the few remaining ballots will move the needle.
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Anyone hoping to replace Netanyahu “will, in fact, need to turn to us,” Arab Joint List Chairman Yousef Jabareen told Israeli radio Oct. 13. His conditions include a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines, JNS reported.
“An Eisenkot government is a government that is controlled in fact by Abbas and the Muslim Brotherhood,” one Likud ad warned, according to JNS.
Netanyahu posted advertisements on election day warning that Arab and Muslim turnout could drown the right-wing vote.
Though Israel is the subject of frequent global interest, especially with regard to the Gaza war and associated campaigns, these are not political fault lines in the country itself. Most major parties oppose a Palestinian state and believe the anti-terrorism campaign should continue.
Other controversial subjects dominated campaign season in the Jewish state. Whether the military draft exemption should be continued for the Haredi, also known as Ultra-Orthodox, is a major question on the ballot this election.
More than anything, the election is seen by many Israelis as a referendum on Netanyahu himself, who has served as prime minister on and off for nearly two decades.
President Donald Trump gave Netanyahu his full endorsement leading up to Election Day.
Trump called Netanyahu a “Great Warrior Prime Minister” on Truth Social Oct. 18 and tied future American action against Iran to his re-election.
“If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so,” Trump wrote.
DAN BALILTY/AFP/Getty Images
Trump promoted Netanyahu again just a week later and two days prior to polls opening.
“Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for Prime Minister, we have to finish the job that we started!” Trump posted Sunday. Netanyahu personally requested the second endorsement, Axios reported.
Netanyahu pushed for a joint strike on Iran before the vote, but Trump “did not give a green light,” CNN reported, citing U.S. and Israeli sources. The prime minister’s office called the report “fake news.”
Ultimately, Israeli President Isaac Herzog is responsible for selecting a prime minister.
Once results are certified Tuesday, Herzog will choose the candidate he believes has the best chance of forming a government. The Herzog-tapped politico then has 28 days, plus a possible 14-day extension, to form a ruling coalition. If no coalition is formed, Israelis will return to the polls with Netanyahu presiding over a caretaker government.
“I don’t think the president of the United States or anybody else can intervene in my discretion,” Herzog told MS NOW when asked about Trump’s endorsement..
Netanyahu remains on trial on corruption charges. Herzog “would not currently grant” his pardon request and offered to mediate plea talks instead, the Times of Israel reported in May.
Netanyahu, after 16 years in office, has a contingent of die-hard supporters.
“There’s no one who can replace Bibi,” said Zohar Hindi, a voter near Maale Levona, according to the Times of Israel.
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Benjamin netanyahu, Donald trump, Election, Politics, Prime minister, Voter fraud
