A confident and upbeat Netanyahu struck a near-triumphant tone when he addressed supporters at the Likud party’s headquarters in Jerusalem in the early hours of Wednesday. Likud was “the largest party” in the elections, he proclaimed, listing Israel’s military achievements since the October 7 terror attacks three years ago and calling on his rivals to now rally behind him. Read moreLiveblog: Arab opposition calls for 'Jewish-Arab' partnership to oust Netanyahu “We must establish a strong, right-wing, nationalist government,” he said, almost acting as if he had already been handed the mandate to stay on as prime minister.
But the vote-count was far from over, and Netanyahu was not the only one vowing to form a government. In Tel Aviv, the incumbent’s main opponent – former general Eisenkot – declared victory for “Israel’s Zionist national majority”. Watch more'No clear winner' from Israeli election, expert says Yet neither of the two frontrunners were en route for a parliamentary majority, or the 61 of 120 seats needed to take control of the Knesset.
With over 85 percent of the votes counted, Netanyahu and his allies hovered around the 53 percent mark while Eisenkot’s “Change” bloc was just under 50. Instead, the biggest upset of the election came from an unexpected corner: Israel’s Arab parties, the Joint List and Ra’am (the United Arab List). Thanks to the highest voter turnout in almost three decades – more than 77 percent – they are currently projected to send some 19 lawmakers to parliament.
In 2022 – the last election held in Israel before the October 7 attacks – the Arab bloc won just 10 seats. Read moreIsraeli settlers attack European delegation convoy in West Bank, beat French mayor Netanyahu appeared worried that the Arab parties’ successes could potentially pose him problems, and sent out a stark warning to Eisenkot in case he considered working with them. But for Eisenkot, it could be anything but easy to join forces with the Arab parties – not least because it could alienate Jewish voters, especially on the right, by doing so.
It’s much more complicated than that.” Another option, she said, could be for Eisenkot to form a minority government, relying on the Arab parties’ support in parliament rather than bringing them into his coalition. But that too would require delicate negotiations, she said, and an agreement on a common political programme, “potentially including the end of the occupation” of the West Bank – an extremely sensitive matter in Israel. While the moderate islamist Ra’am, which was in coalition with Naftali Bennet’s coalition in 2021, has signalled it could potentially work with Eisenkot, talks with Joint List, an alliance of Arab nationalist and left-wing parties, could prove much more difficult.
This is because Eisenkot has laid down four conditions for cooperation: recognising Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, accepting the principles of its declaration of independence, extending conscription also to Palestinian citizens of Israel and denouncing Hamas as a terrorist group. On election night, Amjad Shbita, the head of the biggest party in the Joint List coalition, said Eisenkot was in no position to try to dictate the terms of a potential cooperation. Yair Golan, the head of Israel’s main left-wing party, was first out.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
