TEL AVIV – With a majority of the votes counted on Wednesday morning, there was still no clear winner in Israel's pivotal parliamentary election, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was leading his main opposition rival, Gadi Eisenkot in the official tally. However, the various opposition groups as a whole, including a significant showing by two Arab-led factions, had more votes overall than Netanyahu's right-wing bloc of parties – indicating Israelis had turned out in their numbers to express their dissatisfaction with his government. Overnight Tuesday both leaders addressed supporters and hailed their early results, somewhat prematurely, each suggesting they had triumphed.
The public has voted for change," said Eisenkot, a center-right former military chief of staff who has promised more diplomacy and less extremism. Netanyahu told supporters, "The right-wing bloc has a clear, decisive majority among the Zionist public." But such a tight race means there could now be weeks of political gridlock. The winning party needs a coalition of 61 lawmakers in the 120-seat Israeli parliament, or Knesset, in order to form a government.
The final results will depend on the math and negotiations among broader alliances. Arab voters make up about 20% of Israel's population, and two Arab-led parties – the socially conservative United Arab List, or Raam, and the left-wing Joint List – could be kingmakers, except that both Netanyahu and Eisenkot and his allies have resisted partnering with them. According to election officials, Israeli voter turnout on Tuesday was at more than 77%, the highest in more than two decades.
Tens of thousands of expatriates flew in from abroad to cast their ballots in the first election since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack and the war in Gaza. Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving prime minister, with almost two decades in office across multiple tenures, but Israelis are divided over his leadership. Many question Netanyahu's ability to keep them safe after the Hamas attack, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Nearly 1,200 people were killed when Hamas attacked army bases, residential communities and an outdoor music rave — and 251 people were taken hostage back to Gaza. Israelis have been reeling from reports that the government had received repeated warnings from countries in the region that Hamas was planning a major assault on Israel. What happened in return was an Israeli military onslaught that has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, and left most of Gaza destroyed.
Today, Israel is fighting back against charges of genocide while Netanyahu faces an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes. Israel's wars in Gaza and the region, and its policies in the occupied West Bank, have badly strained its relations with many international governments. Public support for Israel in the United States has plummeted, worrying many Israeli voters.
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