Vote counting is complete in Israel’s elections with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition winning a majority in parliament, Israeli media have said.
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media → win → parliament
As the provisional results were being published on Thursday, opposition politicians met to explore options for a coalition.
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politicians → publish → coalition
With more than 99 percent of Tuesday’s ballots tallied, Netanyahu’s bloc held 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset while the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot secured 48 seats, Israeli outlet Haaretz reported.
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bloc → tally → Haaretz
The Arab list parties, meanwhile, held a combined 19 seats, it added.
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it → hold → seats
Both Netanyahu’s bloc and the opposition parties fell short of securing the 61 seats required for a parliamentary majority.
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bloc → fall → majority
The final results of the Knesset elections will be certified and announced by Wednesday.
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results → certify → Wednesday
Tuesday’s elections – the first since the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel and the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza – were widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s premiership.
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elections → see → premiership
On Thursday, Eisenkot, who heads the Yashar party, met former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who leads the Together party, to discuss ways to form a new government “as quickly as possible”, according to a statement reported by Israel’s Ynet News outlet.
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who → head → outlet
Eisenkot also met Democrats party chairman Yair Golan, the only member of the opposition alliance to support forming a coalition with parties led by Palestinian citizens of Israel, while all other political groups have rejected any such union.
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groups → meet → union
Golan met separately with Mansour Abbas, who leads the United Arab list, or Ra’am, which is projected to win seven of the 19 Arab party seats.
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which → meet → seats
Our responsibility is not to miss the opportunity for change and the salvation of Israel,” Golan said in a post on X after his meeting with Abbas.
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Golan → miss → Abbas
Al Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh noted that “Eisenkot has an uphill battle ahead of him.”
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Eisenkot → note → him
The former military leader-turned-politician has pledged “not to ally himself or get into a partnership with the Palestinian Israeli parties”, Odeh said, reporting from the occupied West Bank because Al Jazeera is banned from Israel.
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Jazeera → turn → Israel
But given the fact that no political bloc has a majority, the Eisenkot-led opposition bloc cannot form a governing coalition without the support of Arab-led parties, she added.
Netanyahu ‘using state institutions for his personal needs’
Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s Likud party has continued to amplify unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had “stolen” the election, potentially with foreign assistance – claims that have been rejected.
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that → give → assistance
The head of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, said “serious suspicions” of foreign interference had been brought to him in a letter to the Shin Bet security agency.
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suspicions → say → agency
Sohlberg said he could not verify the claims, but given their serious nature, he asked the agency to investigate.
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he → say → agency
Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of working to delegitimise the election results with his allegations.
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Eisenkot → accuse → allegations
In a video posted on his X account, Eisenkot said: “The days of Netanyahu using state institutions against Israeli interests for his personal needs are over,” adding that no “spin” can change voters rejecting his government at the polls.
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spin → post → polls
“Benjamin Netanyahu is not satisfied with the results, no matter how much he has been saying that he won,” political analyst Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera.
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Eid → say → Jazeera
He added that while it seems unlikely the opposition could take advantage by overcoming differences with the Arab-led groups, there could be an understanding to replace the current speaker of the Knesset, who is close to Netanyahu.
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who → add → Netanyahu
“If there is a new speaker in the Knesset, … Netanyahu loses an important ally,” Abu Eid said, adding that this might give an opening for the opposition to “actually start passing legislation” against him.
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opposition → be → him
Odeh said the next steps would involve negotiations between political groups after the Central Elections Committee announces and certifies the election results by Wednesday.
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Committee → say → Wednesday
The Aporia
