An election that was meant to decide Israel's direction has instead left its voters suspended between two unfinished answers. Netanyahu's camp has fallen from the commanding strength it once held, Eisenkot's bloc has come close without arriving, and neither has the sixty-one seats that would make a government. The new strength of Israel's Arab citizens, nearly one-sixth of the chamber, stands in plain view, yet the largest blocs have chosen to keep it at arm's length. What comes next depends on a president's consultations and on whether the arithmetic eventually proves stronger than the refusa
Israel's Final Results Leave Netanyahu and Rival Without a Clear Path to Government
Neither side reached the 61 seats needed to form a government.
Mark
Start with the basic problem. Why can't either side govern?
Mimi
Because the magic number is 61 and nobody has it. Netanyahu's bloc has 53, Eisenkot's has 48. Eisenkot's side is even closer than the gap suggests, given how tight the race was.
Mark
And the Arab parties hold 19 seats. That sounds decisive.
Mimi
It would be, except both blocs have ruled out working with Ra'am and the Joint List. So they're potential kingmakers on paper, but nobody has invited them in.
Luke
Worth being careful there. The report says they're potential kingmakers. It doesn't say any deal is being discussed, and both leaders said no before the vote.
Mark
Turnout was a record among Palestinian citizens of Israel. What was driving that?
Mimi
The report says many voters hoped to oust Netanyahu and far-right figures like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. That's a description of hopes, not a survey of motives.
Luke
Right, and the report doesn't give a turnout figure, so "record" is the claim and we can't size it.
Mark
What about the Qatar allegations?
Mimi
Netanyahu's side referred Arab parties to the Shin Bet. Qatar denied it, Abbas said Ra'am had no connection and wanted a full investigation, and the elections committee's Dean Livne said there was no basis for claims of systematic violations of electoral integrity.
Luke
Note what's unresolved. We don't know the outcome of any Shin Bet inquiry. What we have is allegations, denials, and one official saying there's no basis for the broader integrity claims.
Mark
So what happens next?
Mimi
Certification, then results go to President Herzog next Wednesday. He consults party chairs and picks whoever he thinks can form a government.
Luke
And that's a judgment call, not a guarantee. Being picked doesn't mean getting to 61.
El Pulso
- Netanyahu's bloc has slipped from 68 seats to 53, and the country is left staring at a Knesset that cannot yet form a government.
- Eisenkot's 48 seats sit just short of the 61 needed, turning a tight race into a deadlock with no clear winner.
- Arab parties have won 19 seats on record Palestinian Israeli turnout, making them potential kingmakers that both main blocs publicly refuse to court.
- Accusations of foreign interference and a Shin Bet referral have heated the campaign, though the Central Elections Committee found no basis for claims of systematic violations.
- President Herzog will receive certified results next Wednesday and choose a candidate to attempt forming a government, with the outcome still wide open.
An election that was meant to decide Israel's direction has instead left its voters suspended between two unfinished answers. Netanyahu's camp has fallen from the commanding strength it once held, Eisenkot's bloc has come close without arriving, and neither has the sixty-one seats that would make a government. The new strength of Israel's Arab citizens, nearly one-sixth of the chamber, stands in plain view, yet the largest blocs have chosen to keep it at arm's length. What comes next depends on a president's consultations and on whether the arithmetic eventually proves stronger than the refusals.
The count is finished, and it has settled very little. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc won 53 of the 120 Knesset seats, a steep fall from the 68 it held at its peak. Gadi Eisenkot's bloc took 48 in a race that stayed close to the end. Neither side reached the 61 seats needed to govern.
The next steps are formal but consequential. Results must be certified and sent to President Isaac Herzog next Wednesday, after which he will consult party leaders and select the candidate he judges most likely to build a coalition.
The figure drawing the most attention is 19. Parties led by Israel's Arab minority won that many seats combined, a historic gain, as Palestinian citizens turned out in record numbers, many hoping to unseat Netanyahu and his far-right partners. Yet that strength has not yet translated into influence, since both leading blocs have ruled out governing with the two main Arab parties, Ra'am and the Joint List.
The campaign was bitter on this front. Netanyahu and allies amplified claims of foreign interference and referred Arab parties to the Shin Bet over alleged Qatari involvement. Qatar denied the allegations, Ra'am's Mansour Abbas rejected any link and accused Netanyahu of incitement against Arab citizens, and the Central Elections Committee found no basis for claims of systematic violations.
Some voices pushed against the exclusion. Yair Golan of the Democrats called for a government formed in partnership with the Arab parties, rejecting what he called Netanyahu's racist division between Jewish and Arab votes. For many Palestinian citizens of Israel, descendants of those who remained after 1948, that division is not new, and the question of their place in national politics is once again unavoidable.
What to watch now is Herzog's consultation after certification, and whether the refusals of both blocs hold once the numbers 53, 48 and 19 force their way into the negotiations.
The count is finished, and it settles very little. In Israel's election on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc took 53 of the 120 seats in the Knesset. That is far below the 68 the same camp held at its peak in the previous parliament. The bloc backing his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, won 48 seats in an extremely tight race. Neither side reached the 61 seats needed to form a government.
The formal steps are still ahead. The results must be certified and submitted to President Isaac Herzog next Wednesday. Herzog will then consult with the chairs of the parties and choose the candidate he believes has the best chance of putting together a government.
The number drawing the most attention is 19. Parties led by Israel's Arab minority won that many seats combined, a historic gain, in an election where Palestinians with Israeli citizenship turned out in record numbers. Many of those voters were hoping to remove Netanyahu and far-right members of his coalition, among them Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
That strength does not translate into a clear role. Both leading blocs have ruled out forming a government with the two main Arab parties, Ra'am and the Joint List. Even so, the parties' position as potential kingmakers has put the realities facing Palestinian citizens of Israel back in focus.
The campaign leading up to the vote was sharp on this front. Netanyahu and other members of his coalition amplified allegations of foreign election interference and referred Arab parties to the Shin Bet, the domestic security service, for investigation over alleged Qatari intervention. Qatar denied the allegations. Mansour Abbas, head of Ra'am, said his party had "no connection" to such conduct and called for a full investigation. He also accused Netanyahu of running a "campaign of incitement and delegitimization" against Arab citizens.
An official body has weighed in as well. Dean Livne, acting director general of Israel's Central Elections Committee, wrote in a published letter to a member of parliament that there was "no basis for allegations of systematic violations of electoral integrity."
Before the vote, both Netanyahu and Eisenkot had said they would not govern with the Arab parties. Yair Golan, head of the smaller left-wing Democrats party, took a different line. He called for a government formed "in partnership" with Arab parties, writing on X on Wednesday: "We must no longer accept Netanyahu's racist division between Jewish votes and Arab votes."
Most Palestinians with Israeli citizenship are descendants of those who stayed within what became Israel during the war that led to the country's founding in 1948. At that time, hundreds of thousands of other Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes.
What to watch now is Herzog's consultations after certification next Wednesday, and whether either bloc's refusal to deal with the Arab parties holds once the arithmetic of 53, 48 and 19 sinks in.
Citas Notables
We must no longer accept Netanyahu's racist division between Jewish votes and Arab votes.— Yair Golan, head of the Democrats party, on X
There was no basis for allegations of systematic violations of electoral integrity.— Dean Livne, acting director general of Israel's Central Elections Committee
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