Israel Election Yields No Majority as Arab Parties Gain Influence

Israeli voters woke on Wednesday to an unsettled political landscape, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor former military chief Gadi Eisenkot securing the 61 Knesset seats needed for a governing majority. Netanyahu remains in office as a caretaker, and weeks of coalition negotiations must now take place to determine who will lead the country.

With 60% of the ballots counted, Netanyahu's Likud party held 21.4% of the vote compared to 16.2% for Eisenkot's Yashar, according to official data released by Israel's Central Elections Committee. Exit polls released by major television stations and revised overnight indicated that neither political bloc reached the threshold for a majority. No single party has ever won a majority in Israeli elections; voters select parties that subsequently form alliances to build a coalition.

The count has shifted attention to the role of President Isaac Herzog, whose duties are largely ceremonial until an election concludes. Herzog must soon designate the person he believes is best positioned to form a government. That individual is typically the leader of the party receiving the most votes, though Herzog is not required to choose Netanyahu even if Likud remains the largest party.

Arab-led parties recorded a strong showing and could determine the outcome if the two main blocs remain tied. An analysis published by Haaretz examined the consequences for Arab citizens who participated in a political system that the report described as striving to exclude them, stating that such a result bodes poorly for the future of the bloc that styles itself as democratic. Netanyahu, speaking to supporters in Jerusalem past 3 a.m. on Wednesday, said no government should be formed that relies on Arab parties.

Netanyahu stated that exit polls indicated Likud would be the largest party in the next parliament and pledged to finish the job against Iran's regime. Eisenkot, addressing supporters in Tel Aviv early on Wednesday, said the people decided in favor of change and promised a new era. U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews that he heard Netanyahu did very well but cautioned that it was a little bit early, adding that he had not spoken with Netanyahu about the results.

The military reported that turnout among its personnel reached 79.9%, up by more than six percentage points from the previous election, with hundreds of thousands of military votes still uncounted. Separately, Serbian police said a guard shot and killed a minor attacker armed with two knives outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade early on Wednesday; Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said police are treating the incident as a terrorist attack.