Netanyahu’s bloc loses majority in Israeli parliament

TOUGH TIMES: While Netanyahu remains in charge, opposition parities face difficult decisions on whether to partner with him or Arab-led groups

Israel’s final election results confirmed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc lost its parliamentary majority and that weeks of difficult negotiations among very different parties, from ultra-Orthodox Jewish to secular to Arab-led, lie ahead.

The results released early yesterday showed Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats in Tuesday’s election. The main opposition bloc won 48. Arab-led parties secured the other 19, a historic showing. Now parties must meet, bargain and seek a way to team up for at least 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, remains in charge.

Israeli settlers gather next to members of Israeli forces as Palestinians are prevented from continuing their olive harvest in the West Bank village of Kafr Malik yesterday.

Photo: AP

“Now comes the truly hard part,” centrist politician Yair Lapid said on X, urging patience and adding: “If you want to know if something’s happening behind the silence you’re hearing now, the answer is yes.”

Difficult decisions lie ahead. Will the main opposition parties that campaigned hard to unseat the divisive Netanyahu make the politically sensitive choice to partner with Arab-led ones? Or will they toss their vows aside to team up with Netanyahu in a potentially fractious unity government?

Much of Israel yesterday started winding down for Shabbat, and it was not clear who might be meeting with whom. Israelis debated possible coalitions and challenges, as some expressed traditional wariness around Arab parties and others insisted it was time for Israel to take a deep breath and embrace them.

“There are options for all of this, not like in the United States, where there are only two parties,” said Beny Engalrd, a resident of Tel Aviv.

The election results still need to be certified and submitted to the president on Wednesday, then Israeli President Isaac Herzog would task someone with forming the new government. That could be the leader of the party that received the most votes — Netanyahu — or whoever leaders of the various parties believe is best suited.

If multiple attempts to form a government fail, Israel faces a new election early next year. Herzog this week said he would do everything in his power to avoid that scenario.

In the hours before final results were announced, Netanyahu and his Likud party amplified unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had “stolen” the election, potentially with foreign assistance.

The opposition accused Netanyahu of demonizing the Arab population, which makes up 20 percent of the population and showed up at the polls like never before in outrage over Netanyahu’s far-right allies such as Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir. His party lost seats.

In Netanyahu’s first public comment yesterday, he posted on X asserting it is forbidden to form a coalition with Arab parties.

The head of Israel’s election committee, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, had said “serious suspicions” of foreign interference had been brought before him. In a letter to the Shin Bet security agency, Sohlberg said he could not verify the claims, but asked the agency to investigate.

Israeli media reported that members of Netanyahu’s party were accusing Qatar of involvement — a country that many Israelis view as a patron of Hamas. Qatar issued a denial, calling the allegations “ridiculous and dangerous.”

As it announced results, the election committee said the investigation was based on classified intelligence. Acting Central Elections Committee Director General Dean Livne did not elaborate, but warned that reports about the investigation had been “entirely unfounded.”

“It does not affect the final results that will be submitted to the president, nor does it concern any particular sector of the population,” he said.