{"id":3445,"date":"2026-10-28T17:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T12:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3445"},"modified":"2026-10-28T17:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T12:04:00","slug":"netanyahus-bloc-leads-election-but-falls-short-of-majority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3445","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu\u2019s bloc leads election, but falls short of majority"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Benjamin Netanyahu won the support of an unexpectedly clear majority of Israeli Jews in an election billed as a major turning \u200bpoint in his nation\u2019s history, apparently ensuring he will survive as prime minister at least in a caretaker role.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With around 70.7% of votes tallied<\/a> on Wednesday morning, Israeli media forecast Netanyahu\u2019s bloc of \u200cright-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties winning 54 seats in parliament, far surpassing 47 for the opposition bloc of rival Gadi Eisenkot.<\/p>\n

Parties representing Israelis of Arab descent would win 19 seats.<\/p>\n

The results could still change as counting continued, but a victory for Eisenkot appeared increasingly out of reach, as his bloc of anti-Netanyahu parties from centre-left to hard-right underperformed pre-election polls that forecast a tight race.<\/p>\n

While Netanyahu lost his bloc\u2019s majority in the 120-seat Knesset, as expected, opponents were left with no hope of unseating him without some form of backing \u200bfrom Arab parties, which many have ruled out.<\/p>\n

Even then, he would remain as caretaker during any coalition negotiations<\/a>, or until a new election next year.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Security fight sharpens<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Netanyahu, addressing his Likud party\u2019s faithful after 3 am at the party\u2019s election headquarters in Jerusalem, called for the formation of \u201ca strong, right-wing national government\u201d.<\/p>\n

He also highlighted Israel\u2019s military successes and raised the prospect of renewed \u2060joint military action against Iran<\/a> alongside his ally, US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael faces a singular historical opportunity, together with our partner President Trump, to remove the existential threat of Iran once and for all. But ulterior motives must not \u200bdivert us from this sacred mission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trump, who had called on Israeli voters to keep Netanyahu in power so they could \u201cfinish the job\u201d in Iran, said Netanyahu had done \u201cvery well\u201d thanks to his own endorsement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when the \u200bendorsement went out, it helped him a lot, but I actually heard he did pretty well. It might be winning or tie. The tie is sort of considered a win in that case because it\u2019s a big chess match,\u201d Trump said early on Wednesday at a campaign stop in Texas.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Eisenkot asks security chiefs to resist pressure<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Eisenkot acknowledged that Netanyahu was still in office as a caretaker, but said the prime minister had lost public support and urged him to retire from politics.<\/p>\n

He also issued a warning that \u200bNetanyahu might use security for political ends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI call on the heads of the security establishment and the civil service: Netanyahu is a caretaker prime minister, without a mandate or the people\u2019s trust,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember that you serve only \u200bthe state and the interests of Israel\u2019s citizens. Stand firm in the face of any attempt to challenge you. You have my unequivocal backing. Netanyahu, do not dare use Israel\u2019s security for your political needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The election was the first held in Israel \u200csince the October attacks that shattered the country\u2019s sense of security and plunged it into war in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.<\/p>\n

The war in Gaza<\/a>, which flattened the territory and killed 74,000 Palestinians, has left Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage, with a decisive shift in global public opinion against it, including in its closest ally the United States.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu himself is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on war crimes charges he calls absurd, and faces corruption charges in Israel that he dismisses as an establishment plot.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Decisive shift in Israeli politics<\/strong><\/h3>\n

His continued support from most Israeli Jews was a clear sign of the decisive shift in Israeli politics that he \u200bhas presided over as the dominant political figure of \u200bthe era.<\/p>\n

His brand of unapologetic Jewish nationalism, support for \u2060settlement on occupied Palestinian land and contempt for all foreign criticism is now firmly entrenched in the Israeli mainstream.<\/p>\n

The centre-left that dominated Israel for the first half of its history and had led negotiations to exchange land for peace with Arab neighbours has been reduced to a small fringe.<\/p>\n

Nearly all Jewish parties now share Netanyahu\u2019s rejection of any \u200beventual independent state for Palestinians, the basis of internationally endorsed peace talks since the 1990s, when he first came to power as Israel\u2019s youngest-ever leader.<\/p>\n

After a spell \u200bin the wilderness as a right-wing \u2060maverick, he returned to power in 2009 and has remained ever since, apart from a period of 18 months when a rickety coalition of opponents managed to lever him out after four inconclusive elections in two years.<\/p>\n

Both sides saw Tuesday\u2019s election as a decisive turning point for the nation, driving turnout to 77.7%, the highest in more than two decades and around 7 percentage points higher than in 2022.<\/p>\n

Turnout was particularly high among Israelis of Palestinian descent<\/a>, who make up more than a \u2060fifth of the \u200bpopulation but whose representatives have historically been excluded from the cabinet.<\/p>\n

Many were motivated by what they see as open racism from Netanyahu\u2019s \u200bcabinet, which includes a party leader convicted of inciting racial hatred against Arabs.<\/p>\n

The headquarters of the Joint List, an alliance of several Arab parties, burst into whistles and applause when exit polls were released.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe refuse the occupation and racism, and we will remain here,\u201d said Faten Gattas, a \u200bcandidate in the Joint List, in a speech at the alliance\u2019s headquarters in Nazareth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benjamin Netanyahu won the support of an unexpectedly clear majority of Israeli Jews in an election billed as a major turning \u200bpoint in his nation\u2019s history, apparently ensuring he will survive as prime minister at least in a caretaker role. With around 70.7% of votes tallied on Wednesday morning, Israeli media forecast Netanyahu\u2019s bloc of \u200cright-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties winning 54 seats in parliament, far surpassing 47 for the opposition bloc of rival Gadi Eisenkot. Parties representing Israelis of Arab descent would win 19 seats. The results could still…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}