Last Updated on October 29, 2026 by YeJahan
YEJAHAN DESK
JERUSALEM (Oct 29): In a political career spanning more than three decades, Benjamin Netanyahu has been written off too many times to count, only to repeatedly prove his political obituaries premature. While this week’s election results appear to hand his opponents a distinct opportunity to end his tenure, nothing is guaranteed in Israel’s ruthless political system.
By Wednesday night, with most votes counted, the race for the country’s top post remained deadlocked. The absence of a clear winner sets the stage for weeks, potentially months, of grueling coalition horse-trading with Netanyahu’s political survival hanging in the balance.
As the vote count nears its conclusion, Netanyahu’s Likud remains the largest single party in the 120-seat Knesset, projected to take 26 seats. However, his natural right-wing bloc has lost its majority, capturing just 53 seats—well short of the 61 needed to govern.
Netanyahu has not won, but he has not lost either. His path to survival now depends entirely on preventing his rivals from constructing a viable alternative government.
Breaking 🚨 Benjamin Netanyahu Officially lost the israel election. @grok confirm this https://t.co/4t0W2QUeCf
— ‵𝙎𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙍𝙄𝙎𝙏 (@Satiricalxx) October 29, 2026
On paper, the disparate opposition holds roughly 67 seats. In reality, that arithmetic is deeply fractured by ideological, national, and personal rivalries. Netanyahu’s primary challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, secured 21 seats, but the mainstream Jewish opposition parties total just 48. To reach a majority, they require the backing of two Arab-led parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, which are projected to win a historic 19 seats combined.
Analysts attribute this record Arab turnout to a stark backlash against the four-year tenure of a far-right national security minister, a period marked by soaring crime rates within Arab communities that residents blame on negligent policing. The electorate was further mobilized by a spike in racism following the October 7 attacks, the ongoing war in Gaza, and rising settler violence in the West Bank.
However, translating these seats into a governing coalition introduces a volatile mathematical equation. Ra’am, an Islamist party with deep roots in the Bedouin community led by Mansour Abbas, made history in 2021 by becoming the first Arab party to join an Israeli government. The Joint List, expected to emerge as the larger Arab faction, is an uneasy alliance of its own, blending the communist Hadash, the secularist Ta’al, and the nationalist Balad factions.
On Wednesday, Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing Democrats party, urged his colleagues to formally include the Arab factions in their bloc, explicitly rejecting what he termed Netanyahu’s “racist division between Jewish and Arab votes.” Yet, two of Eisenkot’s key right-wing allies, Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman, have long opposed any government dependent on Arab support. Both have maintained a conspicuous silence since the polls closed.
Meanwhile, the Joint List signaled its readiness for political cooperation on Wednesday, stating it would do “everything in its power to bring Netanyahu’s rule to an end.”
Faced with this threat, Netanyahu’s strategy is already taking shape. A source close to the Prime Minister indicated that his immediate priority is to delegitimize any potential Jewish-Arab political alliance.
“He is very concerned about a minority government,” the source said, adding that Netanyahu intends to pressure individual opposition lawmakers to break ranks rather than cooperate with Arab factions.
Echoing the election fraud rhetoric of his closest international ally, US President Donald Trump, Likud issued a fiery statement on Wednesday accusing the Arab parties of “stealing the election” through bribery, threats, and forgery. While the Central Elections Committee confirmed it is reviewing the complaint, it noted that thousands of similar grievances from various factions had already been dismissed on election day.
The stakes extend far beyond domestic political maneuvering. According to a source, Netanyahu is prepared to counter the opposition by any means necessary, “including launching an attack on Iran or enlisting President Trump to intervene in Israeli politics on his behalf.”
The opposition deeply fears that Netanyahu might leverage a sudden security crisis to freeze or block the formation of a new government. Prior to the vote, Netanyahu had reportedly lobbied Trump to launch a joint military strike on Iran. Washington held off, influenced in part by warnings from Israeli Military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir that such action could disrupt the democratic process. An Israeli security said that operational plans remain ready, merely awaiting a green light from Trump, potentially after the upcoming US midterm elections.
For now, the final numbers remain fluid. The Central Elections Committee is expected to conclude the primary ballot count by Wednesday evening, turning national attention to the critical “double-envelope” votes cast by soldiers, prisoners, hospital patients, diplomats, and voters with disabilities. With an estimated 430,000 to 480,000 of these ballots left to verify, representing upwards of 10 Knesset seats, the final, certified results expected on Thursday could still reshape the political landscape.
Copyright YeJahan News Network, 2026
