| Israel general election today 07:31 - Oct 27 with 5351 views | GlasgowBlue |
Hoping Netanyahu gets beaten soundly. Too close to call in the polls. Record numbers of Israelis flying home to vote. The Israeli Arab voters could swing it against Netanyahu.
https://www.thejc.com/news/isr
If it’s a deadlock then he stays in power and out if jail just a little bit longer. |  |
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| Israel general election today on 19:59 - Oct 27 with 1282 views | ElderGrizzly |
Wonder if he will try and claim asylum in the USA like Bolsonaro has today if he loses. The ‘hard men’ are always the cowards
https://www.theguardian.com/wo |  | | |
| Israel general election today on 22:09 - Oct 27 with 1140 views | bluester |
| Israel general election today on 13:32 - Oct 27 by GlasgowBlue |
Yeah Likud withdrew their petition.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
I hope your friend gets there ok to cast their vote. [Post edited 27 Oct 13:34]
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Apologies, fat fingers! Actually meant to upvote you there. |  | | |
| Israel general election today on 23:05 - Oct 27 with 1079 views | pointofblue |
Looking at the exit polls, the Arab parties seem to hold the power in terms of a coalition. It's an exceptionally delicate time for Israeli politics but perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel. | |
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| Israel general election today on 23:26 - Oct 27 with 1048 views | GlasgowBlue |
| Israel general election today on 23:05 - Oct 27 by pointofblue |
Looking at the exit polls, the Arab parties seem to hold the power in terms of a coalition. It's an exceptionally delicate time for Israeli politics but perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel. |
None of the leading contenders will do a deal with the Arab parties it’s if will cost them support from their potential coalition partners. However, the Arab parties may offer an informal confidence and supply agreement to a minority government in order to keep Bibi out. | |
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| Israel general election today on 06:32 - Oct 28 with 934 views | TarragonaBlue |
| Israel general election today on 13:39 - Oct 27 by GlasgowBlue |
Meanwhile in "apartheid" Israel.
[Post edited 27 Oct 13:41]
|
No need for the inverted commas.
Meanwhile in apartheid Israel.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/lat |  | | |
| Israel general election today on 08:50 - Oct 28 with 819 views | DJR |
It's looking like Likud will be the largest party, and its coalition the largest bloc, but without a an overall majority.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
This would give Bibi six weeks to form a government, and whilst Yair Golan of the left wing Democrats has called on the opposition bloc to form a partnership with the Arab parties, I can't see that happening.
Of course, one outcome could be a further election, but I am inclined to think that Bibi will manage to enter into some sort of arrangement with one of the right wing members of the opposition bloc. [Post edited 28 Oct 8:51]
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| Israel general election today on 09:07 - Oct 28 with 786 views | DJR |
This is what Yair Golan said.
"There is one resounding lesson from the reality we face: we have no future here unless we stop being afraid. And unless we put an end to racism. We must no longer accept Netanyahu’s racist division between Jewish votes and Arab votes.
The vote of an Israeli citizen casting a ballot in Tira is worth exactly the same as the vote of an Israeli citizen casting a ballot in Givat Shmuel. Not less. Not approximately the same. Exactly the same.
Anyone who tries to erase the votes of Arab citizens is surrendering to Netanyahu and giving up on Israel.
I know how to count to 120 [the number of seats in parliament]. 65 is more than 55. That is how Israeli democracy works. Period.
We have a majority. We have a responsibility. And we have an opportunity to form a change government in partnership with Arab citizens of Israel—a government that serves all Israeli citizens." | | | |
| Israel general election today on 09:24 - Oct 28 with 755 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
| Israel general election today on 09:07 - Oct 28 by DJR |
This is what Yair Golan said.
"There is one resounding lesson from the reality we face: we have no future here unless we stop being afraid. And unless we put an end to racism. We must no longer accept Netanyahu’s racist division between Jewish votes and Arab votes.
The vote of an Israeli citizen casting a ballot in Tira is worth exactly the same as the vote of an Israeli citizen casting a ballot in Givat Shmuel. Not less. Not approximately the same. Exactly the same.
Anyone who tries to erase the votes of Arab citizens is surrendering to Netanyahu and giving up on Israel.
I know how to count to 120 [the number of seats in parliament]. 65 is more than 55. That is how Israeli democracy works. Period.
We have a majority. We have a responsibility. And we have an opportunity to form a change government in partnership with Arab citizens of Israel—a government that serves all Israeli citizens." |
Crazy woke leftist nonsense. |  |
| "They break our legs and tell us to be grateful when they offer us crutches." | | Poll: | What you watching. |
| |
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| Israel general election today on 09:36 - Oct 28 with 723 views | wrightsrightglove |
Apologies for the ‘X’ link but the below sums it up perfectly. First they denied any wrongdoing, then they denied genocide, now they’re denying apartheid, through any little loophole they can find. History will look back on them in disgust
| | | |
| Israel general election today on 13:04 - Oct 28 with 587 views | mellowblue |
| Israel general election today on 09:07 - Oct 28 by DJR |
This is what Yair Golan said.
"There is one resounding lesson from the reality we face: we have no future here unless we stop being afraid. And unless we put an end to racism. We must no longer accept Netanyahu’s racist division between Jewish votes and Arab votes.
The vote of an Israeli citizen casting a ballot in Tira is worth exactly the same as the vote of an Israeli citizen casting a ballot in Givat Shmuel. Not less. Not approximately the same. Exactly the same.
Anyone who tries to erase the votes of Arab citizens is surrendering to Netanyahu and giving up on Israel.
I know how to count to 120 [the number of seats in parliament]. 65 is more than 55. That is how Israeli democracy works. Period.
We have a majority. We have a responsibility. And we have an opportunity to form a change government in partnership with Arab citizens of Israel—a government that serves all Israeli citizens." |
sounds like a recipe for civil war. Like a left /Arab coalition is going to be allowed to happen. | | | |
| Israel general election today on 13:47 - Oct 28 with 529 views | DJR |
| Israel general election today on 13:04 - Oct 28 by mellowblue |
sounds like a recipe for civil war. Like a left /Arab coalition is going to be allowed to happen. |
I don't think it is going to happen not least because the leader of the main opposition party talked last night about a "Zionist mobilisation government" but Golan was actually proposing an anti-Netanyahu bloc/Arab coalition.
And interestingly, there is talk in the Israeli media about that bloc and the Arab parties coming together to oust the speaker of the Knesset who is a member of Likud. [Post edited 28 Oct 14:03]
| | | |
| Israel general election today on 16:31 - Oct 28 with 429 views | GlasgowBlue |
| Israel general election today on 13:04 - Oct 28 by mellowblue |
sounds like a recipe for civil war. Like a left /Arab coalition is going to be allowed to happen. |
Mansour Abbas's United Arab List were in a coalition government led by Naftali Bennett only five years ago.
There is about as much chance of a civil war happening in Israel because of the election result as there was in the UK in 2010.
There have been six general elections in the last seven years because each one has ended in stalemate. | |
| |
| Israel general election today on 16:35 - Oct 28 with 420 views | GlasgowBlue |
| Israel general election today on 13:47 - Oct 28 by DJR |
I don't think it is going to happen not least because the leader of the main opposition party talked last night about a "Zionist mobilisation government" but Golan was actually proposing an anti-Netanyahu bloc/Arab coalition.
And interestingly, there is talk in the Israeli media about that bloc and the Arab parties coming together to oust the speaker of the Knesset who is a member of Likud. [Post edited 28 Oct 14:03]
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As I said earlier, the Arab parties may offer an informal confidence and supply agreement to a minority government in order to keep Bibi out. | |
| |
| Israel general election today on 17:22 - Oct 28 with 366 views | DJR |
| Israel general election today on 16:35 - Oct 28 by GlasgowBlue |
As I said earlier, the Arab parties may offer an informal confidence and supply agreement to a minority government in order to keep Bibi out. |
This is a good analysis of the three options, and if I were a betting man, my money would be on a unity government but who knows?
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
As regards the first option, it is clear from the following that Netanyahu is upping the ante.
"Claiming yesterday’s election was “stolen” by Arab parties, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party demands an investigation by police and the Shin Bet into allegations of widespread voter fraud and intimidation.
“The elections in Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terror and the elimination of the Jewish state through serious criminal offenses of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries and the use of illegal software to mobilize voters,” insists the Likud party in a statement.
The allegations follow unprecedented turnout among Arab voters, with the Arab-led parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, projected to reach a historic combined high of 19 seats.
The accusations continue Likud’s efforts throughout the campaign to delegitimize Arab political parties, whose support could prove decisive in forming an opposition government. While Netanyahu’s bloc is projected to fall short of a majority despite Likud emerging as the largest party, the Jewish-led opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot could still form a government with Arab support. But some opposition parties have rejected that idea, and it is a prospect Likud has consistently sought to discredit." [Post edited 28 Oct 17:22]
| | | |
| Israel general election today on 17:40 - Oct 28 with 332 views | ElderGrizzly |
| Israel general election today on 17:22 - Oct 28 by DJR |
This is a good analysis of the three options, and if I were a betting man, my money would be on a unity government but who knows?
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
As regards the first option, it is clear from the following that Netanyahu is upping the ante.
"Claiming yesterday’s election was “stolen” by Arab parties, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party demands an investigation by police and the Shin Bet into allegations of widespread voter fraud and intimidation.
“The elections in Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terror and the elimination of the Jewish state through serious criminal offenses of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries and the use of illegal software to mobilize voters,” insists the Likud party in a statement.
The allegations follow unprecedented turnout among Arab voters, with the Arab-led parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, projected to reach a historic combined high of 19 seats.
The accusations continue Likud’s efforts throughout the campaign to delegitimize Arab political parties, whose support could prove decisive in forming an opposition government. While Netanyahu’s bloc is projected to fall short of a majority despite Likud emerging as the largest party, the Jewish-led opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot could still form a government with Arab support. But some opposition parties have rejected that idea, and it is a prospect Likud has consistently sought to discredit." [Post edited 28 Oct 17:22]
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Trump, Bolsonaro and Netanyahu all claim stolen elections with absolutely no evidence.
It’s why all three tried to suppress voting and all have been undone in the past by record turnouts.
Fascism doesn’t survive an engaged voting public | | | |
| Israel general election today on 17:46 - Oct 28 with 323 views | DJR |
Interesting take.
She goes on to say.
"The refusal to partner with Palestinian Arab parties is not just about losing chance to replace Netanyahu government- it also has real implications for Israel’s already flawed democracy, for basic civil rights and will encourage further destruction of liberal institutions." [Post edited 28 Oct 17:47]
| | | |
| Israel general election today on 17:46 - Oct 28 with 319 views | GlasgowBlue |
| Israel general election today on 17:22 - Oct 28 by DJR |
This is a good analysis of the three options, and if I were a betting man, my money would be on a unity government but who knows?
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
As regards the first option, it is clear from the following that Netanyahu is upping the ante.
"Claiming yesterday’s election was “stolen” by Arab parties, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party demands an investigation by police and the Shin Bet into allegations of widespread voter fraud and intimidation.
“The elections in Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terror and the elimination of the Jewish state through serious criminal offenses of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries and the use of illegal software to mobilize voters,” insists the Likud party in a statement.
The allegations follow unprecedented turnout among Arab voters, with the Arab-led parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, projected to reach a historic combined high of 19 seats.
The accusations continue Likud’s efforts throughout the campaign to delegitimize Arab political parties, whose support could prove decisive in forming an opposition government. While Netanyahu’s bloc is projected to fall short of a majority despite Likud emerging as the largest party, the Jewish-led opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot could still form a government with Arab support. But some opposition parties have rejected that idea, and it is a prospect Likud has consistently sought to discredit." [Post edited 28 Oct 17:22]
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This is a good assessment from Hen Mazzig
https://substack.com/home/post
Half of Israel Agrees
Netanyahu’s 53 is a headline. Eisenkot’s 48 is a consensus.
The morning-after headlines of Israel’s October 2026 election paint a familiar, superficial picture. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud has once again emerged as the largest single party. Even after the Hamas massacre on October 7th, a substantial portion of the Israeli electorate still sees Netanyahu as an experienced, competent leader despite the failures that occurred on his watch.
That’s why media outlets are reporting that he commands a 53-mandate “bloc,” or group of like-minded parties. They assume that, in addition to Likud, he will continue to lead a coalition of center-right, far-right, and ultra-Orthodox allies, as he has since 2022.
Yet, on closer inspection, this “Netanyahu bloc” is more an optical illusion than an ideological union. The 53-mandate number masks major fractures within the right. If there’s any clear takeaway from yesterday’s election, it’s that Israel’s true, cohesive ideological consensus has fundamentally shifted toward Gadi Eisenkot’s centerism, flanked by a historic resurgence of liberal and Arab political engagement.
Historically, Netanyahu’s “bloc” was built on fragile political necessity, rather than shared values. His partnership with the ultra-Orthodox parties, while a consistent pillar of his career, is a product of the raw political survivalism that is Netanyahu’s specialty. History proves that Netanyahu governs with the ultra-Orthodox when he must, but discards them when he can. As Finance Minister under Ariel Sharon, he ruthlessly passed sweeping economic measures that dismantled welfare systems and directly harmed ultra-Orthodox communities. More glaringly, from 2013 to 2014, he formed his 33rd government by excluding the ultra-Orthodox parties, choosing an alliance with Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett.
While Netanyahu’s current coalition remained the largest bloc, parties within it took a hit. Likud itself suffered the biggest reduction in mandates, from 32 in 2022 to 26 this year. Then there’s Shas, the Sephardic/Mizrahi ultra-Orthodox party. Yesterday, it fell from eleven seats in the Knesset to just seven. Their support fell to its lowest level since 1992.
Last week, I wrote about how Mizrahi Jewish voters like my father have a hard time turning their backs on Likud, under whose rule their lives in Israel have improved drastically. The same is true of Shas, which for decades relied on a blend of religious devotion and Mizrahi ethnic pride. But the trauma of a prolonged war has forced a reckoning over national burden-sharing. Votes are still being tallied, so it’s hard to draw firm conclusions. But I would wager that many traditional Shas and Likud voters instead chose parties that explicitly aim to solve the ultra-Orthodox enlistment crisis, rather than prolong it.
The panic within the right-wing camp on election day was palpable. Right-wing parties desperately petitioned the Central Elections Committee to extend voting hours to make up for plummeting turnout. They were flatly denied. In a telling Tuesday statement, Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri admitted, “I am very concerned about the apathy in the Haredi and right-wing strongholds. The high voter turnout in the strongholds of the Left and in the Arab sector is deeply worrying.”
An additional blow to the myth of the “unbreakable bloc” came this morning, when a Shas representative publicly declared that the party is open to joining an Eisenkot-led government.
Netanyahu’s bloc was always built on a contradiction: attempting to anchor a government with both the extreme right-wing who fight the wars and the ultra-Orthodox who refuse the draft. Early signs show that maintaining that contradictory bargain may now be untenable.
In contrast to the right’s transactional friction, the bloc forming around Eisenkot’s Yashar party represents a genuinely cohesive sector of Israeli public opinion. Long before election day, this unity was formalized through strategic vote-sharing agreements.
More importantly, it is bound by four explicit pillars Eisenkot laid out for entry into his government, creating a baseline that all constituent parties have embraced:
Israel is a Jewish, democratic state
Israel must remain committed to the principles of equality, justice, and the rule of law in its Declaration of Independence
Everyone must serve in the army or in national/civilian service
Hamas must be dismantled
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis, including myself and many of my close friends, spent weeks deliberating between the different parties within Eisenkot’s bloc, namely Yashar, Beyachad, and the left-center Democrats. We weren’t debating because we were confused about what we wanted. Quite the opposite. It was hard to know which to vote for, because these parties were aligned. For months, they worked in lockstep to unseat Netanyahu and solve the draft evasion issue. Voters recognized that whether they chose the centrist security focus of Eisenkot, the center-right pragmatism of Bennett, or the liberal values of Yair Golan, they were voting for the same core vision: a sane, patriotic, institutional restoration of the state.
To put it as simply as possible, it’s true that Likud got more seats than any other party, at 26. But just Yashar and Beyachad, which are aligned on most major issues, got 33 seats together.
This shared vision could yet be further strengthened by the historic resurgence of the liberal left and the Arab sectors. In 2022, the Israeli left hit rock bottom. Labor scraped by with a mere four seats, and Meretz vanished below the electoral threshold. This year, they merged into the Democrats, invested in a robust, democratic primary process, and actively validated the broader centrist consensus. It worked. They emerged with eight seats, restored to relevance.
The Arab sector achieved its highest voter turnout and best mandate results in Israeli history, with the Joint List and Ra’am capturing a combined 19 seats, by the current count. Ironically, the Arab parties owe a debt of gratitude to Itamar Ben-Gvir; his toxic, extremist rhetoric and his failures to keep their communities safe from crime drove Arab citizens to the ballot box.
Robust Arab participation in the democratic process is a good thing for Israel. Yet, as a progressive, gay Israeli, I cannot look at this historic Arab turnout without confronting a painful truth. Parties like Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am remain deeply socially conservative and stridently anti-LGBTQ+. Furthermore, Ra’am and the Joint List do not currently accept Eisenkot’s four foundational pillars, particularly regarding universal service and the explicitly Zionist frameworks of the state.
While purely mathematical coalition calculators on the nightly news like to lump the Arab parties into an anti-Netanyahu math equation, the ideological reality is far more complex. We cannot build a genuinely democratic front on a foundation that compromises the fundamental human rights of LGBTQ+ Israelis or rejects the basic duties of citizenship. For these parties to become legitimate partners for the next government, massive compromises will be required. As it stands, a direct ideological partnership is not yet feasible, even if arithmetic makes it tempting.
The electorate also sent a clear message by obliterating fringe, unaligned parties that refused to join the cohesive center. Ofer Winter’s Amcha Yisrael, despite placing the high-profile Arab-Zionist influencer Yoseph Haddad in its second slot, crashed below the threshold at just 1.61%. Similarly, Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha’s Reservists party, featuring Einat Wilf, ran out of steam at 2.62%. With voter turnout surging to a historic 77.7%, the electoral threshold of 3.25% proved insurmountable for those who failed to tap into the public’s desire for pragmatism.
The 53 mandates claimed by Netanyahu’s camp are a fragile math trick. The actual, living consensus of the Israeli majority stands firmly behind the vision of Gadi Eisenkot. The right-wing bloc is showing stress fractures from the weight of its own internal contradictions, while the center-left, liberal, and moderate right factions have modernized, consolidated, and found a shared platform.
This does not mean Netanyahu and his voters should be disenfranchised or exiled from public life; despite everything, Netanyahu still commands the loyalty of over a million Israelis. I flew over a thousand miles to vote against Netanyahu, and I would have traveled twice that far. But it’s also undeniable he still enjoys enormous support, and as a Mizrahi Israeli whose family has long voted Likud, I understand why.
The truth is, Netanyahu’s political modus operandi has always been focused on staying Prime Minister. He prefers working with small parties that don’t challenge his position at the top. But his worldview, and that of many pragmatic Likud voters, is much more liberal than that of his longtime coalition partners.
Based on yesterday’s vote, I do not believe Netanyahu earned the public support to serve as Prime Minister, but it is possible he will need to be included in the next ruling coalition to avoid even worse outcomes.
The path to healing and stabilizing post-October 7th Israel requires a broad unity government led by Eisenkot, where a historic, patriotic mandate finally marks a new era for Israeli politics. Netanyahu has spent seventeen years making sure Israel had no alternative. Yesterday, half the country voted for one anyway. | |
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| Israel general election today on 17:48 - Oct 28 with 314 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
| Israel general election today on 09:36 - Oct 28 by wrightsrightglove |
Apologies for the ‘X’ link but the below sums it up perfectly. First they denied any wrongdoing, then they denied genocide, now they’re denying apartheid, through any little loophole they can find. History will look back on them in disgust
|
I think you must be on 'ignore' too!! | |
| "They break our legs and tell us to be grateful when they offer us crutches." | | Poll: | What you watching. |
| |
| Israel general election today on 17:59 - Oct 28 with 299 views | wrightsrightglove |
| Israel general election today on 17:48 - Oct 28 by BanksterDebtSlave |
I think you must be on 'ignore' too!! |
God I hope so, I’ve got zero interest in engaging with someone like that, but every interest in taking the opportunity to publicly challenge their bs for others to see. | | | |
| Israel general election today on 18:04 - Oct 28 with 291 views | DJR |
| Israel general election today on 17:46 - Oct 28 by GlasgowBlue |
This is a good assessment from Hen Mazzig
https://substack.com/home/post
Half of Israel Agrees
Netanyahu’s 53 is a headline. Eisenkot’s 48 is a consensus.
The morning-after headlines of Israel’s October 2026 election paint a familiar, superficial picture. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud has once again emerged as the largest single party. Even after the Hamas massacre on October 7th, a substantial portion of the Israeli electorate still sees Netanyahu as an experienced, competent leader despite the failures that occurred on his watch.
That’s why media outlets are reporting that he commands a 53-mandate “bloc,” or group of like-minded parties. They assume that, in addition to Likud, he will continue to lead a coalition of center-right, far-right, and ultra-Orthodox allies, as he has since 2022.
Yet, on closer inspection, this “Netanyahu bloc” is more an optical illusion than an ideological union. The 53-mandate number masks major fractures within the right. If there’s any clear takeaway from yesterday’s election, it’s that Israel’s true, cohesive ideological consensus has fundamentally shifted toward Gadi Eisenkot’s centerism, flanked by a historic resurgence of liberal and Arab political engagement.
Historically, Netanyahu’s “bloc” was built on fragile political necessity, rather than shared values. His partnership with the ultra-Orthodox parties, while a consistent pillar of his career, is a product of the raw political survivalism that is Netanyahu’s specialty. History proves that Netanyahu governs with the ultra-Orthodox when he must, but discards them when he can. As Finance Minister under Ariel Sharon, he ruthlessly passed sweeping economic measures that dismantled welfare systems and directly harmed ultra-Orthodox communities. More glaringly, from 2013 to 2014, he formed his 33rd government by excluding the ultra-Orthodox parties, choosing an alliance with Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett.
While Netanyahu’s current coalition remained the largest bloc, parties within it took a hit. Likud itself suffered the biggest reduction in mandates, from 32 in 2022 to 26 this year. Then there’s Shas, the Sephardic/Mizrahi ultra-Orthodox party. Yesterday, it fell from eleven seats in the Knesset to just seven. Their support fell to its lowest level since 1992.
Last week, I wrote about how Mizrahi Jewish voters like my father have a hard time turning their backs on Likud, under whose rule their lives in Israel have improved drastically. The same is true of Shas, which for decades relied on a blend of religious devotion and Mizrahi ethnic pride. But the trauma of a prolonged war has forced a reckoning over national burden-sharing. Votes are still being tallied, so it’s hard to draw firm conclusions. But I would wager that many traditional Shas and Likud voters instead chose parties that explicitly aim to solve the ultra-Orthodox enlistment crisis, rather than prolong it.
The panic within the right-wing camp on election day was palpable. Right-wing parties desperately petitioned the Central Elections Committee to extend voting hours to make up for plummeting turnout. They were flatly denied. In a telling Tuesday statement, Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri admitted, “I am very concerned about the apathy in the Haredi and right-wing strongholds. The high voter turnout in the strongholds of the Left and in the Arab sector is deeply worrying.”
An additional blow to the myth of the “unbreakable bloc” came this morning, when a Shas representative publicly declared that the party is open to joining an Eisenkot-led government.
Netanyahu’s bloc was always built on a contradiction: attempting to anchor a government with both the extreme right-wing who fight the wars and the ultra-Orthodox who refuse the draft. Early signs show that maintaining that contradictory bargain may now be untenable.
In contrast to the right’s transactional friction, the bloc forming around Eisenkot’s Yashar party represents a genuinely cohesive sector of Israeli public opinion. Long before election day, this unity was formalized through strategic vote-sharing agreements.
More importantly, it is bound by four explicit pillars Eisenkot laid out for entry into his government, creating a baseline that all constituent parties have embraced:
Israel is a Jewish, democratic state
Israel must remain committed to the principles of equality, justice, and the rule of law in its Declaration of Independence
Everyone must serve in the army or in national/civilian service
Hamas must be dismantled
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis, including myself and many of my close friends, spent weeks deliberating between the different parties within Eisenkot’s bloc, namely Yashar, Beyachad, and the left-center Democrats. We weren’t debating because we were confused about what we wanted. Quite the opposite. It was hard to know which to vote for, because these parties were aligned. For months, they worked in lockstep to unseat Netanyahu and solve the draft evasion issue. Voters recognized that whether they chose the centrist security focus of Eisenkot, the center-right pragmatism of Bennett, or the liberal values of Yair Golan, they were voting for the same core vision: a sane, patriotic, institutional restoration of the state.
To put it as simply as possible, it’s true that Likud got more seats than any other party, at 26. But just Yashar and Beyachad, which are aligned on most major issues, got 33 seats together.
This shared vision could yet be further strengthened by the historic resurgence of the liberal left and the Arab sectors. In 2022, the Israeli left hit rock bottom. Labor scraped by with a mere four seats, and Meretz vanished below the electoral threshold. This year, they merged into the Democrats, invested in a robust, democratic primary process, and actively validated the broader centrist consensus. It worked. They emerged with eight seats, restored to relevance.
The Arab sector achieved its highest voter turnout and best mandate results in Israeli history, with the Joint List and Ra’am capturing a combined 19 seats, by the current count. Ironically, the Arab parties owe a debt of gratitude to Itamar Ben-Gvir; his toxic, extremist rhetoric and his failures to keep their communities safe from crime drove Arab citizens to the ballot box.
Robust Arab participation in the democratic process is a good thing for Israel. Yet, as a progressive, gay Israeli, I cannot look at this historic Arab turnout without confronting a painful truth. Parties like Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am remain deeply socially conservative and stridently anti-LGBTQ+. Furthermore, Ra’am and the Joint List do not currently accept Eisenkot’s four foundational pillars, particularly regarding universal service and the explicitly Zionist frameworks of the state.
While purely mathematical coalition calculators on the nightly news like to lump the Arab parties into an anti-Netanyahu math equation, the ideological reality is far more complex. We cannot build a genuinely democratic front on a foundation that compromises the fundamental human rights of LGBTQ+ Israelis or rejects the basic duties of citizenship. For these parties to become legitimate partners for the next government, massive compromises will be required. As it stands, a direct ideological partnership is not yet feasible, even if arithmetic makes it tempting.
The electorate also sent a clear message by obliterating fringe, unaligned parties that refused to join the cohesive center. Ofer Winter’s Amcha Yisrael, despite placing the high-profile Arab-Zionist influencer Yoseph Haddad in its second slot, crashed below the threshold at just 1.61%. Similarly, Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha’s Reservists party, featuring Einat Wilf, ran out of steam at 2.62%. With voter turnout surging to a historic 77.7%, the electoral threshold of 3.25% proved insurmountable for those who failed to tap into the public’s desire for pragmatism.
The 53 mandates claimed by Netanyahu’s camp are a fragile math trick. The actual, living consensus of the Israeli majority stands firmly behind the vision of Gadi Eisenkot. The right-wing bloc is showing stress fractures from the weight of its own internal contradictions, while the center-left, liberal, and moderate right factions have modernized, consolidated, and found a shared platform.
This does not mean Netanyahu and his voters should be disenfranchised or exiled from public life; despite everything, Netanyahu still commands the loyalty of over a million Israelis. I flew over a thousand miles to vote against Netanyahu, and I would have traveled twice that far. But it’s also undeniable he still enjoys enormous support, and as a Mizrahi Israeli whose family has long voted Likud, I understand why.
The truth is, Netanyahu’s political modus operandi has always been focused on staying Prime Minister. He prefers working with small parties that don’t challenge his position at the top. But his worldview, and that of many pragmatic Likud voters, is much more liberal than that of his longtime coalition partners.
Based on yesterday’s vote, I do not believe Netanyahu earned the public support to serve as Prime Minister, but it is possible he will need to be included in the next ruling coalition to avoid even worse outcomes.
The path to healing and stabilizing post-October 7th Israel requires a broad unity government led by Eisenkot, where a historic, patriotic mandate finally marks a new era for Israeli politics. Netanyahu has spent seventeen years making sure Israel had no alternative. Yesterday, half the country voted for one anyway. |
I read somewhere today that some of the parties Likud are in coalition with are anti-Zionist which reflects Netanyahu's opportunism but also made me wonder whether a government consisting of the two main (and Zionist) parties (and including others) might be the outcome.
But I can't see Bibi not playing a major part in such a government. [Post edited 28 Oct 21:50]
| | | |
| Israel general election today on 18:07 - Oct 28 with 276 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
| Israel general election today on 18:04 - Oct 28 by DJR |
I read somewhere today that some of the parties Likud are in coalition with are anti-Zionist which reflects Netanyahu's opportunism but also made me wonder whether a government consisting of the two main (and Zionist) parties (and including others) might be the outcome.
But I can't see Bibi not playing a major part in such a government. [Post edited 28 Oct 21:50]
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Why do you use the genocidal murderer's cuddly pet name? I find that Yahoo works better. | |
| "They break our legs and tell us to be grateful when they offer us crutches." | | Poll: | What you watching. |
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| Israel general election today on 18:15 - Oct 28 with 269 views | mellowblue |
| Israel general election today on 18:07 - Oct 28 by BanksterDebtSlave |
Why do you use the genocidal murderer's cuddly pet name? I find that Yahoo works better. |
does seem odd to use a familial term of endearment name for one of this board's most hated people. Noticed it earlier when GB was posting. | | | |
| Israel general election today on 19:04 - Oct 28 with 218 views | vapour_trail |
| Israel general election today on 18:15 - Oct 28 by mellowblue |
does seem odd to use a familial term of endearment name for one of this board's most hated people. Noticed it earlier when GB was posting. |
Absolutely not done without thought. |  |
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| Israel general election today on 19:07 - Oct 28 with 204 views | DJR |
| Israel general election today on 18:07 - Oct 28 by BanksterDebtSlave |
Why do you use the genocidal murderer's cuddly pet name? I find that Yahoo works better. |
Both irony and sarcasm are doing a lot of heavy lifting here.  | | | |
| Israel general election today on 19:51 - Oct 28 with 146 views | Clapham_Junction |
| Israel general election today on 18:15 - Oct 28 by mellowblue |
does seem odd to use a familial term of endearment name for one of this board's most hated people. Noticed it earlier when GB was posting. |
It's not a term of endearment. It's how he's widely known in Israel regardless of people's views of him. |  | | |
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