Daijiworld Media Network - Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Oct 28: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-led bloc was leading in the country’s parliamentary elections by Wednesday morning, with 41.9 per cent of ballot boxes counted, local media reported.
Partial results released by the Central Elections Committee gave Netanyahu’s bloc 57 seats, against 47 for the anti-Netanyahu camp. The predominantly Arab Joint List and Ra’am factions together held the remaining 16 seats, The Times of Israel reported.
Exit polls released by Israeli media outlets Channels 11, 12 and 13 on Tuesday night had indicated no clear winner, with neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition seeking to replace him projected to secure the 61 seats required for a majority in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
However, some projections released by Wednesday morning indicated a clear lead for Netanyahu’s bloc. An updated exit poll overnight showed his bloc drawing level with or gaining an advantage over the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
Responding to the projections, Netanyahu asserted that the right wing commanded a “great majority” among Israel’s “Zionist public” and called for the formation of a “strong right-wing government”.
Addressing supporters at the Likud election headquarters in Jerusalem after the polls, Netanyahu criticised media outlets that had predicted a poor performance by his party.
“Do you remember how the propaganda channels engineered public consciousness? Likud on 18 seats, 19 seats. They knew the whole time that it was a lie. They were trying to demoralise you from coming to the ballot box. That is what went on here. Well, the first thing that has become clear, unequivocally, is that Likud is the biggest party in Israel. There is no disputing it,” The Times of Israel quoted him as saying.
He further claimed that the right-wing bloc had a decisive majority among the Zionist and Jewish public and others who supported the Jewish state.
“And the second thing that has become clear… is that the right-wing bloc has a clear, decisive majority among the Zionist public, among the Jewish public and all those who support the Jewish state. That is what has become clear. A decisive majority. And therefore I said, and I say again, that we must form a strong, national, right-wing government. That is what must be done,” he added.
Netanyahu also criticised parties willing to cooperate with Arab parties, describing such an arrangement as a “shame”.
Questioning how parties could discuss “the covenant of those who serve” while cooperating with groups that attack IDF soldiers, he said it was unthinkable “to endanger Israel and set up a government that relies upon anti-Zionist Arab parties”.
He further accused these parties of opposing Israel’s existence, regarding “Hamas as a charitable organization” and calling Israeli soldiers “war criminals”.
Highlighting Israel’s achievements in the conflicts that followed the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, Netanyahu claimed that Iran had been significantly weakened while Israel had emerged stronger.
The Tuesday elections marked the first electoral contest since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, amid significant changes in Israel’s political landscape and voter priorities since the 2022 elections.