Israel president urges no new vote; Netanyahu bloc leads but no majority

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says right-wing parties have won a “decisive majority” among the Zionist public and called for the formation of a “national right-wing government”.
Exit polls, however, show no outright winner and suggest Netanyahu’s coalition is only slightly ahead of the main opposition alliance, though neither side can secure a majority.
Israel must avoid another election, says president
President Isaac Herzog has said that Israel must avoid heading to the polls again after Tuesday’s vote.

“We need to do everything, certainly after yesterday, so as not to hold another election. So I expect everyone who comes here to come here with an open mind,” Herzog said during a gathering at the president’s residence.

The president said he would receive official results next week and would begin a “consultation process” on forming the next government.
As Israel continues to count votes, analysts have told Al Jazeera both of Israel’s main blocs are trapped by their refusal to ally with the Arab parties.

“It is a very challenging moment in the history of Israel,” said Daniel Bar Tal, a political psychologist at Tel Aviv University.

“It is hard to know [what will happen] because the majority of Israelis are rightists, racists, religious and nationalists,” he added.

Both blocs ran campaigns that critics have described as profoundly racist.

Former government adviser Daniel Levy said the opposition still thinks “you beat Bibi by being Bibi-lite, offering no substantive alternative or hope,” using a common nickname for Netanyahu.

He argued the opposition would have won if its commitment to removing Netanyahu had outweighed its “commitment to a racist ethno-centric version of Zionism”.

“They want change but do not want to cooperate with Arab parties,” Bar Tal said.
Editor’s Choice: What to read and watch right now
Over the past 24 hours, we’ve published a wide range of pieces highlighting all aspects of this election.

Here are a few highlights:

Strong showing: High voter turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel threatens Netanyahu
Netanyahu or Eisenkot? Can you form Israel’s next coalition government?
Unsubstantiated claims: Israeli right makes provocative statements
Israeli voters: Hope and despair as election ballots are counted

Netanyahu will cling to power tooth and nail
With 77 percent of the results in, we can talk about potential scenarios.

One is a national unity government that will join Eisenkot and Netanyahu.

Another is Eisenkot forming a government with the Arab-led parties.

That would require him to talk to his camp’s parties and see whether they’d accept a government with the Arab-led list; we know both Lieberman and Bennett have said they don’t want to join such a coalition.

There’s also a scenario where Netanyahu goes to the Eisenkot camp and tries to break its ranks, with someone from that bloc joining him in a future government.

And there’s also another scenario: Escalation.

Netanyahu holds the balance of power, since he is still the prime minister and would remain in caretaker capacity until a new government is formed, and he could say he received intelligence about a potential need to strike Iran.

In that scenario, he might postpone elections – many people in Israel do not want to see that.
Israeli forces demolish homes, carry out raids across occupied West Bank
As Israeli vote-counting continues, attacks by the Israeli army’s raids also continue across the occupied West Bank. Here’s the latest round-up of reports by the Palestinian news agency Wafa:

Israeli forces demolished one house and blew up another in Beita, south of Nablus.
The Israeli military stormed al-Sawahra al-Sharqiya, east of occupied Jerusalem.
Israeli authorities forced a Palestinian resident to demolish his own home in Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, while they arrested a young man in Tubas.
At least three Palestinians were also arrested in Burqa, northwest of Nablus.
Israeli soldiers stormed al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, and raided dozens of homes.

Arab parties’ path to governing remains blocked
Palestinian citizens of Israel face an effective political veto that limits their ability to turn electoral gains into influence, according to Honaida Ghanam, director general of the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies in Ramallah.

“This veto is rooted in a racist structure that regards the Arab citizen as illegitimate and as an unwanted partner,” she told Al Jazeera, alluding to the resistance from the majority of Israeli parties to forming any government with Arab-led lists.

Ghanam outlined four possible outcomes: another election, an opposition minority government supported from outside by Arab parties, defections from the opposition to Netanyahu’s bloc or a national unity government.

“Beyond the arithmetic, the most telling result of this election is the resilience of Netanyahu’s camp, which has proven deeply entrenched and cohesive,” she added.