Israel’s final election results confirmed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc lost its majority of parliamentary seats and that weeks of difficult negotiations among very different parties, from ultra-Orthodox Jewish to secular to Arab-led, lie ahead.
asserted
weeks → confirm → led
The results released early Friday showed Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats in Tuesday’s elections.
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bloc → release → elections
The main opposition bloc won 48.
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bloc → win → 48
Arab-led parties secured the other 19, a historic showing.
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parties → lead → showing
Now parties must meet, bargain and seek a way to team up for at least 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
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parties → meet → Knesset
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister, remains in charge.
“Now comes the truly hard part,” centrist politician Yair Lapid said on X, asking Israelis for patience.
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Lapid → serve → patience
The president will task someone with forming a government
Difficult decisions lie ahead.
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decisions → task → government
Will the main opposition parties that campaigned hard to unseat the divisive Netanyahu make the politically sensitive choice to partner with Arab-led ones?
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that → campaign → ones
Or will they toss their vows aside to team up with Netanyahu in a potentially fractious unity government?
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they → toss → government
Friday is when much of Israel starts winding down for Shabbat, and it was not clear who might be meeting with whom.
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who → start → whom
The election results still need to be certified and submitted to the president next Wednesday.
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results → need → president
Then President Isaac Herzog will task someone to form the new government.
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Herzog → task → government
That could be the leader of the party that received the most votes — Netanyahu — or whoever leaders of the various parties believe is best suited.
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leaders → receive → parties
If multiple attempts to form a government fail, Israel faces a new election early next year.
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Israel → form → election
Herzog this week said he will do everything in his power to avoid that scenario.
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he → say → scenario
Netanyahu and Likud target Arab parties without evidence
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Netanyahu → target → evidence
In the hours before final results were announced, Netanyahu and his Likud party amplified unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had “stolen” the election, potentially with foreign assistance.
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parties → announce → assistance
The opposition quickly accused Netanyahu of demonizing the Arab population, which makes up 20% of the population and showed up at the polls like never before in outrage over Netanyahu’s far-right allies like national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
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which → accuse → Gvir
His party lost seats.
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party → lose → seats
In Netanyahu’s first public comment Friday, he posted on X asserting it is forbidden to form a coalition with Arab parties.
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it → post → parties
The head of Israel’s election committee, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, had said “serious suspicions” of foreign interference had been brought before him.
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suspicions → say → him
In a letter to the Shin Bet security agency, Sohlberg said he could not verify the claims but asked the agency to investigate.
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he → say → agency
Israeli media reported that members of Netanyahu’s party were accusing Qatar — a country that many Israelis view as a patron of Hamas, the Gaza-based militant group.
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Israelis → report → Hamas
Qatar issued a denial, calling the allegations “ridiculous and dangerous.”
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Qatar → issue → allegations
As it announced results, the election commission said the investigation was based on classified intelligence.
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investigation → announce → intelligence
Acting director general, Dean Livne, did not elaborate but warned that reports about the investigation had been “entirely unfounded.”
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reports → act → investigation
“It does not affect the final results that will be submitted to the president, nor does it concern any particular sector of the population,” he said.
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he → affect → population
By casting doubt on the vote, Netanyahu appeared to be trying to block any potential alliance between his opponents and the Arab-led parties.
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Netanyahu → cast → opponents
Netanyahu has suggested that it would be treasonous for chief rival Gadi Eisenkot or others to join with them.
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Eisenkot → suggest → them
The Shin Bet, seeking to calm tensions, said its investigation was not meant to “cast aspersions” on an entire section of the population that “exercised its right to vote in a democratic and lawful manner.”
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that → seek → manner
The elections committee also sounded a note of caution in a letter written to a concerned member of parliament, saying that “allegations of systematic violations of electoral integrity are baseless.”
The committee wants findings from the Shin Bet within a week.
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committee → sound → week
Opposition could assert control in the upcoming Knesset
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Opposition → assert → Knesset
Even as coalition negotiations begin, the new Knesset is expected to be sworn in Nov. 10.
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Knesset → begin → ?
Once it convenes, Eisenkot’s bloc could join forces with the Arab parties to elect a new Knesset speaker, giving them control over the parliamentary agenda and potentially allowing them to advance and pass legislation before a new government is formed.
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government → convene → legislation
Already, hundreds of Israelis have been holding rallies urging Eisenkot and others to join forces with the Arab-led parties, a step that has happened only once before, briefly, in 2021.
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that → hold → 2021
“We are here today, calling for change, for Arab-Jewish partnership.
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We → call → partnership
They contribute to the society,” said Danny Elgarat, brother of late hostage Itzik Elgarat, at a rally outside Eisenkot’s home.
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Elgarat → contribute → home
If Netanyahu loses office, that would set off a cascade of events that critics say he has desperately sought to avoid.
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he → lose → that
He would be taken to account over yearslong corruption allegations, and an inquiry almost certainly would begin into security failures before the devastating Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
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inquiry → take → attack
The Aporia
