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Netanyahu's Likud accused Israel's Arab-led parties

October 29, 2026

BBC reports that Netanyahu's Likud accused Israel's Arab-led parties of "stealing" the election.

AP News reports that final, official results are expected on Thursday or Friday, but there will likely be weeks of negotiations before a prime minister is declared — or new elections are called. He would need support from at least one opposition party, or several defectors from that side, to rule, AP News and AP report. Doing so would require the support of the Arab parties — and not all opposition parties want to join forces with them, Axios reports.

Key facts

According to BBC, final results confirmed that neither Netanyahu's bloc nor the Jewish opposition had won a majority in parliament. With 93.8% of ballots counted as of 4 a.m. ET Thursday (10 a.m. local time in Israel), including votes from the double-envelope count, Netanyahu's right-wing and religious bloc was projected to win 53 seats in Israel's 120-member Knesset, compared with 48 for the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, Fox News reports. With nearly 99% of votes counted, Netanyahu's nationalist-religious bloc held a modest lead in seats over a bloc of right-wing and centre-left parties led by Eisenkot, with both men's coalitions short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in parliament, Reuters reports. However, the 53 seats won by Mr Netanyahu and his current right-wing coalition partners fell short of the 61 needed for a majority in the 120-member Knesset, The National reports. According to Fox News, Al-Ansari accused Israeli politicians and their allies in the media of launching a "disinformation campaign," saying Qatar had been accused of financing Netanyahu, the Israeli left and now Arab voters. Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, criticised the 'disinformation campaign' against Qatar [Screengrab/Al Jazeera.

According to The Guardian, Tibi said, “This entire campaign is directed against Eisenkot, to prevent him, intimidate and scare him off forming a government that relies on external support from the Joint List or Ra’am”.

AP News reports that final, official results are expected on Thursday or Friday, but there will likely be weeks of negotiations before a prime minister is declared — or new elections are called. He would need support from at least one opposition party, or several defectors from that side, to rule, AP News and AP report. Doing so would require the support of the Arab parties — and not all opposition parties want to join forces with them, Axios reports. The Abraham Accords were signed in 2020, during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tenure, Jerusalem Post reports. Jerusalem Post reports that Israel and Turkey both have had the same leader for most of the last two decades. The updated figures showed Netanyahu's Likud remaining the largest individual party with 26 seats, followed by Eisenkot's Yashar party with 21 and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's Beyachad party with 12, Fox News reports. Fox News reports that TEL AVIV, Israel -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition remained well short of a parliamentary majority October 29 as newly counted ballots showed a dramatic surge in support for Arab parties, potentially giving the opposition enough votes to challenge his control of parliament. The view of Israel across the region is complex, Jerusalem Post reports. Jerusalem Post reports that some countries are hostile to Israel, and Some countries will remain hostile. The first elections since Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack were seen as a pivotal moment in Israel's history, serving both as a referendum on Netanyahu's nearly unbroken 17-year rule and a choice between different visions for the country's future, AP News and AP report. Overall voter turnout reached 77.7% by the official 10 p.m. closing time on election night, the highest level at that hour since 1999, according to Israel's Central Elections Committee, Fox News reports. According to Reuters, the police say the police have arrested at least seven people since Tuesday in Israel's south, where many Arabs live, on suspicion of voter fraud. According to Fox News, Amir Tibon said, "The main reason they want to prevent this is so that the Knesset won't vote to establish a state commission of inquiry into October 7." Qatar has become a familiar scapegoat for Netanyahu’s allies, who have sought to shift blame for the government’s failures in preventing the October 7 2023 Hamas attacks on to the wealthy Gulf monarchy, Financial Times reports. “Netanyahu is... orchestrating an illicit influence operation targeting the Israeli public... to delay the timely announcement of election results and to manufacture a fictitious delegitimisation of the 26th Knesset’s operations,” he said. According to Axios, Eisenkot said, "Netanyahu is leading an illegitimate influence campaign targeting the Israeli public, aimed at delaying the publication of the election results and manufacturing a false narrative to delegitimize the new Knesset".

AP News and AP agree that initial results show Netanyahu's religious and ultranationalist coalition falling short of a parliamentary majority of 61 seats, after reaching a peak of 68 seats in the previous parliament. The results leave neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot with the 61 seats required to form a government independently, raising the prospect of difficult coalition negotiations or another election, Fox News reports. What to watch: The vote count ended on October 29 with the opposition parties winning 67 seats and Netanyahu's coalition winning 53, Axios reports. If neither Mr Netanyahu nor Mr Eisenkot can make it to 61 seats, another election is possible early next year, The National reports.

According to Reuters, Tibi said, "This entire campaign is directed against Eisenkot, to prevent him, intimidate and scare him off forming a government that relies on external support from the Joint List or Ra'am".

Tibi

Still developing

Fox News reports that the results leave neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot with the 61 seats required to form a government independently, raising the prospect of difficult coalition negotiations or another election. What to watch: The vote count ended on October 29 with the opposition parties winning 67 seats and Netanyahu's coalition winning 53, Axios reports. If neither Mr Netanyahu nor Mr Eisenkot can make it to 61 seats, another election is possible early next year, The National reports.

How settled the reporting is

Reported 100% · Contested 0% · Developing 0%

Sources

Toggle read the full reports of 10 of the 13 outlets counted on this event. The other 3 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.