Netanyahu's Bloc Lands at 56 Seats as Arab Vote Claims Fly

Neither camp secured a governing majority after Tuesday's vote in Israel.

With about 55 percent of ballots counted, Netanyahu's bloc of right-wing and religious parties was projected to take 56 seats, short of the 61 needed for a majority in the 120-seat parliament, correspondent Nida Ibrahim reported from Ramallah. Arab-led parties therefore hold leverage over who forms the next government.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads the Religious Zionism party, addressed supporters early Wednesday at his party's Jerusalem headquarters. "Jewish settlements will be established in Gaza," he said, and pledged to protect settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. Israel dismantled its Gaza settlements in 2005. On Tuesday, Smotrich posted on Facebook that turnout was unusually high in Arab communities and left-wing strongholds, but he supplied no figures for that claim.

Netanyahu warned while voting that Arab voters were heading to polling stations in large numbers and that an opposition victory would threaten Israel's Jewish character. He also accused three senior Ra'am figures of trying to steal the election. Police confirmed arrests of three people on suspicion of voter bribery, with no indication any held senior Ra'am posts. Transportation Minister Miri Regev repeated the theft allegation on X, writing, "They're trying to steal the elections and the country from us."

British-American political scientist Dov Waxman said Netanyahu is likely to "hammer home the message" that a governing coalition including Arab parties would be "illegitimate". Arab political leaders called the prime minister's election-day messages racist and inflammatory.

Mansour Abbas, Ra'am's leader, said he had been approached by both Netanyahu's Likud and the opposition camp led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief who heads the Yashar party.