Ex-Israel government spokesperson: 'Extraordinary comeback' by Netanyahu

But first, to the election in Israel, where no alliance of parties has secured the necessary majority. That is not unusual, as no single party has ever won 61 seats outright in the 120-member parliament, making coalitions the norm. In their first reactions, Netanyahu and Eisenkot attacked each other for playing with Israel's security. Take a listen. It is forbidden, simply forbidden, to endanger Israel by forming a government that relies on anti-Zionist Arab parties. Netanyahu, do not dare to use Israel's security for your political needs. To all the citizens of Israel, I say already now, I can assure you, the era of evasion has ended. Joining me now is Alon Levy, a former spokesman of the Israeli government. Good morning, Alon. Good morning. So, simple question. What just happened and what happens next? That is not a simple question. It's an excellent question. The Israelis are waking up this morning scratching their heads and asking what happened. I mean, let's bring you an update now from the partial votes that have been counted. With about 52% of the votes counted, Netanyahu's bloc has 55%. seats in the 120-seat Knesset, the change bloc has 49 seats, and the Arab parties have surged to a historic 16 seats. It means now there are really three options, a unity government, a minority government, or fresh elections. And all of those are going to require someone to surrender on some very serious coalition promises. The prospect of a minority government headed by Eisenkot, with the tacit support of the Arab parties, is looking a lot less likely now that it seems they have dramatically underperformed. There is still a risk that Netanyahu's bloc could pull off that magic number of 61 seats. The votes are still being counted. But until we have a clearer picture, it would be pointless to speculate. Yeah, obviously a very complex situation. Is this the beginning of the end of the Netanyahu era, or are we underestimating his extraordinary ability to cling to power oh no this is an extraordinary comeback for netanyahu despite the october 7th massacre that happened on his watch despite three years of war since then despite huge public unrest and a dissatisfaction over his alliance with the ultra-orthodox parties and their demand for an exemption from military service netanyahu is the leader of the largest party by a wide margin. His bloc has a commanding lead over the change bloc. If we put the Arab parties to one side, then we can talk about why those are considered somewhat problematic. Netanyahu has lost his majority. It seems it's unlikely that he will hold on to a majority. But unless someone else manages to form a government, he remains the caretaker prime minister. Either we go back to elections or someone folds and sues for peace and joins his coalition right aylan i have to ask you this you mentioned the arab-led parties um they could hold the balance of power but how conceivable is it really that they will decide who becomes israel next prime minister i mean despite the refusal of several opposition leaders to govern with them the possibility of a minority government headed by eisenkot at least temporarily with the support of some of the Arab parties was floated as an option. Leaders within the Change bloc are warning that would be extremely unpopular and would backlash and end up giving Netanyahu an even bigger majority in the next election. As much as anyone wants to see the integration of Arabs into Israeli life, I think most European listeners would not want to have an Islamist party or an Arab communist party sitting in their own government. Mansour Abbas made big steps to come towards the change bloc, and yet still refuses to call Hamas a terrorist organization. The Joint List, one of its newly elected candidates, dedicated their victory to the people of Gaza and occupied Jerusalem. So they are still kryptonite for most of the mainstream parties. It's possible that Eisenkot could rely on them to try to form a minority government. It would be very unpopular and definitely unstable. All right, Alan Levy, former Israeli government spokesman. Thank you so much for your analysis this morning.