Israel election: There's no clear winner

Dubbed a referendum on Benjamin Netanyahu, the 2026 general election drew Israel's highest voter turnout since 1999. As for how votes were cast, exit polls show the two major blocs neck and neck, a provisional result which Gadi Eizenkot of the Yashar party took as a vote against the incumbent. I stand before you thrilled. This morning, the people of Israel went to a referendum on the leadership that will guide Israel in the coming years. Tonight, we received an answer. The public has decided in favor of change. According to the exit poll, both Netanyahu's Likud party-led coalition and the allies of Eisenkot's Yashar come up short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the Knesset, making Arab parties like the Joint List and the United Arab List possible kingmakers, something Netanyahu was quick to caution against. We must put in place a strong right-wing national government. It's what needs to be done. It's forbidden, simply forbidden, to endanger Israel by forming a government that relies on anti-Zionist Arab parties. Gadi Eizenkot has shown himself more open to working with these parties. It's Israel's first election since 2022, since the 7th of October massacres of the following year, and since the Prime Minister took the country to war in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. The count is underway, but the 600,000 absentee ballots, most of them cast by deployed soldiers, will not be counted until Thursday.