Israel elections: Difficult negotiations lie ahead after Netanyahu's bloc lost majority

Israeli elections have failed to hand any one bloc a majority in the Knesset, setting up the parties for difficult negotiations. The election was widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His Likud party received the most seats, followed by his main opposition, led by former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot. Two Arab-led parties, meanwhile, won their largest ever number of seats in Parliament, setting them up to be potential kingmakers. Well, for more on this, I'm joined by our international affairs editor, Philip Terrell. Philip, can you start by recapping the outcome of this vote and some of the seats that are won by those parties? Yeah, it's been a nail-biting few days because I think... The parties were hoping that they were going to pull off a majority. That is not the case. Benjamin Netanyahu is the outgoing prime minister, the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Israel. He's been in the top job on and off for the past 30 years, since 1996. He's opposite Gadi Eisenkot, who is the former head of the Israeli Defence Forces, who is running for the first time as prime minister. He is someone who's seen as... Possibly being able to pull it off. The number of seats needed for an overall majority was 61. But unfortunately, neither party managed to pull off the number of seats. With Likud on 53 and Yeshar, that's the party of Gadi Eisenkot, pulling in 48. There you have the figures there on the screen. Of course, the key makers in all of this. The Arab parties who've done remarkably well in these elections, they got the two parties there a joint number of seats, 19 seats overall, and of course a high voter turnout in this poll, 78%. That was the highest since 1999. Now, Now, to be able to pull off a victory, Benjamin Netanyahu has really only got two options. The first one is to create a government of national unity with Gadi Eisenkot. That means that for part of the next period, he would remain prime minister, and then, again, Gadi Eisenkot would take over for the second part of the mandate. The other option for Benjamin Netanyahu is to refuse any kind of coalition agreement with him, and that would eventually lead to further elections in Israel. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, has been putting his hat in the ring also in trying to influence the outcome. He would like there to be a government of national unity because Donald Trump wants to keep on his sweeping initiative in the Middle East and wants Israeli support for that, particularly for the war in Iran. Now, as far as Gadi Eisenkot is concerned, it really is he's damned if you do, he's damned if he doesn't, because he said all the way through this that he would never take on the Arab parties if he was forced. To draw up a coalition. Now, if he wants to take power, he would have to do that with 48 seats. He would have to take on the 19 extra seats to have that majority in the Knesset. He's now backtracked a little bit on that, saying that he would be open to that idea, but only if the Arab parties include the recognition of Hamas as a. An extremist group that is favoured by Yair Golan of the Democratic Party. Of course, the other option for Gadi Eisenkot is the first option I was talking about, and that is a government of national unity. So what we're going to see now is days, if not weeks, of horse trading going on to see if both sides can draw up a majority and to become or remain the next prime minister of Israel. Why did neither of the main blocs manage to get a majority here? Well, I think if you look at... The premiership of Benjamin Netanyahu, there is definite fatigue in Israel about the fact that he's been in the job for almost 30 years. Many young Israelis, they've only ever known Benjamin Netanyahu and they would like a change. The second point is that he's refused all the way down the line since the attacks of October the 7th to create a commission of inquiry into the attacks, which came from the Gaza Strip. Many say he's trying to cover up his own responsibility. There's also, of course, the fact that for many Israelis, they feel that Israel's only been in a permanent situation of war for too long. The war in Gaza, the war in Lebanon, the war in Iran. They want a change. They want to come back to peace. They're also worried about the way Israel is perceived by other countries around the world. All of that has played against Benjamin Netanyahu. As far as Gadi Eisenkot is concerned. I think really many Israelis feel that he's not offering anything substantially different to that offered by Benjamin Netanyahu. He's also fairly unknown to the public, being the head of the Israeli armed forces and not a political figure. And it has to be said also, he's uncharismatic and rather wooden in his delivery. And also, I think that played against him with many saying, well, he doesn't really appear to be someone who incarnates the role of. A prime minister in Israel. There are also accusations that these elections were stolen. Thank Of course, Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Arab parties of of stealing the election because there are claims of money being found in a Bedouin area. you Seven people have been arrested. That money are being distributed to members of Ra'am to make them vote in the election. very Qatar has been pointed at saying that they were responsible. Qatar has dismissed all of those claims. But that is also, I think. much. Shown that Benjamin Netanyahu is quite desperate and he wants to pull all the levers he can to try to win support in his favour. All right, Philip Till, thank you very much for breaking it down for us.