Every attempt to bring Arab parties into a coalition will be\npoliticised as an effort to undermine Israel from within.<\/p>\n
Jakarta (ANTARA) \u2013 The opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot needs 13\nmore seats to secure a majority in Israel\u2019s 120-member parliament, the\nKnesset, and form a new government that would end Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s\nrule.<\/p>\n
Although it came close to stripping Netanyahu of his mandate as\nIsraeli prime minister, the anti-Netanyahu camp won only 48 seats in the\n27 October legislative election, while reducing the right-wing governing\ncoalition to 53 seats.<\/p>\n
Within the anti-Netanyahu camp, the largest share of the vote went to\nYashar, a party formed in September 2025 and led by Eisenkot. It won 21\nseats.<\/p>\n
The remaining 27 seats in the camp went to Naftali Bennett\u2019s United\nCoalition, with 12; the Democrats, a merger of two left-wing parties,\nincluding the Labour Party, with eight; and the right-wing Yisrael\nBeiteinu party, with seven.<\/p>\n
In Netanyahu\u2019s bloc, which won 53 seats, his Likud party took the\nlargest share, with 26. United Torah Judaism, Otzma Yehudit and Shas won\nseven seats each, while the Religious Zionist Party secured six.<\/p>\n
United Torah Judaism and Shas are religious-based parties, while\nOtzma Yehudit and the Religious Zionist Party are far-right parties led\nby Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, whom Western countries have\ndescribed as extremists.<\/p>\n
Together, the Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu blocs hold 101 seats in\nthe Knesset.<\/p>\n
The remaining 19 seats were won by two Arab parties: the Joint List,\nled by Yousef Jabareen, with 12 seats, and Mansour Abbas\u2019s Ra\u2019am party,\nwith seven.<\/p>\n
In theory, the two Arab parties should hold the balance of power in\nforming a new government to end Netanyahu\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n
In practice, however, that political arithmetic does not apply in\nIsrael, as both the Netanyahu camp and its opponents are reluctant to\nform coalitions with Arab parties. Any such arrangement would also\nrequire major concessions.<\/p>\n
As a result, the 19 seats won by Arab parties in the 27 October\nelection do not automatically give the opposition a route to oust\nNetanyahu.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/israels-election-is-about-more-than-benjamin-netanyahu-1793271273", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }