Israel election results: Netanyahu bloc wins 53 seats, opposition holds 48, Arab parties skyrocket

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc is currently expected to enter the Knesset with 53 seats, the Central Elections Committee (CEC) announced on Wednesday morning after almost five million votes were counted. Netanyahu's Likud is projected to enter with 26 seats, while United Torah Judaism, Shas, and Otzma Yehudit are expected to enter with seven seats, and the Religious Zionist Party is expected to enter with six seats, respectively.

The opposition bloc, comprising Yashar, B'Yachad, Yisrael Beytenu, and the Democrats, is expected to enter the Knesset with 48 seats, according to data from the CEC.Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar is projected to enter the Knesset with 21 seats. B'Yachad, led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, is expected to enter with 12 seats. Yair Golan's Democrats are expected to enter the Knesset with eight seats, and Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu is expected to enter with seven.

The latest results by the CEC put 19 seats in the Arab parties, with the Joint List having 12 seats and Ra'am having seven seats in the next Knesset.Could Israel be heading toward a unity gov't - or another election?

The prospect of a unity government involving Netanyahu and Eisenkot has appeared unlikely, as Eisenkot has rejected serving under Netanyahu, including in a rotation government. Other opposition leaders have also ruled out joining a coalition led by the prime minister.Eisenkot has called for the leader of the largest party in the opposition bloc to become its candidate for prime minister, though no agreement on the arrangement has been announced within the bloc.

The exit polls also raised the possibility of a minority government that could win a Knesset confidence vote without holding an absolute majority of 61 seats. However, opposition within the bloc to relying on Arab parties could complicate such an arrangement.

The political deadlock could ultimately lead to another election, although the parties may still reach an agreement through coalition negotiations.Democrats, Arab parties call to form opposition governmentDemocrats' chairman Yair Golan said that the bloc led by Prime Minister Netanyahu lost the 2026 Knesset election, as the opposition bloc reached 65 seats when the Arab parties are included."Netanyahu lost. I know how to count to 120. Sixty-five is more than 55.

That's how Israeli democracy works. Period," he said, calling on Wednesday morning for the inclusion of Arab parties in the government in the upcoming Knesset elections.He also said that if Netanyahu was considering forming a Zionist bloc, he should "subtract from his own bloc the 16 Knesset members from the non-Zionist Haredi parties.""We have a majority. We have responsibility. And we have an opportunity to form a government of change in partnership with Israel's Arab citizens.

A government that will serve all Israeli citizens," Golan added.Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen said on Wednesday that his party was ready to "pave the way for the ousting of the Netanyahu government.""Against a government of bloodshed, against a politics of supremacy, racism, and exclusion, we offer a completely different alternative," he posted on X/Twitter."The change comes through Jewish-Arab partnership, a true and equal partnership.

No less than that, and no more than that," he added.Later, in an interview with Army Radio, Joint List faction chairman MK Ahmad Tibi (Hadash-Ta'al) hinted at his willingness to sit with the opposition.“The opposition bloc will be able to form a government if it has the courage. We are extending a hand and are ready to help," he said.Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.

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What we found (1)

The Jerusalem Post reports the projected 2026 Knesset results and the coalition arithmetic, but in its own voice it calls the parties that won 19 seats only "Arab parties", in the headline, the results and the coalition passage. The article never uses the word Palestinian, though supplied survey evidence shows most of these citizens describe themselves as Palestinian.

Erases a people's national identity
Serious
“Arab parties skyrocket”
Why this matters
The headline names the parties that won 19 seats only as "Arab parties", in the outlet's own voice.
The impression it gives
A reader takes these parties and their voters to be an ethnic bloc inside Israel, with no national identity linking them to the Palestinian people.
The context
Most of the citizens these parties represent are Palestinian citizens of Israel. In the 2019 Smooha survey, 61.9% of adult Arab citizens chose a self-description that included Palestinian. The article never uses the word Palestinian anywhere.
How we know
- Our analysis“61.9% chose a description of themselves that included Palestinian.”Palestinian citizens of Israel voted in record numbers
- On the recordIn Sammy Smooha's April-June 2019 survey of 718 adult Arab citizens of Israel, including Druze and Bedouin, 61.9% chose a self-description containing Palestinian. This is historical survey evidence, not a 2026 percentage or proof of any individual's identity. Arab and Palestinian identities can coexist.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)
- Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “Palestinian”.
Show it in the article
“The latest results by the CEC put 19 seats in the Arab parties”
Why this matters
Where the article reports the result itself, the outlet again groups the Joint List and Ra'am under "the Arab parties" in its own voice. It gives no other description of who elected them.
The impression it gives
A reader learns the seat count but not that this is the representation of Palestinian citizens of Israel.
The context
The outlet's label carries no national identity. Supplied survey evidence shows a majority of these citizens describe themselves as Palestinian. Arab and Palestinian identities coexist, but the article offers only one of them.
How we know
- Our analysis“61.9% chose a description of themselves that included Palestinian.”Palestinian citizens of Israel voted in record numbers
- On the recordIn Sammy Smooha's April-June 2019 survey of 718 adult Arab citizens of Israel, including Druze and Bedouin, 61.9% chose a self-description containing Palestinian. This is historical survey evidence, not a 2026 percentage or proof of any individual's identity. Arab and Palestinian identities can coexist.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)
Show it in the article
“opposition within the bloc to relying on Arab parties could complicate such an arrangement”
Why this matters
The outlet describes resistance to working with these parties, and labels them only by an ethnic term, in its own voice.
The impression it gives
A reader understands the coalition obstacle as reluctance to rely on an ethnic minority's parties, not on the elected parties of Palestinian citizens of Israel.
The context
Who these representatives are is part of the event: the dispute is over whether parties of Palestinian citizens can share power. The article's subheading in the same passage, "Arab parties call to form opposition government", repeats the same label. The only uses of "Arab citizens" and "Jewish-Arab partnership" are in quotations from Golan and Jabareen, which are theirs to choose.
How we know
- Our analysis“61.9% chose a description of themselves that included Palestinian.”Palestinian citizens of Israel voted in record numbers
- On the recordIn Sammy Smooha's April-June 2019 survey of 718 adult Arab citizens of Israel, including Druze and Bedouin, 61.9% chose a self-description containing Palestinian. This is historical survey evidence, not a 2026 percentage or proof of any individual's identity. Arab and Palestinian identities can coexist.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)
Show it in the article

How other outlets reported it

Our analysisPalestinian citizens of Israel voted in record numbers

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Israel election results: Netanyahu bloc wins 53 seats, opposition holds 48, Arab parties skyrocket

Erases a people's national identity

How other outlets reported it

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