The Israeli elections are over, and the results show that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can no longer form a government alone. But a larger problem has emerged: The opposition parties cannot form a government on their own either.
Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party finished second, behind Netanyahu's Likud. Unless the ruling and opposition blocs form a broad Zionist consensus government that combines both camps – a scenario political analysts consider highly unlikely – the Arab bloc, which made an unexpected breakthrough and won 19 seats, will hold the key to breaking the deadlock.
According to the results at the time of writing, Netanyahu’s bloc won around 54 seats, while the opposition bloc won around 49, and in this scenario neither bloc can form a government on its own.
On election day, Netanyahu published photos showing Arab voters, especially veiled Arab women, at the polling stations; he issued lines such as: “The Arabs are flooding the polls. Turnout is very high. Please, go out and vote, or the Torah bloc, the Jewish bloc, will collapse.”
In essence, he made every effort to provoke Israel and the broad masses standing behind it, using religious literature that has nothing to do with faith or religion, but has now reached the level of fanaticism, marginalization of the Palestinians, and a genocidal, apartheid regime. On the one hand, Netanyahu made calls on social media; on the other, he took up a megaphone and urged shoppers to go vote to save Israel.
When the polls opened, Netanyahu’s worldview, aimed at destroying the world, engaging in war with Iran, or threatening all neighboring countries like Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the wider region, failed to receive approval at the election.
But Netanyahu’s mafia style in Israeli politics did not end on election night; it continued.
Netanyahu, whose associates had previously been investigated over allegations of being bribed by Qatar, this time made the claim that Arab voters were bribed with cash to vote.
To this day, Arabs living in Israel have taken part in elections, competed and been represented in the Israeli parliament. Now that Arab parties have reached the critical number of seats needed to determine the government, they have become the new target of Netanyahu’s attacks. He is no longer attacking Hamas, Al-Fatah, or even Iran. Instead, he has turned his fire on Arab lawmakers and parties elected by the people’s vote.
The Israeli state had drifted away from its democratic identity and was increasingly turning into an apartheid regime, and Netanyahu was the chief architect of that process.
Now the president of Israel, Israeli democracy, and the Israeli people face a major test.
And Israel stands at a crossroads. Will it continue down Netanyahu’s road, a road that has provoked a climate of war and kept Israel in a state of permanent conflict, while violating international law, democracy, and human rights across the world and committing genocide, or will it be possible to form a new government backed by the Arabs?
Although Israel’s opposition parties have made statements that are close to Netanyahu’s views on many issues, they have also said that Israel is becoming isolated in the world, that it is losing not only Democrats in the U.S. but also Republicans, and that it is facing the loss of American public opinion.
Everyone knows that when a new government is formed in Israeli politics, it will not necessarily pursue a policy 180 degrees different from Netanyahu’s. Still, a government that includes people who can be talked to and negotiated with in state administration may bring a degree of moderation.
Now we will see the opposition parties’ and the president’s choices in the coming week. If a government can be formed with Arab parties in the coalition, the Israeli people and the world may be able to breathe a little easier.
If the Arab parties are marginalized and pushed out of the system simply because they won many votes, and if action is taken against them, then there will no longer be any meaning in speaking of democracy in Israel. We will wait and see what happens to the Arab parties that Netanyahu has now attacked as his latest target.
Israeli democracy is facing a very important test. This course of events could fundamentally suspend democracy in Israel. The coming week will be critical.
