As the polls officially closed on Tuesday evening, Israel media outlets predicted a tight finish for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and his primary challenger Benny Gantz’s Blue and White faction.
Netanyahu claimed victory, tweeting, “The right-wing bloc led by the Likud won a clear victory. I thank the citizens of Israel for their trust. I will begin forming a right-wing government with our natural partners tonight.”
Blue and White also declared victory, posting, “We won! The Israeli public has had its say!”
AP reported as of 3:05 am Wednesday in Israel that incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared victory in the national elections as exit polls clearly showed his Likud party gaining ground on its main rival.
Addressing a jubilant gathering of supporters early Wednesday, Netanyahu praised them for an “almost inconceivable achievement.”
Exit polls put Likud and the rival Blue and White parties in a tight race. But recent projections appear to be giving Likud a slight lead and in a stronger position to form a majority coalition in the 120-seat parliament.
In a speech repeatedly interrupted by cheering supporters, Netanyahu said that “I was very moved that the nation of Israel once again entrusted me for the fifth time, and with even greater trust.”
He vowed to establish a right-wing nationalist government.
Earlier in the day Israel’s Kan news’ exit poll predicted that Likud would take 36 seats, while Blue and White would end up with 37 seats.
Meanwhile, Channel 13‘s poll showed Likud capturing 36 seats, and Blue and White also garnering 36 seats.
Finally, Channel 12’s poll showed Gantz’s Blue and White taking 37 seats, and Netanyahu’s Likud getting only 33 seats.
One of the biggest stories of the evening was the failure of two new parties, the New Right, headed by Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, and Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut party, failed to collect enough votes to meet the minimum threshold to enter the Knesset. If the final tally proves exit polls were correct, this means the New Right and Zehut will be left out of the next government, regardless of who is tasked with forming the government or who is named prime minister.
Amir Ohana, the first Likud MK to arrive at the party’s election event in Tel Aviv, said that earlier on Tuesday he was “very optimistic.” Asked by The Times of Israel what has changed since, he replies: “Rumors. The rumors that are going around are not good.”
With half an hour left until polls close, Blue and White leaders each released separate videos calling for a last-ditch get-out-the-vote effort.
They all stressed that the party is “just one and a half seats away from victory,” with Benny Gantz saying that they were on the way to “making history.”
But stressing that they need more support in order to win outright, each made a plea for the public to help them, with the three generals, Gantz, Ya’alon and Ashkenazi, using military language as if managing an IDF operation. “Get to it,” Ya’alon says. “You have three seconds to move,” barks Ashkenazi. “Charge forward,” orders Gantz, the commander.
A senior Palestinian official says Israelis had voted “no to peace” after exit polls following the country’s general election showed its left-wing parties were badly defeated. “Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said no to peace and yes to the occupation,” senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat says in a statement.
INN reported that Right Parties Union Otzma Yehudit candidate Itamar Ben-Gvir called on voters to flock to the polls so that no leftist government will be formed.
In response to reports of low voter turnout in Judea and Samaria, Ben-Gvir said, “If the right-wing public doesn’t want its home bulldozed, they had better make haste rush to the polls.”
He said, “the Trump Plan is around the corner and if there isn’t a 100% voter rate on the Right, Netanyahu will join Gantz instead of us and a leftist government will be formed.”
Ben-Gvir added: “The public in Judea and Samaria is a community of self-sacrifice, but if they don’t want to be expelled from their homes, they must go out and vote and get everyone out now to the polls.”
An exit poll published by Channel 13 News showed the Likud and Blue and White parties tied at 36 seats while the right-wing bloc won 66 seats in total.
According to the poll, the Labor, Shas, Hadash-Ta’al and United Torah Judaism parties will each receive seven Knesset seats, while the United Right, New Right, Kulanu, Meretz, and Yisrael Beiteinu parties would receive four seats each.
The United Arab List-Balad, Gesher, and Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut party failed to clear the electoral threshold, the poll found.
The poll was conducted by Professor Camille Fox, as was reported by INN.
The Channel 13 poll greatly differed from another exit poll conducted by News 12.
According to the News 12 poll, the Blue and White party won the greatest number of seats with 37. The Likud party finished second with 33 seats.
United Torah Judaism won seven seats, Labor six, Hadash-Taal six, United Arab List-Balad six, Yisrael Beiteinu five, United Right five, Meretz five, and Kulanu won six seats, according to the poll.
Two key Netanyahu coalition allies have endorsed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for an additional term as Prime Minister, following Tuesday’s general election.
Shas chairman and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and Kulanu chief, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon both spoke with Netanyahu after the polls closed at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night, vowing to recommend Netanyahu as the next Prime Minister, according to an INN report.
To secure the premiership, a candidate must show the president that he or she has the backing of 61 MKs in the 120-member Knesset.
Exit polls released Tuesday night show the Likud with 33 to 36 seats, compared to 36 to 37 for the center-left Blue and White party.
Shas is projected to win between six and seven seats, while Kulanu is expected to win between four and five.
Both parties would be required to support Netanyahu as Prime Minister for the Likud to form a right-wing government and avoid a deadlocked Knesset or unity coalition with Blue and White.
A third party chairman, however, has refused to speak with either Netanyahu or Blue and White chief Benny Gantz.
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avidgor Liberman has turned down calls from both Netanyahu and Gantz, saying he would wait until after the actual vote count comes in.
Blue/White: 37; Likud: 33; Ra’am: 6; Hadash/Ta’al: 6; Labor: 6; Meretz: 5; Shas: 6; Aguda: 7; Right Union: 5; Kahlon: 4; Liberman: 5. Gesher, New Right, Zehut out.
Final resultsare expected to arrive on Wednesday morning.
New Right Chairman Naftali Bennett issued a statement saying “Friends, don’t let your spirit fall. Leadership is tested in difficult moments. We have patience, faith, and nerves of steel. “The New Right will pass, and it will pass well. We’re certain of the justice of our path.
“Ayelet and I say to all our supporters: You’re the most amazing team there is! Soon we’ll be down to meet our wonderful supporters.” One report said only 600 votes are missing for Bennett to pass the threshold.
Prime Minister Netanyahu in his first response said: “The right-wing bloc led by the Likud won a clear victory, and I thank the citizens of Israel for their trust.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu has already talked to party leaders about entering the coalition, his people said.
In Israel, the president is the one who assigns the task to the lawmaker he feels is best positioned to form a viable coalition.
There has been much speculation as to who would receive the president’s recommendation, given that polls project the right-wing bloc earning more seats collectively.
“The deliberations and hearings will take a long time. Right now we are facing forward: Building a right-wing government is dependent on the immunity law that I spoke about a few weeks ago – it’s necessary to build trust among all the Knesset members that we will be able to build this coalition for the whole term. I’m calling on all the right-wing parties to join and support this effort,” MK Bezalel Smotrich said.
“The Zionist religious way won out and proved that it is bigger than any one person. We expect the prime minister to declare in a non-two-faced way, that he intends to form a right-wing government, and we see ourselves as senior partners in it,” a joint statement from the right-wing alliance said.
Moshe Feiglin’s libertarian-nationalist Zehut party has suffered a major upset, earning only 4 seats in i24NEWS’s poll and failing to breach the electoral threshold in others — significantly lower than projections in the run-up to the vote.
Netanyahu could overtake Israel’s founding father David Ben-Gurion as its longest-serving prime minister if he is re-elected for a fifth term, according to a BBC report.
The 69-year-old Israeli leader has put forward tough messages on security, which is one of the election’s key issues.
He also made a significant announcement in the final days of the campaign, suggesting a new government would annex the liberated lands of Judea and Samaria, which Israel won in the 1967 war.
The settlements are located in the heart of Israel’s biblical homeland and are considered illegal under international law, although Israel justifiably disputes this oft repeated yet erroneous claim.
Netanyahu is also facing allegations of corruption which he denies. He says he is a victim of a political “witch hunt” aimed at influencing the election.
His main challenger, Benny Gantz, is a retired lieutenant-general who formed the Blue and White in February, promising to unite a country that had “lost its way”.
The 59-year-old former chief of staff of the Israeli military can rival Netanyahu on security and is promising cleaner politics.
