Israel election results: Netanyahu and Eisenkot blocs in tight race.. Video

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says right-wing parties have won a “decisive majority” among the Zionist public and called for the formation of a “national right-wing government”.

Exit polls, however, show no outright winner and suggest Netanyahu’s coalition is only slightly ahead of the main opposition alliance, though neither side can secure a majority.

Arab parties are projected to win 18-19 seats, collectively, improving on their performance four years ago, though neither main bloc says they’ll invite them to form a government.

Voter turnout stood at 77.7 percent, the highest in nearly 30 years, according to the Central Elections Committee.

Israel’s Palestinian citizens voted for ‘freedom, justice, and equality’

Here is more from the leader of Israel’s Arab political party Balad, Sami Abu Shehadeh.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Abu Shehadeh said Palestinian citizens of Israel voted in such large numbers in yesterday’s election because they want “to promote a different political alternative, which is based on the values of freedom, justice, and equality for both people who are living between the river and the sea”.

Turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel, who account for one-fifth of the total population, reached about 80 percent, according to estimates.

“We are very proud of the Arab-Palestinian minority in Israel that went in this very high percentage of voting in this election,” said Abu Shahedeh, adding that the Arab-led political groups have fulfilled “the first thing that we promised them [voters] – that we are going to prevent this gang of criminals from coming back and being able to form the next government, Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir”.

Opposition can’t get over ‘ethno-nationalist Zionist ideology’ to remove Netanyahu

Daniel Levy, the president of the US Middle East Project, says Israel finds itself in a post-election political conundrum because both leading blocs are refusing to work with the Arab-led lists.

“It seems that for the Zionist opposition who kept telling Israelis … that Netanyahu had to go or Israel was in existential danger, [that] he was a threat to the fabric of Israel … most of them seem to be choosing the course that rejects alliance with the Palestinian Arab parties – and that therefore de facto keeps Netanyahu in power,” Levy told Al Jazeera.

That is why, according to Levy, the Zionist opposition to Netanyahu “will stick to their ethno-nationalist Zionist ideology and reject those Palestinians”.

Impossible to defeat Netanayhu-led bloc ‘without Arab citizens’

Ayman Odeh, who leads the Joint List party Hadash-Ta’al alongside Ahmad Tibi, says the Netanyahu-led bloc would have secured an outright majority in the election if it were not for Israel’s Palestinian citizens.

“Without the Arab citizens, Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, and Smotrich would already be celebrating today,” Odeh said in an X post.

“But the truth is simple”, he added, “even the Arab citizens alone cannot bring about the change, and even without us, it’s impossible to defeat them.”

Odeh said: “Without a genuine and equal Jewish-Arab partnership, it’s impossible to build a better future here for all of us. And we all deserve such a future.”

World Opinion + Agencies