Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Wednesday that he had won a “clear, decisive majority” among Jewish and Zionist voters, urging the formation of a powerful right-wing government as updated election projections moved closer to his favor. He also described a possible partnership with President Donald Trump as a “historic” chance to neutralize the Iranian threat.
Speaking to enthusiastic Likud supporters in Jerusalem after Israel’s first parliamentary election since the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, Netanyahu claimed a mandate to lead. The exit polls, however, showed that neither his political alliance nor the opposition had reached the 61 seats required for a majority in the 120-member Knesset.
Netanyahu argued that the projections reflected overwhelming backing for the right among Jewish and Zionist voters. In his view, the results showed strong public support for a government focused on maintaining Israel’s identity as a Jewish state.
“We need to form a strong national right-wing government,” he told the crowd. “That is what must happen.”
His speech followed several updates to the exit polls, which narrowed or erased an initial lead for the Jewish-led opposition. Opposition figures had already taken the stage to claim that Netanyahu had been defeated.
Channel 12’s revised projection gave Netanyahu’s bloc 52 seats, compared with 50 for the Jewish-led opposition and 18 for Arab parties. Channel 13 and public broadcaster Kan each forecast a 51-51 split between the two main blocs, leaving Arab parties with the remaining 18 seats.
Channel 14, which is considered supportive of Netanyahu, estimated that his bloc could win 60 seats, while i24NEWS put the figure at 55. Despite the differences, none of the five exit polls showed either side reaching a definitive majority.
Every broadcaster projected Likud to remain Israel’s largest party. Channels 11, 12, and 13 each estimated that it would secure 27 seats, ahead of former military chief Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party, which was projected to receive between 21 and 22 seats.
Netanyahu also criticized Israel’s television networks, accusing them of intentionally underestimating Likud’s strength in pre-election surveys in an effort to suppress turnout among his supporters.
He referred to the broadcasters as “propaganda channels” and said they had placed Likud at only 18 or 19 seats, claiming they “knew all along it was a lie.”
Earlier that night, Eisenkot called on Netanyahu to acknowledge defeat and leave public life. “A worthy leader would accept the people’s vote of no confidence and announce his retirement from politics today,” he said.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, whose partnership with opposition leader Yair Lapid was projected to win 12 seats, also claimed victory over Netanyahu. “Netanyahu has lost, and the October 7 government is going home,” Bennett declared.
Netanyahu firmly rejected the possibility of an alternative coalition that depended on Arab parties. Their combined representation was expected to increase to roughly 18 seats after a notable rise in Arab voter participation.
“We must not, under any circumstances, put Israel at risk by forming a government reliant on anti-Zionist Arab parties,” Netanyahu said, accusing those factions of rejecting Israel’s existence and supporting Hamas.
He also criticized the opposition’s proposed “alliance of those who serve,” accusing its leaders of inconsistency. Netanyahu said they were campaigning against exemptions from military service while simultaneously considering cooperation with Arab lawmakers whom he accused of denouncing Israeli troops.
Netanyahu appealed to Jewish and Zionist parties to work together, saying their unity would be crucial to Israel’s future.
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Even after the revised projections, both political camps faced complex coalition talks. Based on Channel 12’s numbers, the opposition’s 50 seats combined with the seven projected for Mansour Abbas’s Islamist Ra’am party would total 57—still four short of a Knesset majority.
Eisenkot could pursue backing from the Joint List or try to persuade parties in Netanyahu’s alliance to join a wider coalition. Netanyahu would also need more partners unless the final count shifted the balance. A unity government between the two rival camps remained another possibility, while failure to build a stable majority could eventually send Israel back to the polls.
The uncertain result also left questions surrounding the political future of Trump’s favored Israeli ally, whom the president endorsed publicly twice during the final week of the campaign.
Trump’s endorsements came as Washington and Jerusalem considered their next steps toward Iran. Months of military operations had severely weakened Tehran’s military leadership and capabilities, but the broader confrontation remained unresolved.
Netanyahu portrayed the military campaigns undertaken during his government as having transformed the regional balance of power, citing the elimination of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and the establishment of Israeli security zones in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.
“Iran is weaker than ever, and Israel is stronger than ever,” Netanyahu declared.
Yet Netanyahu warned that Iran’s weakened position did not mean the threat to Israel had ended.
“This is not over as long as this fanatical regime exists,” he said, warning that Tehran would continue seeking Israel’s destruction.
Returning to Iran near the end of his speech, Netanyahu warned against allowing Israel’s political divisions to distract from what he described as a rare opportunity to eliminate the threat.
“Israel stands before a historic, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, together with our partner President Trump, to remove the existential threat from Iran once and for all,” Netanyahu declared.
“We must not, absolutely must not, allow any extraneous considerations to divert us from this sacred mission.”
His remarks came amid fresh reporting that Washington was preparing regional partners for the possibility of renewed military action against Iran following the U.S. midterm elections. The White House has not announced any such operation.
Despite his forceful address, Netanyahu acknowledged that the final outcome remains unsettled, with the nationwide count continuing and hundreds of thousands of special ballots, including votes cast by soldiers and reservists, still to be tallied. He said the final results are expected within the next 48 hours.
Once the results are finalized, President Isaac Herzog will consult the Knesset factions before assigning the task of forming a government to the lawmaker he considers best positioned to assemble a governing coalition.
Netanyahu will remain prime minister until a new government takes office, but his political future will depend not simply on Likud’s standing as Israel’s largest party, but on whether he can assemble the parliamentary support needed to govern.
