Netanyahu claims right-wing majority as Likud awaits final election count

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Likud supporters in Jerusalem after the release of exit polls in Israel's general election, declaring that his party had come first and that the right-wing camp held a clear majority. The Times of Israel reported that he said the right-wing bloc had won a decisive majority among what he called the Zionist public, and that he intends to form a right-wing, national government.

The speech took place at Binyanei HaUma, Jerusalem's main convention centre, according to Ynet, which noted that Netanyahu spoke after Gadi Eisenkot had addressed his own supporters. Ynet reported that the prime minister did not call for national unity, instead thanking what he called his loyal partners and opening a campaign against the legitimacy of any government formed with Arab parties. The Jerusalem Post reported that Likud expects to do better once the final count is in.

What Netanyahu said about the results

Netanyahu opened by thanking Likud members, campaign activists, the candidates on the party's list and government ministers, according to N12, the news arm of Israel's Channel 12. He then told the crowd that the real results were still awaited, while asserting that Likud was the largest party in the country.

He described the right-wing bloc's majority as clear and decisive among the Zionist public and, in his words, among the entire Jewish public. Political commentator Amit Segal, posting on Telegram, reported that Netanyahu also referred to earlier opinion surveys that had shown Likud on 18 seats, accusing what he called propaganda channels of using such polls to shape public perception.

Exit polls in Israel are published by the main television channels when voting closes. They are projections, and the official tally, counted by the Central Elections Committee, can shift seat totals, particularly for parties close to the threshold for entering the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Ynet described the exit poll updates through the evening as dramatic, though the reports provided here do not give the projected figures.

The line on Arab parties

A central theme of the speech was coalition arithmetic. According to N12, Netanyahu said it was forbidden to form a government resting on what he called anti-Zionist Arab parties. Ynet quoted him calling such an arrangement a disgrace, and reported that he urged the Zionist majority to come to its senses and unite.

He also aimed at the opposition's campaign language. The phrase he invoked, brit hameshartim, translates roughly as the alliance of those who serve, a reference to military and national service, which has been a recurring issue in Israeli politics, especially around exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men. Netanyahu asked how opponents could speak of such an alliance while, as he put it, joining hands with those who attack soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Loyalty to current partners

Netanyahu thanked his coalition partners, describing them as loyal and saying they had served the war effort, according to Segal. Segal read the remarks as a signal that Netanyahu would not abandon his existing allies, and that any other party wishing to join would be welcome but without a rotation agreement. Rotation deals, under which two leaders take turns as prime minister during a single term, have been used in previous Israeli coalitions. That interpretation is Segal's; the reports do not quote Netanyahu using the word rotation himself.

Iran and the United States

Netanyahu also devoted part of the address to Iran. N12 reported that he said Iran was weaker than ever and Israel stronger than ever, but warned that as long as what he called the fanatical regime exists, it will try again to destroy Israel. He said that together with President Donald Trump, whom he called a wonderful friend, Israel could remove the threat permanently.

According to The Times of Israel, he framed this as a historic opportunity that would come only once. N12 carried a similar line, describing the danger from Iran as existential.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports here give the exit poll seat projections for Likud, the right-wing bloc or any other party, so the size of the lead Netanyahu claimed cannot be set out from this material. Nor do they report final results, which Netanyahu himself said were still pending. The reports do not describe what Eisenkot said in his own speech, which parties Netanyahu counts as his partners, or which parties, if any, might be invited to join a future coalition. They also do not explain what Netanyahu meant by a one-time opportunity against Iran in practical terms, and they carry no response from the opposition or from Arab parties to his remarks.