Israel election: Netanyahu ahead but loses majority, Arab parties soar

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

55% : "Remember that you serve only the state and the interests of Israel's citizens.
54% : And we have an opportunity to form a government of change in partnership with Israel's Arab citizens.
53% : Israel's pivotal general election remains in the balance with more than two-thirds of the votes counted.
51% : The center-left that dominated Israel for the first half of its history and had led negotiations to exchange land for peace with Arab neighbors has been reduced to a small fringe.
50% : But Yair Golan, the head of Israel's main left-wing party, which is part of Eisenkot's camp, called for precisely that on Wednesday.
49% : "Netanyahu, don't you dare use Israel's security for your political needs," Eisenkot said.
49% : But he has vowed to create a more inclusive atmosphere inside Israel, repair its international standing and rein in violent West Bank settlers.
49% : Nearly all Jewish parties now share Netanyahu's rejection of any eventual independent state for Palestinians, the basis of internationally endorsed peace talks since the 1990s, when he first came to power as Israel's youngest-ever leader.
46% : Netanyahu, do not dare use Israel's security for your political needs.
45% : Voters turned out in the highest numbers in decades to give their verdict on Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, who has pushed the country sharply to the right and unleashed a wave of wars in response to Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.
45% : " First election since October 7 attacks The election was the first held in Israel since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, in which fighters killed 1,200 people and carried off 251 hostages.
43% : His brand of unapologetic Jewish nationalism, support for settlement on occupied Palestinian land and contempt for all foreign criticism is now firmly entrenched as the Israeli mainstream.
43% : Tibi, a candidate from an Arab party, said strong turnout among Israel's Arab minority would "pave the way for an alternative government and change the grave reality".
42% : He also highlighted Israel's military successes and raised the prospect of renewed joint military action against Iran alongside his ally, US President Donald Trump.
42% : On polling day, a social media post from Netanyahu warned "If we don't wake up now, we'll find ourselves with a government of Mansour Abbas and Ahmed Tibi," referring to two leading Palestinian Arab politicians in Israel.
42% : "Anyone who wants to offer a substantive and genuine alternative to Netanyahu's blood-soaked government will have to talk to us to secure the path to the change that the public in Israel longs for," Yousef Jabareen told Israeli media.
41% : "Israel faces a singular historical opportunity, together with our partner President Trump, to remove the existential threat of Iran once and for all.
40% : The strongest gains, with a predicted 19-seat total, went to Arab Israeli parties whose voters turned out in soaring numbers against Netanyahu, who has relentlessly warned that the minority would dilute the Jewish nationalist direction in which he has taken Israel.
38% : The war in Gaza, which flattened the territory and killed 74,000 Palestinians, has left Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage, with a decisive shift in global public opinion against it, including in its closest ally the United States.
34% : Netanyahu himself is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on war crimes charges he calls absurd, and faces corruption charges in Israel that he dismisses as an establishment plot.
32% : Since then, Israel has attacked Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

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