Israel’s 2026 parliamentary elections are set to amount to political deadlock, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Gadi Eisenkot getting enough votes to form a government. One clear winner did emerge, however, with enough votes to decisively influence the outcome: Israeli Arabs.
The latest results, as of 8:30 p.m. local time, give Ra’am and Joint List, the two Arab parties, 19 seats in the Knesset altogether, with over 85% of the vote counted. With the pro-Netanyahu bloc at 53 seats and Eisenkot at 48, neither is in range of the 61-seat majority needed in the 120-seat Knesset. The 19 seats for the Arab parties, stripping both Eisenkot and Netanyahu of their needed majorities, put the outcasts of Israeli politics in the most powerful position they have ever been in.
