Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that a right-wing government must be formed to ensure Israel’s long-term security, and that it cannot rely on coalitions with Arab parties “that are against our existence”.
He made the comments to supporters at his Likud party headquarters in West Jerusalem on Tuesday, several hours after polls closed in Israel’s legislative election and the early results were being announced.
With more than half of ballots counted , The Times of Israel projected Netanyahu’s bloc to win 56 seats and Gadi Eisenkot’s alliance, 49.
Neither is likely to secure a clear path to a governing majority.
Netanyahu said the “true results” were still one or two days away, while acknowledging that Likud was projected to become the “largest party in Israel”.
Likud was on track to win an estimated 27 seats to 21 for Eisenkot’s Yashar party, according to projections from Israeli Channels 12 and 13, giving Likud a clear lead over all others in the parliament.
Netanyahu also highlighted his achievements since taking office in his current term from 2022, which he sought to build upon.
“We worked wonders that changed the face of the Middle East. We eliminated [Mohammed] Deif, [Ismail] Haniyeh, [Yahya] Sinwar, [Hassan] Nasrallah, [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei,” he said.
“We established security zones deep inside Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria. We removed an immediate existential threat that hung over us, the danger of immediate destruction. We struck the Iranian regime and brought it to the edge of the abyss. Iran is weaker than ever; Israel is stronger than ever.”
He said Israel had a “historical opportunity” together with United States President Donald Trump “to remove the existential threat of Iran once and for all”.
Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador who served as consul general of Israel in New York City, said the party that secures the majority of seats may have to seek an uncomfortable coalition deal in order to govern.
But he said opposition voters would not want the bloc to strike a deal with Netanyahu’s coalition.
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, says Netanyahu attempted to put on a “brave face” about his party’s prospects during his speech in Jerusalem.
“It’s clear that he’s trying also to project a kind of success that he doesn’t merit. One, because he cannot form a coalition, but two, the idea that he is the largest party in Israel kind of hides the fact that this is the lowest Likud has reached since 2009.”
Political analyst Dan Perry told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu used his speech to “spin the situation as best as he could” after exit polls were released.
