Gadi Eisenkot's Arab party veto hands victory to Netanyahu

By Aoife Gallagher · Reporting from Dublin · October 28, 2026

Gadi Eisenkot and the opposition have a path to power through Arab party support, but their refusal to break a racist taboo hands the victory to Benjamin Netanyahu.

The math of the Israeli election is simple. The math of the Israeli heart is not. According to The Jerusalem Post, the Central Elections Committee projected Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc to win 53 seats. The opposition bloc was projected to win 48 seats. A Knesset majority requires 61 seats.

The opposition is wrong to believe that ideological purity is more valuable than a functioning democracy. By refusing to partner with the Arab parties, Gadi Eisenkot and his allies are not protecting the state. They are protecting a social hierarchy that treats a fifth of the population as ghosts. They have the numbers to remove Netanyahu, but they lack the courage to lead.

The arithmetic of exclusion

The leverage in this election does not sit with the big capitals of Likud or Yashar. It sits with the Arab parties. The Jerusalem Post reports these parties won a combined total of 19 seats. If Gadi Eisenkot and the opposition bloc joined them, they would reach a majority.

Instead, Eisenkot has chosen a path of paralysis. He told a podcast he will not align himself with any Arab party. He cites their refusal to label Hamas a terrorist organisation. This is a loyalty test designed to fail. As Al Jazeera notes, this veto is rooted in a racist structure. It regards the Arab citizen as an unwanted partner.

This is the same pattern we saw in the 2021 Israeli legislative election. Then, the first-ever inclusion of an Arab party in a coalition broke a deadlock. It proved that pragmatism can trump taboo. The Formation of the 36th Government of Israel shares the same mechanism here. It showed that Arab support is the only way to break a tie between two equal Jewish blocs. It forces a shift in what the establishment considers legitimate.

The Zionist shield

The strongest case for the opposition's stance is one of national identity. Advocates for Gadi Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett argue that a government must be "Zionist" to be stable. They claim that partnering with parties like the Joint List or Ra’am would be a "shame and a disgrace," as Benjamin Netanyahu puts it. They argue that shared values on national service and the Declaration of Independence are non-negotiable.

This argument is a shield for cowardice. It ignores the reality of the people who actually cast the ballots. SBS News reports that more than 7.3 million ballots were cast. Palestinian citizens make up approximately 21 per cent of the Israeli population.

When leaders like Eisenkot ignore these voters, they are not defending values. They are maintaining a system of political supremacy. Yair Golan is the only one in the bloc who seems to see the cliff. He wrote on social media that Israel must stop the "racist division" between Jewish and Arab votes. He knows that 65 seats is more than 55. He knows how to count.

The cost of the deadlock

Benjamin Netanyahu knows exactly how to use this fear. SBS News reports he shared an AI-generated video of Mansour Abbas to scare his base. He warns that the country will be handed over to "anti-Zionist" parties. He is playing a game of leverage, and the opposition is handing him the cards.

The result of this deadlock is always the same. The periphery pays the price while the leaders argue over definitions.

The long record of Israeli politics predicts a crash. The country suffered through four elections because the center could not hold. The only thing that changed this time is the depth of the trauma. The October 7 massacre has hardened the redlines. Naftali Bennett now insists on "Zionist" parties only.

This is a tragedy of missed opportunity. Mansour Abbas has tried to bridge the gap. He placed Yoav Segalovitz, a Jewish Zionist, as number two on his list. Yet, the opposition still treats him as a pariah. Yasmeen Abu Fraiha, a Palestinian doctor, said she voted against dictatorship. She is now watching the "democratic" opposition ensure that the dictatorship remains.

The opposition is playing a game of optics while Netanyahu plays a game of power. They are worried about how to explain a partnership to their base. Meanwhile, the country remains frozen. The Jerusalem Post notes that some parties, like The Reservists-Economic party, fell short of the 3.25% threshold. The voters have spoken, but the leaders are refusing to listen.

The opposition bloc will fail to form a government. They are paralyzed by a consensus that treats the representatives of Palestinian citizens as illegitimate. This will leave the country with two choices: a dysfunctional unity government or another round of elections. Both are failures. The opposition had the arithmetic of victory in their hands, and they dropped it to save face. By refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the Arab vote, Gadi Eisenkot has ensured that Benjamin Netanyahu stays in power.

Gadi Eisenkot's Arab party veto hands victory to Netanyahu

The arithmetic of exclusion

The Zionist shield

The cost of the deadlock

Sources