Israelis Await Final Election Results  10/28 06:23

   Anxious Israelis watched election results take shape Wednesday after the 
highest turnout in over a quarter-century, as no clear winner emerged and weeks 
of negotiating could lie ahead for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an 
array of opposition parties trying to unseat him.

   JERUSALEM (AP) -- Anxious Israelis watched election results take shape 
Wednesday after the highest turnout in over a quarter-century, as no clear 
winner emerged and weeks of negotiating could lie ahead for Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu and an array of opposition parties trying to unseat him.

   Arab-led parties made a historic showing, but it's not clear if other 
opponents of Netanyahu's far-right government would form a coalition with them 
for a majority in the next parliament. Issues around the Palestinians and their 
descendants remain incredibly sensitive in Israel.

   Netanyahu was defiant early Wednesday as he seeks to remain the country's 
longest-serving prime minister. He dismissed the idea of partnering with Arab 
parties -- whose constituents make up 20% of Israel's population -- as 
treasonous.

   "We must establish a strong, right-wing, nationalist government," Netanyahu 
said. "We must not endanger Israel and establish a government that relies on 
anti-Zionist Arab parties."

   His top challenger, centrist former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, has left 
the door open to partnering with Arab parties under certain conditions, 
including their recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and of Hamas as an 
extremist group.

   But whether some of Eisenkot's likely partners who have ruled out such an 
alliance will change their minds to force Netanyahu from office remains to be 
seen.

   With 70% of votes counted, Netanyahu's Likud party has 20.6% and Eisenkot's 
Yashar party has 15.9%. The count from Israel's Central Elections Committee 
does not indicate how many seats each will have in parliament, the 120-seat 
Knesset. Likud's share remained lower than in the previous election in 2022, 
when it was 23.4%.

   Netanyahu faces a setback but not outright defeat 

   Election turnout was at 77.7% of eligible voters, the highest since 1999. 
Final results are expected in the coming days, including from hundreds of 
thousands of absentee ballots yet to be counted from military personnel and 
diplomats.

   Voting reflected unease over Netanyahu's alliance with the far-right and 
anger over military draft exemptions for the significant ultra-Orthodox Jewish 
population. But results suggest that opponents were unable to capitalize on the 
grief sparked by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack and three years of war to 
decisively push him from office.

   One partner losing support, however, was far-right national security 
minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who for many Israelis represented the worst strain of 
Netanyahu's government, openly taunting Palestinian detainees and asserting 
that many in Gaza are "not even people."

   Exit polls by major Israeli TV stations Tuesday night suggested Netanyahu's 
governing coalition shrank. Vote-counting suggested Likud would remain the 
largest party and best placed to be asked to form a government by Israel's 
president, Isaac Herzog. The president, however, isn't required to task the 
party holding the most seats.

   Weeks of political negotiating appear to be ahead before a prime minister is 
declared -- or another round of elections is called.

   The easiest path to a parliamentary majority would involve Eisenkot 
partnering with Arab-led parties. In a speech early Wednesday that focused on 
national unity, Eisenkot pledged to form a government and promised "a new era 
-- an era of hope."

   If no one can put together a majority coalition, new elections could be held 
early next year. Israel held five elections between April 2019 and November 
2022 because of a similar stalemate. Whether thousands of Israelis living 
abroad would again fly back home to vote, and whether Arab voters would again 
surge to the polls, is unclear.

   Arab-led parties could hold the key 

   Confronted with Arab parties' strong election showing, Israelis have renewed 
a debate about their identity.

   "We have no future here if we do not stop being afraid," said Yair Golan, 
whose Democrats party supports bringing Arab-led parties into a coalition. "We 
must no longer accept Netanyahu's racist division between Jewish votes and Arab 
votes,"

   Israel's Arab citizens are descendants of Palestinians who remained in the 
state after its creation in 1948. They often face discrimination and are viewed 
with wariness because of their solidarity with the Palestinian cause. That 
suspicion intensified after Oct. 7, even though Arab citizens were also among 
those killed and abducted.

   Netanyahu had warned that Arab parties could make or break the election. He 
won't work with the Arab-led parties, and they have also ruled that out.

   The mood was joyful overnight at the headquarters of the United Arab List, 
the lone Arab party to ever join a governing coalition, briefly, in 2021.

   "We are here, we are not on the sidelines," party leader Mansour Abbas 
declared.

   Some Israelis found that an unusual, if not uncomfortable, prospect.

   "We are little by little coming to a situation where we have to face 
reality," said Hanna Doukhan, a voter in Tel Aviv. "I don't see a possibility 
to form a government without the Arabs."

   "We don't want the government with the Arab people," said Michal Shiloh in 
Jerusalem, reflecting a rightward shift among some younger Israelis.

   Others were hopeful. "This would open the door to repairing our society" 
while preserving Israel as the national home of the Jewish people, said Eti 
Wissotzky-Cohen in Tel Aviv.

   Minority governments are possible, but they must rely on cooperation from 
parties outside the government to pass legislation.

   Attitudes over Netanyahu will shape the days ahead 

   Netanyahu has had a nearly unbroken 17-year rule. Israelis were divided over 
him even before the deadliest attack in the country's history. The resulting 
wars, along with settler violence in the occupied West Bank, have stoked 
worldwide outrage, straining ties with Israel's closest allies and fueling a 
rise in antisemitism.

   Netanyahu's supporters believe he is protecting Israel's security and Jewish 
identity in the face of international pressure and liberal elites at home.

   Detractors say Netanyahu, facing an ongoing corruption trial, dragged out 
the war in Gaza and its hostage crisis for political reasons. They say he is 
undermining Israel's independent judiciary. And they accuse his government of 
allowing ultra-Orthodox religious Jews to avoid military conscription.

   Eisenkot is viewed by supporters as a capable leader with sterling security 
credentials. His son and two nephews were killed in Gaza, and his backers 
believe that he feels deeply the country's pain. Parties that likely would 
partner with him have vowed to improve Israel's international standing and work 
to conscript ultra-Orthodox men while bolstering the independence of the 
judiciary.