Israeli Election Remains Deadlocked—What Happens Next?

We'll dive a little deeper into what happens next, but I want to talk about the moment Israel finds itself in now, because there was a large turnout for these elections.

Reportedly, over 75% of eligible voters turned out.

That's the highest turnout rate since 1999.

And since the last election, there's been the war in Gaza.

There's been the war against Iran and Netanyahu.

He suffered a setback here, but he hasn't been defeated.

What do you make of the fact that polls, some polls suggested this election was going to be a larger referendum on Netanyahu than it actually was?

Well, I guess they were wrong.

I mean, look, Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost a significant part of his ability to govern.

There has been a referendum on Netanyahu.

Even the parties upon which his rule was based have shrunk in power.

The ultra-Orthodox parties and the Shas party has lost four seats.

They're down from 11 seats to seven seats.

That might sound insignificant, but it's a major shift to the point where the Shas party canceled its celebration last night, its election celebration for the first time ever.

So there has been a degree of rejection.

The thing is, Here's the thing, most Israelis agree on the security issues, even if you go to someone like Yair Golan, who is on the left flank of the Zionist spectrum in Israel.

Even someone like him will agree that Iran is a threat, will agree that Hamas is a threat, will agree that Hezbollah is a threat.

Naftali Bennett, obviously, who is to the right of Netanyahu in many ways.

This is the guy who, when he was prime minister, had a policy of responding with airstrikes to incendiary balloons that were sent from Gaza into Israel because they too were a threat.

You send balloons over that contain this incendiary material that can burn fields, that can burn houses.

He's anti-two-state solution.

But even he has a different approach to how to deal with Hamas.

He's for dismantling Hamas.

He's saying that the war cannot end with Hamas remaining armed, but the methods he would use would differ.

So in terms of the referendum, Look, I think Netanyahu has also had, since October 7th, a lot of significant tactical, I would call them, victories when it comes to the various fronts that Israel is confronting.

We'll dive a little deeper into what happens next, but I want to talk about the moment Israel finds itself in now, because there was a large turnout for these elections.

Reportedly, over 75% of eligible voters turned out.

That's the highest turnout rate since 1999.

And since the last election, there's been the war in Gaza.

There's been the war against Iran and Netanyahu.

He suffered a setback here, but he hasn't been defeated.

What do you make of the fact that polls, some polls suggested this election was going to be a larger referendum on Netanyahu than it actually was?

Well, I guess they were wrong.

I mean, look, Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost a significant part of his ability to govern.

There has been a referendum on Netanyahu.

Even the parties upon which his rule was based have shrunk in power.

The ultra-Orthodox parties and the Shas party has lost four seats.

They're down from 11 seats to seven seats.

That might sound insignificant, but it's a major shift to the point where the Shas party canceled its celebration last night, its election celebration for the first time ever.

So there has been a degree of rejection.

The thing is, Here's the thing, most Israelis agree on the security issues, even if you go to someone like Yair Golan, who is on the left flank of the Zionist spectrum in Israel.

Even someone like him will agree that Iran is a threat, will agree that Hamas is a threat, will agree that Hezbollah is a threat.

Naftali Bennett, obviously, who is to the right of Netanyahu in many ways.

This is the guy who, when he was prime minister, had a policy of responding with airstrikes to incendiary balloons that were sent from Gaza into Israel because they too were a threat.

You send balloons over that contain this incendiary material that can burn fields, that can burn houses.

He's anti-two-state solution.

But even he has a different approach to how to deal with Hamas.

He's for dismantling Hamas.

He's saying that the war cannot end with Hamas remaining armed, but the methods he would use would differ.

So in terms of the referendum, Look, I think Netanyahu has also had, since October 7th, a lot of significant tactical, I would call them, victories when it comes to the various fronts that Israel is confronting.