Amit Segal says Netanyahu’s Likud-led bloc holds 53 seats, the anti-Netanyahu
bloc 48 and Arab parties 19 — all below the 61-seat threshold to form a
government. Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas calls a minority government highly
unlikely and says any deal would require negotiating with all Joint List
factions, including Balad. Even if Avigdor Lieberman or Naftali Bennett switched
to Netanyahu’s side, the bloc would reach only 60 seats, one short. Segal says
the main remaining options are a Netanyahu coalition with Gadi Eizenkot’s Israel
Justice Party (Yashar) or a new election; he adds the election result and the
‘Qatar incident’ point to the possibility of another vote in coming months,
though coalition talks have about two months remaining.
