Israel's October 27 general election appears to have produced a parliamentary deadlock and more than one surprising result. Incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-led bloc has surged ahead of Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc, defying expectations, but couldn't reach the majority mark. This has created an opportunity for Israel's Arab parties to have a say in the government formation, though both Netanyahu and Eisenkot have been reluctant to work with them.

In the 120-member Knesset (Israel's Parliament), a party or bloc needs to get at least 61 seats to form the government. According to reports in Israeli media, Netanyahu's bloc holds the advantage, having secured 53 seats after the counting of 85% of all ballots. Eisenkot's bloc, meanwhile, has secured 48 seats.

But even though Netanyahu, beating all expectations, has managed to get a lead, his bloc remains short of the 61 seats required for a stable majority.

This is where Israel's Arab parties come in. The two parties, which represent much of Israel's Palestinian-origin population, have secured a combined 19 seats so far, potentially giving either Netanyahu's or Eisenkot's bloc the numbers needed to form a majority government. However, both sides had refused to work with the other.

Who are Israel's Arab parties? How did they fare in this year's election? Do they hold the keys to the Knesset? And why are both Netanyahu and Eisenkot reluctant to work with them?

ISRAEL'S ARAB PARTIES AND THE 2026 ELECTIONS

While on the surface, Israel may look like a purely Jewish/Zionist nation, the country is still home to a significant Arab population.

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, the country is home to at least 2.157 million Arabs, or 21.1% of the population, as of April 2026, most of whom are descendants of Palestinians who remained within Israel after the 1948 war.

In a country which votes on the basis of proportional representation, aka the number of seats a party wins is determined by the percentage of votes they get, the Arabs are thus a significant voting bloc of their own.

In the 2026 elections, there were two parties that represented Israel's Arab population. One is The Joint List (itself an alliance of other smaller Arab parties) led by Youssef Jabarin, the other is Ra'am, described in Israeli media as an Islamist party, led by Mansour Abbas. The Joint List has won 12 seats, and the Ra'am has won 7 seats so far.

Voter turnout has been unusually high among the Arabs this year. Israel recorded 77.7% nationwide turnout, the highest since 1999, according to the Central Elections Committee.

Turnout among Arab voters was reported at around 80%, a sharp rise from previous elections. In Nazareth, for instance, turnout reached 72.2%, compared with 48.29% in 2022; in Rahat, it rose to 82% from 60.61%.

In one humorous instance in the city of Rahat, Arab voters turned up at their polling booths riding camels and All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs).

As of the time of filing this copy, The Joint List and Ra'am are together projected to win 19 seats in total. The last time Israel's Arab parties won a comparable number of seats was 2020, when they secured a record 15 seats in the Knesset. This year, that record looks like it might be broken.

With neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor Gadi Eisenkot's blocs having yet to secure a majority, the Arabs now have considerable leverage in coalition negotiations.

GADI AND BIBI HAVE SAID THEY WON'T WORK WITH ARABS

So the Arabs have the numbers to help either Benjamin Netanyahu or Gadi Eisenkot get enough seats for a majority. Problem is, both of them have made clear their desire to avoid such a step.

On September 26, 2026, Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the opposition Yashar party, ruled out including Ra’am in a government he leads unless it accepts his conditions on Israel’s identity and security.

According to a report in The Times of Israel, Eisenkot said that to be included in his coalition, Arab and Haredi parties must support Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, the Declaration of Independence and universal conscription, as well as recognising Hamas as a terror group that must be destroyed.

Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has framed the prospect of a government dependent on Arab parties as a threat to Israel's national identity and security. Ahead of the election, he presented the choice as "me and [US President Donald] Trump, or [Gadi] Eisenkot and [Mansour] Abbas", referring to the Ra'am leader, reported The Times of Israel.

"It is simply forbidden to endanger Israel and form a government that rests on anti-Zionist Arab parties. Parties that oppose our very existence, that see Hamas as a charitable organisation, that call our soldiers war criminals," he said during a late-night address at his Likud party headquarters on August 28.

READY TO SUPPORT NETANYAHU'S OUSTER, SAY ARAB PARTIES

Even though mainstream Israeli parties have been hesitant (if not downright hostile) to the prospect of working with Arabs, such a thing is not unprecedented.

Back in 2021, Mansour Abbas's Ra'am joined a coalition led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, becoming the first independent Arab party to participate in an Israeli governing coalition, all in an effort to keep Benjamin Netanyahu out of power.

That government lasted around a year and a half before being dissolved, enabling Netanyahu to come back as PM.

This year, the Arabs have forwarded a similar proposal, with Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen urging parties seeking to replace Netanyahu to engage with his faction. "Anyone who wants to offer a substantive and genuine alternative to Netanyahu’s government of bloodshed will have to talk to us," Jabareen told Channel 13, adding that his party was prepared to help oust the Netanyahu government.

CHIEF OF ISRAEL'S ISLAMIST PARTY SAYS OUTFITS HAVE REACHED OUT TO HIM

Ra'am chief Mansour Abbas, meanwhile, told Channel 12 that he was in contact with both pro- and anti-Netanyahu blocs following exit polls that showed neither had a clear path to a majority. Abbas indicated he was open to joining a government led by Gadi Eisenkot, provided such a coalition proved viable, but warned that he had also been approached by pro-Netanyahu figures.

"Everyone is speaking with us, not just from the 'change bloc'," Abbas told Channel 12.

Assuming neither Netanyahu's nor Eisenkot's bloc secures a majority once counting concludes, Arab parties will be the ones holding the keys to the Knesset.

Netanyahu has ruled out relying on Arab parties to form a government, while such an arrangement would also face opposition from his far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies, including Itamar Ben-Gvir of the Otzma Yehudit party.

The onus would therefore fall on Eisenkot. Some of his allies, including Yair Golan of the Democrats party, have urged cooperation with Arab parties.

"We have no future here if we don't stop being afraid. And if we don't stop with the racism. We must no longer accept Netanyahu’s racist division between Jewish votes and Arab votes," Golan said, according to The Times of Israel.

If the Knesset remains deadlocked, the opposition could face two other options: consider a proposed unity government in which Netanyahu and Eisenkot share the premiership through a rotation agreement, or allow Netanyahu to remain as caretaker prime minister until another election can be held.

Neither of these two are acceptable for Eisenkot's bloc. Will they drink from the same water pool by entering into a coalition with the Arabs? That remains to be seen. But if the opposition is determined to unseat Netanyahu, cooperation with the Arab parties might prove to be unavoidable.

Source: India Today