The outcome of the Israeli elections remained uncertain at about 1 a.m. local time on Wednesday, but former Israeli prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid celebrated what Bennett called the defeat of the “coalition of draft dodgers” before a cheering crowd of supporters in Tel Aviv.
“People of Israel, hold your heads high,” Bennett told attendees at the headquarters of B’Yachad (“together”), the joint electoral list he leads with Lapid.
“Today, the alliance of those who serve has defeated the coalition of draft dodgers,” he said.
“The people of Israel have stood up and spoken. Netanyahu has lost, and the Oct. 7 government is going home,” he said. “The draft dodgers coalition has collapsed from 68 seats down to 50.”
At the time of his remarks, exit polls from Channels 12 and 13 projected that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc would win 50 seats in the 120-member Knesset, compared with 52 to 53 seats for the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot.
Arab parties were projected to win another 17 to 18 seats.
Channel 14, a right-wing Israeli news channel, projected 60 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc, 43 for the opposition and 17 for the Arab parties.
None of the projections gave either of the two principal blocs a clear governing majority of 61 seats, leaving it unclear who would form the next government.
At press time, the Israeli Central Elections Committee said that 322,299 votes had been counted from 908 voting stations and that 320,750 had been validated and 1,549 disqualified. Of those, Netanyahu’s Likud had 89,002 votes (27.76%) followed by Yashar (52,408, 16.34%), B’Yachad (28,824, 8.99%), Yisrael Beiteinu (26,111, 8.14%) and Otzma Yehudit (23,154, 7.22%).
There were 7,331,981 eligible voters, according to the committee.
“We will wait patiently for the final results, as much can still change,” Bennett told supporters at the Tel Aviv event. “But already now, we, the leaders of the Repair Bloc, are in dialogue and coordination.”
Bennett appeared to signal that he would back former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot for prime minister, after Eisenkot’s Yashar party was projected to emerge as the largest in the anti-Netanyahu bloc.
“We will do everything, without ego, to form a Zionist government of the alliance of those who serve,” he said. “A government of doers who will manage the country responsibly and serve the entire people of Israel.”
Bennett thanked and embraced Lapid, his running mate and the No. 2 candidate on the B’Yachad list, calling him “a leader, an Israeli patriot, and a true friend.”
Lapid also celebrated what he called Netanyahu’s defeat.
“This country was saved today,” he told supporters at the event. “Benjamin Netanyahu and his government collapsed today. This is a total defeat for them. We are the majority.”
“In a democracy, the side that brings more votes won,” he said. “It needs, it can and it is its duty to form a government.”
Lapid, who served as prime minister in 2022 after Bennett stepped down under their rotation agreement, returned the praise and called Bennett a “fighter and a friend.”
“I also want to say to my brother, Naftali Bennett, when we brought our parties together, no one believed it would last,” Lapid said. “I told everyone, ‘It will last, because it is built on trust and friendship.’ I am proud of you.”
“The challenges ahead of us are the greatest we have faced since the founding of Israel,” Lapid added. “From Washington to Metula, from Gaza to the hills of Samaria, from the new NVIDIA campus to the old communal dining hall at Kibbutz Nahal Oz.”
“From a state commission of inquiry to equality in enlistment and universal conscription,” he said.
B’Yachad supporters, who had been instructed not to speak to the press, cheered, waved Israeli flags and applauded as Bennett and Lapid addressed the crowd.
They chanted “B’yachad nenatzeach,” or “together we will win,” and danced to music.
Despite the celebratory atmosphere, JNS overheard one woman tell a friend, “I think we lost,” as the two, both wearing ‘B’Yachad’ T-shirts, left the event.
