Netanyahu Won, But So Did Israel’s Arabs

Less than 24 hours after the polls closed in Israel, the political drama remains focused on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s having scored a significant victory over his chief challenger, Benny Gantz of the Blue and White Party. Netanyahu’s Likud Party appears to have secured 35 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, where he needs to cobble together a coalition of at least 61. The combined total of his obvious political partners, however, falls a seat or two short of that, so the horse-trading for which Israeli politics is known may go on for weeks.

What may get lost in that unfolding story, however, is another development with potentially enormous long-term consequence. Israel’s Arabs, who represent about 20% of Israel’s population, secured their largest bloc in history, apparently 16 seats. That represents just over 10% of the Knesset, so Israel’s Arabs have a way to go before their representation mirrors their slice of the demographic pie. The good news for them, however, is that that this is entirely in their control; they moved from 10 seats in April’s election to 15 now. If they vote in still greater numbers, they can win a bloc equivalent to their population.