Israeli elections led to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition losing its majority after four years in power. While Israel’s Palestinian-led parties have expressed a clear desire for a Jewish-Arab partnership, most of the opposition ruled out a coalition. Former general Gadi Eisenkot, who leads the biggest opposition party, has not directly ruled out governing with Palestinians but laid out conditions that made it politically impossible for them to join a coalition. The resistance, however, offers Netanyahu the prospect of turning his defeat into another term in office – or at least a prolonged mandate as caretaker prime minister and perhaps another round of elections.
