division in the US. Earlier this year, I went to the J Street convention where some members of Knesset (Labor and Meretz) spoke in sessions and informally to us. One thing that was clear is that they were pretty clear that a center left government was extremely unlikely.
If you look at either the new numbers by party or the old numbers, you can see why the left getting 61 is very very hard. Even if the blue and white party had received 4 more seats than Likud - as one early exit poll showed, it was still possible that it would have Netanyahu who would be designated as the one most likely to be able to form a government.
This is because Gantz would not be able to include the arab parties and it is unlikely he could get 61 MK. The MK at J Street explained this to us when we asked because including them seemed necessary to get to 61 votes, inclusive and democratic. The response was essentially that the Arab parties had at one time allied with labor, but after the intifada when Labor was in power, they felt betrayed. Since then, the Arabs on the slates are mostly more extreme than they used to be. From BOTH sides, joining a government won't happen at this point. They look like they will have 10 seats. (I have not researched that at all)
Another problem is that the ultra orthodox parties - that look like they now have 16 (from 13) seats - have problems with Lapid and others on the left - and it is mutual. Before the election, Gantz held open the possibility that some of the ultra orthodox could join him, but I saw nothing in that article that quoted the ultra orthodox saying it was a possibility.
Other than Meretz and Labour, the smaller parties are mostly on the right - many to the right of Likud, including one party that includes the followers of Meir Kahane! (Consider they got 5 seats to Labour's 6 and Meretz's 4.) Here is a link that shows the current projection of the number of seats with 97% of the vote counted. https://www.google.com/search?ei=sTmvXI-oDaim_QaU96mQCw&q=knesset+election+results&oq=knesset+&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0i131j0i3j0i20i263j0i131l3j0l2j0i131j0i3.44595.50047..52540...1.0..4.406.3097.1j4j3j3j2......0....1..gws-wiz.....6..0i71j35i39j0i22i30j0i131i67j0i67.LTpzbUMEAm4
My husband and I listened to the J Street call on the election yesterday. Their point is that the left, center and right are essentially the same size as they were - and the center right is bigger. (The scary thing is that the youth in Israel is substantially more right wing than those who are older. Politically, Israel is not the Israel of the 1950s/1960s!)
The comparison with the US ignores that if a voter on the right is thoroughly disgusted with Netanyahu, they would likely vote for another right party. That would hurt the Likud number of seats, but they would still be by far the biggest on the right and the party most likely to get to 61 seats in a coalition. So, that disaffected voter's vote essentially helps Netanyahu. In the US, when a similar disaffected voter who usually votes Republican votes for a third party, it does not help Trump. It lowers his votes while not impacting the Democrat's votes.
What is similar are all the dirty tricks, bigoted rhetoric, fear mongering etc that both routinely employ. Let's hope (and work) for change here where the political landscape is not as difficult.
Congratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
If I were to vote in a presidential
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