The Israeli election of 2026 - can the daunting divide be healed?
The recent election for Israeli's Knesset, which occurred on Tuesday, was the most important for decades, and this was reflected in a turnout of 77.7%, the highest for 30 years, despite the ongoing war in Gaza. The result delivered a deadlock between the hardline conservative and fundamentalist bloc of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, leader of Likud since 2005 and the more moderate bloc of Gadi Eisenkot, leader of Yashar which had split from Benny Gantz's Blue & White Alliance, which withdrew from the election partway through to support Yashar and avoid splitting its vote, especially in light of the 3.25% election threshold that exists for the Knesset, which the Blue & White Alliance was not predicted to cross in opinion polls at the time nominations for lists closed. Mr Netanyahu's bloc, consisting of Likud, United Torah Judaism, Otzma, Shas, and a joint list of the Religious Zionist Party and Zehut won a total of 53 seats, down 11 fro...