Israel has finished counting the votes, but its political leaders now face a more difficult question: will they accept the political power of the Palestinian citizens who cast them?

The election on 27 October produced no clear winner. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc holds 53 seats, while the opposition bloc led by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot has 48. The two Arab parties, the Joint List and the United Arab List (Ra’am), won a record 19 seats between them. Neither Jewish-led bloc has the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Netanyahu has survived another difficult election, but Palestinian citizens of Israel have changed the political equation. This is where the real test of Israeli democracy begins.

Netanyahu knows how to survive political crises; he has done so for years, often when his opponents believed his career was over. Despite the genocide in Gaza, political scandals, public anger and demands for accountability, his Likud party, with 27 seats, remains Israel’s largest. That gives him an advantage in the negotiations ahead, but it does not guarantee that he will form the next government.

President Isaac Herzog must consult the parliamentary factions and choose the lawmaker with the most realistic chance of building a coalition. Netanyahu’s problem is simple: his existing allies do not give him a majority. He could try to lure opposition lawmakers, seek a national unity government or remain caretaker prime minister if negotiations fail and the country heads towards another election. None of these options guarantees success.

The most important development in this election may be the extraordinary participation of Palestinian citizens of Israel. National turnout reached 77.7 per cent, the highest in decades, and in many Arab towns it exceeded 80 per cent, giving the Joint List and Ra’am their strongest combined representation ever. For years, Palestinian citizens have complained of discrimination, unequal public services,........

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