Netanyahu outlines achievements, future plans as Likud leads Israeli polls

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says ‘true’ election results due in one or two days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to his supporters at Likud party headquarters in West Jerusalem, on Wednesday, October 28, 2026 [Ohad Zwigenberg/AP]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that a right-wing government must be formed to ensure Israel’s long-term security, and that it cannot rely on coalitions with Arab parties “that are against our existence”.

He made the comments to supporters at his Likud party headquarters in West Jerusalem on Tuesday, several hours after polls closed in Israel’s legislative election and the early results were being announced.

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With more than half of ballots counted , The Times of Israel projected Netanyahu’s bloc to win 56 seats and Gadi Eisenkot’s alliance, 49.

Neither is likely to secure a clear path to a governing majority.

Netanyahu said the “true results” were still one or two days away, while acknowledging that Likud was projected to become the “largest party in Israel”.

Likud was on track to win an estimated 27 seats to 21 for Eisenkot’s Yashar party, according to projections from Israeli Channels 12 and 13, giving Likud a clear lead over all others in the parliament.

Netanyahu also highlighted his achievements since taking office in his current term from 2022, which he sought to build upon.

“We worked wonders that changed the face of the Middle East. We eliminated [Mohammed] Deif, [Ismail] Haniyeh, [Yahya] Sinwar, [Hassan] Nasrallah, [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei,” he said.

“We established security zones deep inside Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria. We removed an immediate existential threat that hung over us, the danger of immediate destruction. We struck the Iranian regime and brought it to the edge of the abyss. Iran is weaker than ever; Israel is stronger than ever.”

He said Israel had a “historical opportunity” together with United States President Donald Trump “to remove the existential threat of Iran once and for all”.

Israeli Prime Minister and Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at Likud’s election headquarters in Jerusalem, on October 28, 2026 [Ammar Awad/Reuters]

Possible ‘uncomfortable’ coalition

Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador who served as consul general of Israel in New York City, said the party that secures the majority of seats may have to seek an uncomfortable coalition deal in order to govern.

But he said opposition voters would not want the bloc to strike a deal with Netanyahu’s coalition.

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, says Netanyahu attempted to put on a “brave face” about his party’s prospects during his speech in Jerusalem.

“It’s clear that he’s trying also to project a kind of success that he doesn’t merit. One, because he cannot form a coalition, but two, the idea that he is the largest party in Israel kind of hides the fact that this is the lowest Likud has reached since 2009.”

Political analyst Dan Perry told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu used his speech to “spin the situation as best as he could” after exit polls were released.

以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡表示，真正的选举结果将在未来一两天内公布。

2026年10月28日星期三，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡在西耶路撒冷利库德集团总部向支持者发表讲话。[Ohad Zwigenberg/AP]

以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡表示，必须组建右翼政府以确保以色列的长期安全，不能依赖与“反对我们生存”的阿拉伯政党组成的联盟。

周二，在以色列立法选举投票结束、初步结果公布几个小时后，他在位于西耶路撒冷的利库德集团总部向支持者发表了上述言论。

列表 1/3：尽管极右势力衰落，斯莫特里奇仍在以色列跳舞

内塔尼亚胡和艾森科特阵营就以色列选举预测发生冲突（共3个名单中的第2个）

民调显示，三个阿拉伯政党有望在以色列大选中赢得创纪录的席位。

在超过一半的选票统计完毕后，《以色列时报》预测内塔尼亚胡的联盟将赢得 56 个席位，加迪·艾森科特的联盟将赢得 49 个席位。

两者都不太可能确保获得执政多数席位。

内塔尼亚胡表示，“真正的结果”还要一两天才能出来，但他同时承认，利库德集团预计将成为“以色列最大的政党”。

根据以色列第 12 频道和第 13 频道的预测，利库德集团有望赢得约 27 个席位，而艾森科特的亚沙尔党将赢得 21 个席位，这使得利库德集团在议会中明显领先于其他所有政党。

内塔尼亚胡还强调了他自 2022 年上任以来取得的成就，并希望在此基础上继续发展。

他说：“我们创造了改变中东面貌的奇迹。我们除掉了穆罕默德·戴夫、伊斯梅尔·哈尼亚、叶海亚·辛瓦尔、哈桑·纳斯鲁拉和伊朗最高领袖阿里·哈梅内伊。”

“我们在加沙、黎巴嫩和叙利亚境内建立了安全区。我们消除了笼罩在我们头上的迫在眉睫的生存威胁——即立即毁灭的危险。我们打击了伊朗政权，并将其推到了深渊边缘。伊朗比以往任何时候都更加虚弱；以色列比以往任何时候都更加强大。”

他表示，以色列与美国总统唐纳德·特朗普一起拥有“历史性机遇”，可以“一劳永逸地消除伊朗的生存威胁”。

2026年10月28日，以色列总理兼利库德集团领导人本雅明·内塔尼亚胡在耶路撒冷利库德集团选举总部发表讲话。[Ammar Awad/路透社]

可能出现的“令人不安的”联盟

曾任以色列驻纽约总领事的以色列前大使阿隆·平卡斯表示，赢得多数席位的政党可能不得不寻求一项令人不快的联合执政协议。

但他表示，反对派选民不希望该联盟与内塔尼亚胡的联合政府达成协议。

半岛电视台高级政治分析师马尔万·比沙拉表示，内塔尼亚胡在耶路撒冷发表讲话时，试图对他的政党前景表现得“勇敢”。

“很明显，他也在试图营造一种他并不配得上的成功假象。首先，因为他无法组建联合政府；其次，他是以色列最大政党的说法掩盖了这样一个事实：这是利库德集团自2009年以来跌至谷底。”

政治分析家丹·佩里告诉半岛电视台，在出口民调公布后，内塔尼亚胡利用他的讲话“尽其所能地扭转了局势”。