Reply To: Prime Minister-elect Isaac Herzog

So it seems Yishai’s new party likely cost Shas three seats even though they failed to make it in themselves. UTJ lost a seat as a result of their own split. The Arabs gained a whopping three seats more than last time thanks to Lieberman’s implemented change raising the electoral threshold law. Lieberman himself took a beating. Bennett took a bath with Likud taking away a good number of his seats and Likud becoming bigger than any expectations. Labor did okay but not enough to form a coalition unless Kulanu pulls a fast one on everyone and allies themselves with Herzog.

The likely result is a Netanyahu coalition where he needs the Chareidim and will give them back their draft deferments and yeshiva funding. He can’t form a coalition without the Chareidim unless he creates a national unity government with Labor, something he abhors far more and something Herzog wouldn’t even agree to unless Netanyahu splits the premiership halfway through the term, something Bibi would never agree with.