Israel still at political impasse after election

An extended political crisis is developing in Israel after a second election yielded another deadlock between the two major political parties. Preliminary results on Wednesday showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party landed 31 seats in the 120-seat parliament and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party won 32.

How can the two sides work things out? Gantz said he would consider forming a governing coalition with the Likud party but not while Netanyahu is in charge. An alliance of Israel’s Arab parties is also set to become the third-largest in parliament. That could spell more trouble for Netanyahu, who said it is “inconceivable” for the government to rely on anti-Zionist Arab parties.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’ analysis in WORLD Magazine of how Netanyahu leveraged the Golan Heights to try to win votes.