Daily Briefing Oct. 29 – After election dust settles, who will be the last man standing?

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s episode.

WATCH the full episode here:

With the ballot count nearing an end, as of Thursday noon, the bloc led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on track to win 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, and the bloc led by Yashar party chair Gadi Eisenkot is at 48 seats, leaving both blocs far from a 61-seat majority.

However, the two predominantly Arab parties are poised to win a record 19 seats between them, putting them in a potential kingmaker position. After Arab voters turned out in record numbers to vote in Tuesday’s election, hoping to oust Netanyahu and his far-right allies from the seat of power, will any of the Jewish Zionist party leaders reach out to combine forces? Borschel-Dan and Horovitz share opposing views.

At the same time, Israeli news outlets are abuzz with headlines about Likud suspicions of foreign influence in the elections — specifically that the Arab parties’ campaigns were funded by Qatar. In a rare move, Central Elections Committee chair Justice Noam Sohlberg has asked the Shin Bet to look into these charges. Following our recording, reports surfaced that Shin Bet head David Zini had instigated the probe based on information provided to the security service before the election. (Check out the liveblog for updates on this changing story.)

And finally, we discuss how the estimated 430,000 to 480,000 so-called “double envelope” ballots — cast primarily by soldiers, diplomats stationed abroad and prisoners — could influence the final results upon the conclusion of their count.

Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

With 90% of votes counted, Netanyahu bloc has 53 seats, Eisenkot’s 48; Arab parties surge to 19

Netanyahu vows to stick with far-right partners as Eisenkot seeks path to ‘bring change’

For pro-Israel diaspora, Israel’s Arab voters are a point of pride. For Israeli Jews, they’re a national security threat

Progressive US Jews call for Eisenkot-led opposition bloc to welcome Arab parties

Last-to-be-counted ‘double envelope’ votes could shift Knesset seats, but not balance of power

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee.

Check out yesterday’s episode here: