Activists at Likud party deflated after exit polls

After the exit polls are released, a lone Likud activist at the party’s election event starts shouting “Bibi, Bibi,” but stops after several seconds. “Fellows, this is only an exit poll,” he shouts to the television cameras that surround him. “In 1996, we went to sleep with [Shimon] Peres, and woke up with Netanyahu.”

As opposed to previous Likud election parties, the main television station’s evening news cast were not broadcast on the screens in the hall during Tuesday’s event. There is no enthusiasm in the room; in fact, the release of the exit polls was hardly noticed, as the music continued playing in the near-empty hall.

A staffer for a backbencher Likud MK walks around the hall holding a rolled-up Likud flag in his hands.

“No, I don’t feel like waving it, that’s the problem” he says.

— Raphael Ahren