Lapid claims ‘crushing defeat’ for Netanyahu bloc, as exit polls show no clear winner

By Nava Freiberg

You will receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

You will no longer receive email alerts from this author. Manage alert preferences on your profile page

Today, 12:36 am

Edit

Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.

Former prime minister Yair Lapid declares that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc has suffered a “crushing defeat” in the first public reaction from B’Yachad’s leadership to this evening’s exit polls.

“Don’t let anyone confuse you: the Netanyahu bloc has suffered a crushing defeat. This is a total collapse and the public has told them to go home,” Lapid says in a statement.

The exit polls project Netanyahu’s bloc falling short of a Knesset majority, though neither it nor the opposition has a clear path to forming a government.

Neither Lapid nor B’Yachad leader Naftali Bennett have arrived yet at the party’s election headquarters in Tel Aviv.