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In times like these, clear, factual, and courageous voices for Israel are more important than ever. The mission of Israpundit has always been to share truth, defend Israel against misinformation, and give readers a place to find clarity and conviction.
PELONI: Unless the Double Envelop votes radically change where things stand currently, it would appear that the Left have as many votes as the Right, plus they have the added advantage of holding the power of the High Court as an ace only they can play. More than this the Left have the support of the Arabs, yet this would hinge on the war with Iran not reigniting, which signals the only path to victory which Netanyahu might have — leveraging Netanyahu’s call for the formation of a United Jewish Block so as to crack the strength otherwise held in a Left Wing-UTJ coalition with Arab support. Yossi Baum explains below.
Yossi Baum | X | October 28, 2026
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The right is unfortunately not focused and is completely failing to read the political map. And here’s why:
PELONI: As promised before the election, Arlene Kushner offers her insights on the Haredi community, their serving in the army, and the political embroglio which has kept the problematic nature of this topic from being resolved long ago.
Arlene Kushner | October 28, 2026
Hasmonean Brigade. Screengrab via Youtube.
This is where we are, and where we must go:
Because of the way in which we vote, it is necessary to count ballots by hand. No speedy electronic calculations. Paper ballot slips – which are placed in sealed envelopes – are utilized. With close to 40 parties running, it would be impossible to incorporate them all on an electronic voting machine board in any event. But there are other reasons for utilizing this low-tech method of voting. It is immune to cyberattacks and provides a physical record so that a recount is always possible.
PELONI: Recall that Ra’am was disqualified from participating in the election by the election authorities, but that this was reversed as per rote by the High Court. Due to that ruling, Mansour Abbas stands ready to play a commanding role in deciding the future of Israel’s governance, even as he still refuses to even give word of mouth to describe Hamas as a terror organization.
Israeli lawmakers and government ministers accuse Islamist party of orchestrating large-scale voter fraud operation, demand election committee toss out all votes for that faction.
By David Rosenberg | World Israel News | Oct 28, 2026
Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas. Screengrab via Youtube.
A group of Israeli government ministers and right-wing lawmakers on Wednesday demanded an urgent investigation into allegations of widespread voter fraud in the Arab sector during Tuesday’s Knesset election, accusing the United Arab List (Ra’am) party of orchestrating a large-scale vote-buying operation that may have influenced the election results.
Defense Minister Israel Katz criticized Gadi Eisenkot’s post-election speech as undemocratic, after Eisenkot urged security chiefs to defy political directives.
WireIsrael | October 28, 2026
Netanyahu, Katz, Ben Gvir Knesset Screengrab via Youtube
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz slammed the speech delivered by Yashar! party chairman Gadi Eisenkot following the exit polls, calling it embarrassing and undemocratic. Eisenkot had called on senior defense and public service officials to resist political pressures and promised them his backing, while also criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Avi Abelow | META
Gadi Eisenkot. Screengrab via Youtube.
The election is over. Now we must return to reality.
Our reality is not coalition mathematics or whatever domestic issue the political and media establishment decides Israelis should obsess over this week.
PELONI: With less than 10% of the votes yet to be counted, the outlook is quite concerning. Israel Beitenu has easily passed the threshold, and the National camp has only 53 seats based on votes currently counted. The surge of Arab votes in this election has had its effect, and in the Jewish State, that is both inexplicable, damning and meaningful.
Large number of active-duty IDF reservists resulted approximately 600,000 absentee ballots
All Israel News Staff | Published: October 28, 2026
Israeli election results: 100% votes counted, without "double envelopes:"
Likud 26
Yashar 21
Bennett-Lapid 12
Democrats 8
Yisrael Beitenu 7
UTJ 7
Shas 7
Otzma Yehudit 7
Ra'am 7
Religious Zionism-Zehut 6"Double envelopes" are about 650,000 votes of soldiers, prisoners, and…
— C14 News | EN (@c14english) October 28, 2026
When the Central Elections Committee completes the count of ballots cast at polling stations across the country on Wednesday, Israel will have a clearer picture of the election results.
by Gerald A. Honigman
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Please begin by reading the following AP report by Josef Federman dealing with Israel’s current election…
“Netanyahu’s legacy is on the line as Israelis vote in the first elections since the Oct. 7 attack”
A few things raised the hairs on the back of my neck right from the get-go.
PELONI: Trump voiced support for the correct resolution for what took place on October 7 when he called for the nations of Jordan and Egypt to take responsibility and deal with the burden of housing and reforming the psychopaths which had been indoctrinated to both conduct the October 7 Massacre from Gaza and to have openly voiced full support for that slaughter from Judea and Samaria within the PA and its associated Arab communities. No matter what happens, until Trump’s vision of placing the burden on the Arab states rather than on Israel, there will be no peace, because the problem is consistently and continually being ignored to satisfy Western sentiments and Western geopolitical needs rather than actually responding to the obvious need to remove the trained psychopaths from the ability to fulfill their psychotic fantasies of killing Jews. The BOP can’t address this fact. Recognizing the “Palestinians” are Egyptians and Jordanians, and acting on such recognitions, is the only way to actually and adequately address this fact.
“Egypt alone can take back its people and end the conflict in Gaza. The same is true of Jordan and other countries in the Arab Muslim world who hold the key to ending the conflict.”
Is Hamas ‘Palestinian’? Or Egyptian?
By
Hamas soldier storming Alumim in southern Israel during October 7 Massacre. Photo by CCTV footage: No human authorship – I24, Public Domain, Wikipedia
In 1982, Ariel Sharon traveled to Cairo to ask the Egyptians not to divide the town of Rafah. The town had been expanding under both Egyptian and Israeli control across the boundary line that was due to be turned over by Israel to Egypt as part of the Camp David Accords. Egypt refused, and so the town was divided with a border fence cutting through houses and streets.
What began as a three-month documentary project has become a seven-year exploration of Israel’s political landscape. Canadian filmmaker Igal Hecht returns to Israel with his production team to document another election, ahead of the film’s planned release in 2028, Israel’s 80th anniversary of independence.
TheJ.ca Staff | TheJ.ca | Oct 28, 2026
Screengrab via Youtube.
What was supposed to be a three-month filmmaking assignment has turned into a seven-year journey through one of the world’s most closely watched political landscapes.
PELONI: While this Jew Hatred propaganda video was produced to support El-Sayed’s candidacy, it is revealing for a completely other purpose. Jew Hatred is the golem which fits any narrative, making it malleable towards being implicated in any context. The problem is never the problem as every problem makes any Jew bear the responsibility of being the wellspring of every burden carried by society.
A Michigan Senate ad blames Israel for everything from expensive eggs to Americans’ financial struggles. Behind its misleading claims lies Cenk Uygur’s history of promoting conspiracy theories about Israeli control of American politics and a familiar pattern of antisemitic scapegoating.
By Rachel O’Donoghue | Honest Reporting | October 27, 2026
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“Honey, you’re going to have to put those eggs back,” a woman tells her husband as they browse the aisles of a grocery store.
“They don’t like eggs anymore?” he asks, visibly surprised.
PELONI: With the votes not yet counted, Washington pressure to remove the Right wing from a Right wing govt has already begun. Note further the manufactured libel of “Settler Violence” is being used as a basis of Washington’s pressure, but as this report explains, the real purpose is to make Washington’s efforts with its Arab partners easier without a Right wing govt. Take note that Eisenkot has already announced his willingness to enter a Broad Unity Govt.
Take note also that as I emphasized months ago, the election results would be far more generous to the National camp than the anti-National camp election polls which were greatly distorted towards the Left as per usual.
US sources claim the President Trump hopes Israel’s next government excludes two senior rightist ministers, amid concerns that claims of “settler violence” could be hurting his regional objectives.
By David Rosenberg | World Israel News | October 28, 2026
By Hudson Institute – Benjamin Netanyahu Receives Hudson’s Herman Kahn Award, CC BY 2.0, Link
President Donald Trump wants Israel’s next government to exclude National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, according to American sources who spoke with Walla News, despite his public endorsement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Tuesday’s Knesset election.
PELONI: Take note that there is no reference to forming a Broad Unity Govt in Netanyahu’s speech, but he does call for the uniting of the “Zionist Jewish Majority”. Is this a reference to the Right Bloc alone, or the inclusion of the Left as well. I think it will be the latter, rather than just the former.
“The Zionist Jewish majority must join forces, they must unite for the sake of the future of Israel.”
Video Loads Below with Transcript
PELONI: Exit Poll Upset — In another miraculous turn of events, it seems that Avigdor Lieberman’s party has failed to pass the minimum threshold and has thus burned every vote cast for him.
The potential failure of Israel Beitenu to pass the threshold leaves the Right bloc with the numbers needed to form a government but the question remains if this can actually be accomplished. It is highly ironic that Lieberman’s poor showing in this election is what might offer his former allies on the Right the means by which to remain in power. Yet the irony extends beyond this, as the only reason that Liberman fell below the threshold was due to the historic Arab vote, which means that the Left’s attempt to motivate a strong Arab vote to support their defeat of the national camp resulted in burning Lieberman’s vote bloc and providing the national camp with a majority and a possibility of forming a new Right wing govt.
Time will tell, of course, if this is actually what happens.
If Channel 14’s projection proves accurate, Netanyahu would have enough seats to form a government with his existing right-wing and religious partners.
By World Israel News Staff | World Israel News | Oct 27, 2026
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Voting in Israel’s national election came to an end at 10 p.m. Tuesday, with sharply conflicting exit polls offering dramatically different pictures of the country’s political future and one updated projection giving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enough seats to form a majority government.
PELONI: See the various exit poll results below. The full election results are expected on Thursday or Friday with preliminary numbers tomorrow [before votes from armed forces added].
[Channel 14 subsequently updated its exit poll data, announcing Lieberman’s Israel Beitenu party is projected to fail to cross the threshold, allowing Netanyahu the means of gaining 62 seats.]
??? ISRAELI ELECTION CHANNEL 14 EXIT POLL:
Likud: 30
Yashar: 19
Beyachad: 11
Joint List: 10
Shas: 9
Democrats: 9
Religious Zionism: 7
Otzma Yehudit: 7
Ra'am: 7
UTJ: 7
Yisrael Beitenu: 4 pic.twitter.com/D7Avg6nR5k— C14 News | EN (@c14english) October 27, 2026
PELONI: Channel twelve shows Netanyahu with more votes than Eisenkot , but Eisenkot having a larger block.
Channel 12 shows lacude, with 24 seats, Yashar with 22, but i24 news reports that Likud has 27 to 20 seats. Meanwhile, channel 14 exit polls show Netanyahu having 60 seats just one seat short of being able to form a government.
Now we have to wait for election returns to see how accurate any of these numbers are. Recall that in 2022, the Right block brought in 64 seats, but they were only expected to have as many as sixty two seats by channel Channel 14’s polling.
PELONI: Israel is not America and this is self evident in many ways, but the election rigging in the US has produced a worrying trend around the world and as I reported earlier today, the pay for votes scheme among the Arab population shows how even the most rigorous election systems can be outmaneuvered. To this point, Rabbi Pesach Wolicki takes a deep dive into how the Israeli election works, and some distinctions between it and the practices in America.
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PELONI: Must read article by Michel Benchimol exploring the effects of internal divisions while facing existential threats while also emphasizing the importance which unity will play towards Israel’s survival.
Three Thousand Years of Jewish History, the Dangers of Division, and the Fight for Israel’s Survival
Michel Benchimol
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I am often asked whether I believe Israel will survive.
My answer is that Israel’s greatest existential threat may come not from the enemies surrounding its borders, but from divisions among Jews themselves, both inside Israel and throughout the diaspora.
Mudar Zahran
Jordanian King Abdullah II receives Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at Al Husseiniya Palace, Amman, Jordan, July 24, 2019. (Photo: Royal Hashemite Court)
King Abdullah II’s message has arrived: “Jordanian Christians have been placed at the mercy of terrorists… and the massacre at the church in Hamoud village in Karak Governorate, Jordan, which claimed the lives of 9 unarmed civilians, is nothing but a miniature model of the killings and massacres against Christians in Jordan, in the event that procedures to change the regime in Jordan begin and King Abdullah II is dethroned.”
Radical “Agency” [Torah] Against Unparalleled Trauma: The Architecture of Progress
Harry Liberman
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The global debate surrounding international development is frequently obscured by emotional rhetoric and political correctness. When analyzing why certain nations achieve rapid, sustainable economic growth while others remain trapped in cycles of poverty and foreign aid dependency, a stark reality emerges. Natural resources, geography, and financial handouts are entirely secondary to a nation’s underlying institutional culture and foundational values.
