What happened in this Geopolitics story?

Thousands in Tel Aviv rallied Saturday for an Arab-opposition alliance to remove Benjamin Netanyahu, as the deadlocked election left the country's kingmaker bloc central to who can form a government.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Tel Aviv** — Thousands rallied in the city on Saturday urging Israel's opposition to make a deal with Arab parties to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; protesters called it the "last chance for real change" and called Netanyahu a "great manipulator."

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**Gadi Eisenkot** — The main opposition leader had previously ruled out forming a coalition with Israel's Arab parties, but the deadlock in Tuesday's election means siding with them would help him form a government, with such a coalition commanding a 67-seat majority.

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Tel Aviv rally backs Arab coalition to oust Netanyahu — SkimNews

By Al Jazeera · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-11-01

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Tel Aviv — Thousands rallied in the city on Saturday urging Israel's opposition to make a deal with Arab parties to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; protesters called it the "last chance for real change" and called Netanyahu a "great manipulator."
Gadi Eisenkot — The main opposition leader had previously ruled out forming a coalition with Israel's Arab parties, but the deadlock in Tuesday's election means siding with them would help him form a government, with such a coalition commanding a 67-seat majority.
Israel — Tuesday's election left Netanyahu's bloc with 53 seats and Eisenkot's with 48 in the 120-seat parliament, meaning neither side can form a government alone.
Ra'am — Nearly 840,000 people voted for Ra'am and the Joint List, a coalition of three Arab-led parties, a 64 percent increase from the 2022 elections, according to the Central Election Committee; the three Arab-led parties won 19 seats.
Qatar — Netanyahu accused Palestinian-Israeli parties of "stealing" the polls and accepting funding from Qatar, which rejected the allegations and called them a disinformation campaign.
Nour Odeh — The Al Jazeera correspondent reported that Netanyahu supporters counter-protested at the same Saturday demonstrations, demanding that Israel not have a government with "so-called terrorists."
Israel — Odeh said Israeli right-wing circles describe the historic Palestinian-Israeli turnout as "electoral terrorism," equating it to the October 7 attack by Hamas-led fighters, which killed more than 1,200 people and took hundreds captive, and said Arab votes and voices are under attack because of their prominent role in deciding whether Eisenkot can form a government.

Why it matters: Eisenkot's bloc holds 48 seats and Netanyahu's 53, so the three Arab-led parties' 19 seats now decide who can govern. That undercuts Eisenkot's earlier refusal to partner with them and puts Netanyahu's charge of Qatar-funded vote theft squarely inside the coalition arithmetic.