Israel Votes, Nobody Wins (Yet): What a Hung Knesset Means for Netanyahu and for Washington

Exit polls show Likud as the largest party but neither bloc at 61. Here's the count timetable, the five ways this can end, and why it matters to America.

By Clara Hughes

Israelis turned out in historic numbers on Tuesday, and on election night they got the outcome many feared: no clear winner. Exit polls from Israel's three main TV channels agree that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud is the largest single party. They also agree that neither his bloc nor the opposition led by former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot has the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-member Knesset. These are exit polls, not results. Final seat totals can shift by a seat or two as counting continues, including the double-envelope votes of soldiers and others. But the broad shape matters, and it raises big questions for the United States. What the exit polls show Channel 12 (N12): Likud 24, Eisenkot's Yashar 22, Bennett's Together 12. Opposition bloc 52, Netanyahu bloc 50, Arab-led parties 18, which would be a record for them, according to The Guardian. Channel 13: Likud 25, Yashar