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Did Israel just re-elect Benjamin Netanyahu? · The Front

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with
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  Speaker 1: the front's afternoon headlines. Huge claims and no clear winner yet.
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  Speaker 1: That's the state of play in the high-stakes Israeli elections
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  Speaker 1: that have seen Arab-Israeli parties emerge as the potential power players.
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, are both
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  Speaker 1: claiming the result shows Israel wants them to be prime minister.
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  Speaker 1: But we're a long way off an actual result. Netanyahu
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  Speaker 1: says Israelis voted for a strong, right-wing government. Eisenkot says
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  Speaker 1: it's an endorsement of the change he's proposing, where Israelis
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  Speaker 1: of all faiths and political beliefs unite. I won't let
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  Speaker 1: this happen. On the third day, Eisenkot, who's a former general,
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  Speaker 1: has been highly critical of the Netanyahu government for intelligence
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  Speaker 1: failures that led up to the October 7, 2023 Hamas
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  Speaker 1: attacks and for the conduct of the war, which Eisenkot
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  Speaker 1: says should have prioritised hostage release and negotiation over Netanyahu's
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  Speaker 1: more aggressive approach to crushing Hamas. Either side needs 61
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  Speaker 1: seats in the Knesset, the national parliament, to govern. Israel
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  Speaker 1: is one single national constituency, so each voter casts one
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  Speaker 1: ballot for one party. There are no preference flows. But
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  Speaker 1: none of the parties can get to 61 seats on
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  Speaker 1: their own. meaning coalitions are forming and reforming as the
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  Speaker 1: votes are counted and seats distributed. This morning, exit polls,
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  Speaker 1: where voters are surveyed on their way out of the
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  Speaker 1: polling stations, had Eisenkot's block in front. Early this afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: at least one poll had Netanyahu's coalition inching ahead. There
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  Speaker 1: are about two million Arab non-Jewish people in Israel, and
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  Speaker 1: the Arab-focused parties are polling at around 18 or 19 seats,
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  Speaker 1: meaning they could decide who governs. Inflation's up again but
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  Speaker 1: the government says it's not their fault, it's the war
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  Speaker 1: in the Middle East and growth in the private sector.
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  Speaker 1: The Australian Bureau of Statistics says headline inflation rose to 4.3%
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  Speaker 1: in the year to September and the trimmed mean rose
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  Speaker 1: to 3.7%. That's the figure the Reserve Bank watches closely
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  Speaker 1: and it's adding to speculation there'll be another increase to
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  Speaker 1: the cash rate target when the RBA meets on Melbourne
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  Speaker 1: Cup Day next Tuesday. The Bureau of Stats says housing
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  Speaker 1: and transport, especially fuel, are the biggest causes of the inflation.
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  Speaker 1: Price increases on building materials and tradies' labour drove a 4.7%
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  Speaker 1: increase in the price of new dwellings, although that is
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  Speaker 1: a slight decrease from the August figure. Anthony Albanese says
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  Speaker 1: the government's not spending too much. Check out those stories
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  Speaker 1: live right now at theaustralian.com.au and come back to the
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: front first thing in the morning for our story about
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  Speaker 1: shocking criminality that happened at one of Australia's major casino groups.
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  Speaker 1: That's right here, first thing Thursday morning.