While Yachad party leader Naftali Bennett and Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman remained silent in the hour following the release of Tuesday evening's exit polls, senior Democrats lawmaker Naama Lazimi said at the party's election headquarters: "From the very beginning, we said we need to sit with Ra'am."
"It's up to us to show political courage and leadership. The public has spoken, 70 to 50," she said. "The Israeli public has fired Netanyahu. It has fired the government of abandonment, draft evasion and plunder. Now it's up to us to be brave and do everything we can to bring this country healing, stability and calm."
Gallery
‘Sit with Ra'am.’ Naama Lazimi, Efrat Rayten and Fink at the Democrats' election headquarters Tuesday evening
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
Yair Golan
(Photo: Erik Marmor/Getty Images)
Even before Election Day, the Democrats were the only party in the bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu to publicly support forming a government with Arab parties, particularly Mansour Abbas's Islamist Ra'am party. Earlier Tuesday evening, Democrats chairman Yair Golan responded to the exit polls in a post on X, saying: "The public has spoken. It has fired the Netanyahu government."
"We have been given a historic opportunity to establish a genuine government of change in Israel, and we have no intention of giving it up," Golan wrote. "We represent an enormous segment of the public that has fought in the streets for four years, joined the party and gone out to persuade voters. We will do everything to ensure that such a government is formed."
He added: "We are ready to work with all our partners, bridge the differences and take responsibility. The public has spoken. Now it's our turn to do the work."
At the party's election headquarters, lawmaker Efrat Rayten told ynet: "Netanyahu's government has collapsed. Netanyahu's bloc has fallen to a low of 50 seats and has lost its majority in Israel."
"The State of Israel has shown him a red card and told him: You're going home. As far as we're concerned, that's absolutely clear," she said.
Rayten added: "As early as tomorrow, we need to get to work, take the reins in the Knesset and examine how to establish a new government that will safeguard Israel's security."
According to most exit polls, Arab parties are projected to secure an impressive 17 to 18 seats in the 120-member Knesset, with Ra'am projected to win seven seats in each poll. It therefore remains unclear whether even a partnership with Mansour Abbas's party would give the bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority in the 26th Knesset.