Q&A: Israel on a knife edge, freedom of movement back on the cards and what next for Christa Pike?

Manveen Rana (0:00)

From The Times and The Sunday Times, this is The Story. I'm Manveen Rana.

Luke Jones (0:07)

And I'm Luke Jones. We've been allowed back in the same studio yet again.

Manveen Rana (0:12)

For once, you're not somewhere glamorous. Maybe I'm to the sea in the background.

Luke Jones (0:16)

Normally by the beach. Yeah, something's gone wrong, isn't it? What's in store today, Manveen?

Manveen Rana (0:20)

Well, we've had lots of questions from the listeners about the Israeli elections, which as we speak on Thursday morning, the votes are still being counted, but there is a lot of uncertainty, and we're going to try and address as much of it as we can.

Luke Jones (0:32)

We're also going to talk about Andy Burnham and whether he could end up breaking one of the red lines of Labour's 2024 manifesto as he reopens the once-furious debate about the EU and free movement. We'll discuss that.

Manveen Rana (0:47)

We've also had questions about the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee. We did an episode about her case, and also the potential dangers of the US and China pursuing mining on the moon.

Luke Jones (1:00)

Something else to worry about. The Story today, your questions answered.

Manveen Rana (1:13)

On Tuesday, Israel went to the polls with a record turnout. Apparently, it's the highest since 1973 for the election that is supposed to be the most consequential in Israeli history. All eyes are on whether Benjamin Netanyahu will remain as prime minister. Still not sure.

Luke Jones (1:33)

To give us a sense of how Tuesday's events unfolded and what potentially lies ahead, we got this update from our correspondent in Tel Aviv, Gabrielle Weiniger.

Gabrielle Weiniger (1:42)

Israel is on a knife edge right now, waiting for the final results of the election. In the early hours after the exit polls, it seemed like the opposition had an edge over Benjamin Netanyahu, but they quickly closed the gap.

Yesterday, things looking much closer and much better for Benjamin Netanyahu with the most mandates for his party.

Still, it's up to President Isaac Hurtbog as to whether or not he will grant the first chance to form a government to Benjamin Netanyahu or to Gaddy Eisencourt. There are pros and cons for doing both. It's usually given to the biggest party, which would be Benjamin Netanyahu, but it's also based on party leaders recommendations. Given that there are 70 seats in the opposition bloc, including the Arab parties, which Gaddy Eisencourt has ruled out forming a government with, they can still give a vote of confidence for Gaddy Eisencourt. That will greatly inform and influence Hurtbog's decision to perhaps grant the first go at cobbling together a government with the opposition. He'll have 28 days to do so and then a 14-day extension. If he doesn't manage to get it done, the mandate will then be passed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Of course, it can also go the other way and Benjamin Netanyahu getting the first mandate. We're still waiting on those final ballots to be counted, including absentee ballots given in by soldiers on bases, prisoners and diplomats. A lot of those soldiers tend to lean to right-wing Zionist parties. That may influence the vote a little bit further, particularly as their turnout was quite high this year, meaning that maybe some of the more right-wing parties will get more seats than they were predicted right now. Itamar Ben-Gavir and Betsy L. Smotridge on only six each, but that may rise and may help bolster Netanyahu's party. So there's all still to play for, but at the moment, looking quite deadlocked, quite a tight race, as the polls predicted, between the opposition and between Benjamin Netanyahu.

Manveen Rana (3:44)

That was Gabby Weiniger in Tel Aviv with all the latest on the election. We've had a number of questions about this topic.

Luke Jones (3:51)

Yes, let's get this from Douglas who asks, could the Yashar bloc, so the party relating to Gaddi Isencott, form a broad coalition with the Arab parties as a national unity government? Manveen.

Manveen Rana (4:03)

Well, it's looking incredibly unlikely that they'll actually go into a coalition together. The Yashar bloc, which is led by Gaddi Isencott and his party, is sort of a coalition that doesn't actually necessarily have a lot in common ideologically. Their only main feature is that they are anti-Netanyahu. So he's got Yaya Golan, who is like the leftist leader. They form a part of it. They're about eight seats, I think. They are the only Israeli party saying they would go into coalition with the Arabs.

Yaya Golan was banned from the Knesset for a while for having made speeches about what was happening in Gaza. He's much more open to having a coalition with the Arab parties. However, for Gaddi Isencott to get anywhere near government, he also needs to rely on the Naftali-Bennett section. They are much more- Former Israeli Prime Minister. Exactly. Former Israeli Prime Minister who hates Benjamin Netanyahu, but his politics aren't that different. The idea of going into an Arab coalition is absolutely forbidden basically.