Bağcı links Israel's election setback to strain of war economy

A Turkish panel examines Arab parties' potential leverage and whether a change of government could ease relations with Ankara.

Channel: SÖZCÜ Televizyonu ·

TurkeyStory of October 29, 2026Trari Newsroom

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SÖZCÜ Televizyonu: The news channel of the opposition-leaning Turkish newspaper Sözcü, since 2021. 2.3M subscribers and 3B views.

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0:23Tatari suggests an Eisenkot-led opposition victory could bring calmer relations with Turkey.
1:58Bağcı argues that Israel faces war-economy pressures and that Arab parties hold crucial leverage.
4:12Bağcı interprets America's regional role through what he sees as a tendency toward withdrawal.
7:38Erbaş and Tatari assess Netanyahu's rhetoric toward Turkey and Ankara's response.
11:27A parliamentary projection frames Tatari's explanation of why Arab parties' reported 18 seats matter.

Sustaining a war economy will be difficult for Israel, political scientist Hüseyin Bağcı argues in an election-night discussion that treats Arab parties as crucial to Benjamin Netanyahu's political future.

The segment from Turkey's SÖZCÜ Televizyonu brings together host Pınar Erbaş, foreign news editor Burak Tatari and Bağcı, a professor at Middle East Technical University. Its Turkish perspective adds questions about relations with Ankara and Washington's regional role to the uncertainty over who can form Israel's next government.

Bağcı says Arab parties will not support Netanyahu. Later, Erbaş and Tatari examine a parliamentary projection attributed on screen to The Times of Israel. Tatari highlights 18 seats for Arab parties, a result the broadcast describes as a record. These are election-night projections, not a completed government-formation process.

The program's on-screen headlines describe Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc as ahead and relay former prime minister Yair Lapid's assessment that Netanyahu has suffered a heavy defeat. The upload's title goes further, declaring that Netanyahu has lost. The discussion itself concerns possible outcomes, including the prospect of Eisenkot replacing him, rather than an accomplished transfer of power.

Tatari suggests that an opposition victory could put Turkey-Israel relations on a calmer footing. He and Erbaş also discuss Netanyahu's campaign rhetoric toward Turkey, with Tatari arguing that Ankara avoided being drawn into the confrontation.

Bağcı broadens the discussion to what he sees as an American tendency to withdraw from the Middle East, drawing on earlier wars to interpret Washington's role. The opening also reports a disparaging remark about voters attributed to an aide to far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir. But the panel's central question is parliamentary: how much influence Arab parties can exercise over the government that follows the vote.

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