At the start of his lecture, Cyrus Schayegh laid down the bottom line that would guide his argument throughout the lunch briefing: “the outcome of this election is the climax of a four-year-long, very right-wing coalition that acted towards its own society with an unprecedented level of illiberal and now clearly anti-democratic political violence”.
In his talk, he contended that the pivotal election results reflect public backlash against the government's reaction to the Hamas massacre of 7 October 2023, while also highlighting the opposition's failure to challenge Netanyahu’s "forever war". This failure has allowed Netanyahu to remain a dominant political figure and the Likud to remain Israel’s biggest party.
He emphasised that the unexpectedly strong performance of Arab parties was driven by high turnout among Israel's Palestinian citizens, who were neglected by the outgoing government. He highlighted the Likud party’s attempts to delegitimise the election results through substantiated allegations of voting irregularities and foreign Arab governments’ influence on Israel’s Arab parties.
Concluding his analysis, Cyrus Schayegh described the elections as a crossroads for Israel's future, warning that either a broad coalition could redirect the country's trajectory or Netanyahu could retain power through political maneuvering. Considering the international implications of the elections, he urged the European Union to defend democratic norms and respond firmly to perceived threats to the electoral process.