Announcements of election victory following TV channel designs have become an almost self-evident phenomenon in recent years, although time and again the rush to announce victory comes to the weekend with final results that do not give them what they hoped for. Someone might think that the first to declare victory gets it, or establishes a perception in the public mind that links it to victory, and not it.

There is no doubt that what happened on Monday is a personal achievement of Benjamin Netanyahu. Those who eulogized his political career, who thought that after he was indicted on such serious offenses, he would not gain public trust, envisioned the appearance of the phoenix, which does not stop appearing in enthusiastic election meetings, interviewing every channel, and who broadcasts personal broadcasts from the yard His house, until he managed to get Likudniks out of their homes who thought, this time, not to vote.

But since Netanyahu lost Israel to our home of Avigdor Lieberman as an obvious part of the right-wing ultra-Orthodox camp, the challenge of victory has become far more difficult for him.

It is no longer enough for the Likud to be the largest party, nor for the right-wing ultra-Orthodox bloc to be the biggest. The fight is for the 61st mandate, and without this seat, Netanyahu will face a block of blocs to prevent him from forming a government. The double envelopes and the corona envelopes delay the announcement of a final (unofficial) result, and before it arrives, it is impossible to speak of a "huge victory" or of no further election round.

The talk of defectors from other parties is speculative; The issue was on the agenda even after the previous two rounds, and the rumors did not match (Gadi Jibrakan resigned from the Knesset on the day of submitting candidate lists to the 23rd Knesset, passing a white paintbrush to the Likud, but did not take his mandate with him). In other words: If it becomes clear in the coming days that the Netanyahu bloc has not won 61 seats, the political system will stand where it stood following the elections for the 21st Knesset, last April.

At the time when Lieberman was surprised when he declared that he would not join the government with the ultra-Orthodox, Netanyahu surprised himself with his initiative in determining elections before he was to announce to President Rivlin that he could not form a government. Meanwhile, Israel has been exhausted in two rounds of elections, and the feeling is that a fourth round is one round too many.

A situation where the Netanyahu bloc will not have 61 seats again will be a situation in which neither side won, despite its significant achievement. It would be a situation where even the most consistent opponents of the national unity government's idea would have to take to the streets and demand its establishment.