‘Only Bibi’: At Likud headquarters, supporters put their faith in Netanyahu

OCTOBER 27, 2026 23:38“Only Bibi!” supporters shouted at Likud’s election headquarters in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, where confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained strong even as initial exit polls left his bloc short of a parliamentary majority.Classic Israeli songs played in Mizrahi renditions. Journalists filled the venue, surrounded by the party’s blue and white colors and campaign posters carrying the slogan, which rhymed in the original Hebrew, “Either the Right or Palestine.”Of the polls, Channel 14’s offered a substantially more favorable picture for Likud than the other main broadcasters.But for Meir Cohen, a longtime Likud member, asked how Netanyahu would navigate the uncertainty ahead and assemble a government, the answer was simple.“I trust Bibi,” he told The Jerusalem Post.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, speak with members of the public in the city of Beit Shemesh, just hours before polls close on Israel’s general election day, October 27, 2026. (credit: YAAKOV LEDERMAN/FLASH90)Initial exit polls from channels 11, 12 and 13 projected Likud to win 24-25 seats, making it the largest party, but put Netanyahu’s bloc at 50. Channel 14 projected 30 seats for Likud and 60 for his bloc, just short of a majority in the 120-member Knesset.The projections were preliminary. The vote count and negotiations ahead would determine who could form the next government. Inside the hall, supporters interviewed by the Post expressed confidence that Netanyahu would find a way.'He will protect us. He will continue to protect us'Cohen traced his own connection to Likud back to his birth in 1973, saying Menachem Begin had been his godfather, holding him during his circumcision.Asked about the initial projections, Cohen expressed distrust of all but Channel 14’s polls.His confidence lay with Netanyahu, whom he credited with strengthening Israel’s military power and standing abroad.“He will protect us. He will continue to protect us,” Cohen said.For supporter Tomer Shlomi Mishkaf Lavan, the evening was about the country’s future and the need to bring Israelis together.This ship called the State of Israel to safe harbor'“We are fighting for the future of the State of Israel,” he said, calling for a strong leader who would unite the country.He returned repeatedly to the divisions between Israelis, describing recorded instances throughout the past four years of angry exchanges, burning tires, and blocked roads. He said he wants four years of quiet, an end to the protests, and a different atmosphere between people.“We need mutual responsibility. We need people to love one another,” Mishkaf Lavan said.His hopes for unity were bound up with his expectation that Netanyahu would remain at the helm. Asked what being at Likud headquarters meant to him personally, Shlomi again spoke about overcoming divisions.“I came here to express my opinion. My opinion is unity,” he said.He wanted the prime minister to mend the country’s rifts and guide “this ship called the State of Israel to safe harbor.”Alongside that appeal, he spoke of defeating Iran and Israel’s other enemies. Domestic solidarity and security were intertwined in his account of what the next government needed to achieve.Another supporter, who said he had worked for the Likud movement for nearly 60 years, urged patience. The projections were only the first of the evening, he said, questioning whether the polls fairly reflected support for Netanyahu.For those supporters, decades of identification with Likud accompanied a deeply personal faith in its leader. Questions about seats and coalition partners repeatedly brought the conversation back to Netanyahu himself.The count was still ahead. In the hall, the refrain was already familiar: “Only Bibi.”Follow us on Google