mr. herzog. we have seen in the past, that the parties securing the most votes have been trying to form a coalition government. all eyes are on president rubin to see what he will do. he has a tense relationship with mr. netanyahu. and we don't know about his relationship with mr. herzog, but it's not acrimonious. again, all eyes on him. but there's a lot of confidence here at the headquarters of the zionist union. they are saying that they will form another government but when you look at the math, it looks like this election has tilted toward mr. netanyahu. and that's his coalition partners that he has in previous governments, and they will likely stick with him. he may be able to surpass that crucial number of 61 seats. >> we're talking about weeks ago, and herzog didn't believer the way that many people are thinking that he might have. but what kind of soul searching it do you think is going on between the political leaders at the head quarters where you are? >> reporter: when it comes to ben

mr. herzog or netanyahu to form a government. there's a precedence here. it may look like the night is in mr. herzog's favor, it's happened in the past where the president has allowed the party with less of a chance to form a coalition to at least try and one would imagine that the zionist union camp is hoping for, to do the horse trading they need to in order to get that crucial number of 61 seats to form a government. >> palestine's ambassador to the u.n. says any successive government has to confront the issue of establishing an independent state for the palestinians. he says that that's still going to be a problem no matter who wins but a stronger arab israeli voice might change that. show. >> thank you for having me. >> this issue, let's start with this issue of the joint list, the arabs who have won the largest number of seats that they have ever won. how does that help or hurt the chances of a state of palestine. >> i think it would help a lot because first of all, this is the first time that we have among the palestinian israelis one united politic

mr. herzog makes a major win today. that certainly will push the president to ask mr. rzog to win the government. and there is a little chance that he could get the necessary votes of over 60, little chance because there are not enough parties that are close to the zionist union that would join such a government. and the second is mr. netenyahu will be back with more of the same. notably some of the parties on the right, and certainly a repeat of the last two governments. and the third scenario which will be the zionist union and the nationalist camp will join together. and that will lead probably to the most stalemate possible. it will be what you call a jewish consensus coalition government. >> when you look at this joint list, this alliance of arab israelis that are -- that will be represented, how significant is that? >> it's significant in one way. mr. lieberman at one point, the right-wij -- wing leader who is an immigrant wanted to hike [ inaudible ] to get some of these arab parties out. so they all joined hands for the first time in the history of the state. so

mr. herzog pleasure to have you on. >> thank you, fareed. >> that was israel's labor party leader isaac herzogme minister netanyahu to appear but he declined our invitation. next on "gps," the world's longest train journey was completed this week. we'll tell you where it went and why. k on purchases. that's a win. but imagine earning it twice. introducing the citi® double cash card. it lets you earn cash back twice, once when you buy and again as you pay. it's cash back. then cash back again. and that's a cash back win-win . the citi double cash card. the only card that lets you earn cash back twice on every purchase with 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay. with two ways to earn, it makes a lot of other cards seem one-sided. when heartburn comes creeping up on you... fight back with relief so smooth... ...it's fast. tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue ...and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. ♪ tum, tum tum tum...♪ smoothies! only from tums. okay, listen up! i'm re-workin' the menu. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! [ female announcer ] the comple

mr. herzog as prime minister? tom: different parts of washington, yes. it is unfortunate it is become such an issue. clearly, many people among republicans on the hill would prefer netanyahu. the division is quite clear, and for u.s. israeli relations, it is not a healthy division. mark: in terms of the economy what is going to happen if he is reelected? how will they deal with the economic issues? >> in terms of macroeconomics, they will have a rather similar approach. the rhetoric on the left is very different. it is much more about social equity and closing the gaps between the rich and the floor and the cost of living. you will have some very important reforms. but some of those are not leftist reports -- reforms, they are about breaking monopolies and bringing in regulation. but by and large, in terms of foreign investment and terms of macroeconomic indicators, i expect both the roots to follow a similar path. mark: joining us from washington always a privilege to have you on. when we return, another check of the top stories for this tuesday, march

mr. herzog, enough to not want to join into a coalition government with him. again, anything can happen in israeli politics. it is about trying to put together a government so that mr. netanyahu can secure a historic fourth term in office, potentially making him israel's longest serving prime minister. >> he'd be quietly pleased with himself. i don't think mr. netanyahu would say it out loud, but all indications before the poll that this was going to be super super tight but in the end he probably did quite well. >> indeed. i don't think mr. netanyahu had any idea he or his likud party would do so well. it really was doomsday for lack of a better word for mr. netanyahu and his likud party. when you look at his behavior at candidate, he really lunched extremely far right to try to get his far right supporters to get behind him. of course, saying as we've been reporting an outright rejection of any palestinian state but even on election day he put what's been described as a racist rant on his facebook page urging his supporters to come out because arabs were goin

mr. herzog, he seemed pretty confident that he could form a government. when you look at the electoral map it seems to be on mr. netanyahu's side. that's perhaps why we heard from tzipi livni as she described them that they do not represent israel and are not the past that israel should go down. so i suppose it's really a message to their supporters that they did come out. they did support this centrist group, and they hope that this signals a shift in vile politics. >> did you notice in the speech, and the people you've been speaking with. what intent wrong with the zionist movement, they were predicted to get more than four seats than the likud, and that did not happen. >> you're right and quite frankly in the last week of the election the momentum was behind the zionist movement. it was behind isaac herzog and his running mate tzipi livni. they seem to have lost in just the hours before the polls opened. benjamin netanyahu in a media blitz and he was literally everywhere at every time. morning shows radio shows making public appearances and it really d

mr. herzog and policy. david's 100% right on the peace process. we really need to be realistic here. a lot of problems a lot of challenges. and remember, wolf, this guy's not an island. he's going to have a coalition. and that coalition could likely be composed of religious parties as well as center right parties. the star of this election can make or break either herzog or netanyahu. >> that's one of the smaller parties that could potentially make or break the next coalition. how does it look right now, david? you want to give us your assessment before we get the exit polls. >> i'll give you my assessment. if anyone tells you they know who's going to win this election, you should smile politely and move on. already 11 parties competing, all kinds of variables. there's a higher electoral threshold than ever before. there's a united arab party, used to there were three minor arab parties. netanyahu is flailing desperately getting upset saying too many arabs are being funded to go to the polls with foreign money. he's complained he's not been allowed to peek publicly when other leaders

mr. herzog and mr. netanyahu are listening. we are in the holy land, the average time of forming a coalition is 38.7 days. that's going back to 1996. 40 days and 40 nights. a bit of time before we get the next government. polls close at 8:00 p.m. u.k. time. guy: the u.k. will be watching carefully. some say it could take that long to form a government here. elliott gotkine from tel aviv, covering the israeli elections. head to bloomberg.com p are you can read more about why israelis are weary of benjamin netanyahu. a little wary about choosing a new rival to replace him. we're going to take a break. we will be back in a couple minutes. ♪ guy: good morning. you are watching "the pulse," live from london. a recent report from the u.k. accounting regulator, the financial reporting council, said public companies need to do more to shape cultures to improve corporate governance. the frc wants improvements to gender balance onboard spirit joining us to discuss this is chairman of the frc. good morning. let's talk about the latter. i'

mr. herzog gets let's say 25 seats and 23 seats, as an example, it's still mr.ernment because all of the rightist parties that fragmented his side of political spectrum will come together after the election and form a co-election. >> thank you, sir, appreciate your time. back here at home the leading gop candidates for president converged in new hampshire, all over the weekend and the small state known as granite state with the first in the nation primaries wasn't big enough for two candidates currently at the top of the polls. jeb bush and scott walker never crossed paths but did take jabs from afar. kasie hunt joins me now with more. they were never that far apart in new hampshire, but word travels fast about the different barbs. what were they saying? >> reporter: good afternoon, thomas, the granite state was the place to be this weekend, you had rick perry, ted cruz and jeb bush and scott walker all at the same time. it's clear at this point bush and walker are already sizing each other up. >> thanks so much for doing this this is my inaugural voyage. >> rep

mr. herzog said mr. netanyahu is misleading the country by declaring victory. herzog says he intends to do everything he can to form a coalition government of his own. listen -- >> translator: we don't know what the final result will be because some of the parties are just on the edge. election threshold-wise. they might clear the threshold or might fall short of the threshold. we will take every effort to form a truly social government for israel. >>> journalist greg callstrom is covering the israeli elections from tel aviv. his recent article in "foreign policy" is entitled "the last days king b.b." he joins us now live via skype. well, it does appear mr. netanyahu has trounced his opponent, isaac herr, with this dramatic turn of event. now the question whether he can successfully form a governing coalition. how will that likely play out, do you think? >> he has two routes to a governing coalition. one is to assemble a narrow center right government. for him to do that, he will need to pull in a couple of natural allies on the right. he would need the ultra or

what does herzog think of mr. netanyahu going to washington? i'll ask him. but first here is my take. washington is getting enthusiastic about idealogical warfare these days. not democrats versus republicans but rather americans versus islamists. having spent the last two weeks insisting we label jihadi terrorist islamic, many cry we must fight them on ideological front. fine. such a struggle against radical islam will be different from vast cultural struggles and will yield somewhat surprising recommendations for action. our image of an ideological war comes from the cold war, a titanic struggle between two complete world views. that struggle was so pervasive and intense because the enemies ideas were potentially attractive to anyone anywhere in the world. communism and capitalism were both secular ideologies, each trying to seduce the world's undecided into its camp. it's difficult to remember today that for decades communism was alluring to tens of millions of people. in the 1920s and '30s, many of the western world's greatest intellectual like irish play

mr. herzog says it is time to reunite. mr. netanyahu said under his watch there would not be a palestinian state. we will have full coverage of all the election results across "bbc world news" including an election special tonight. for the time being, back to you in london. >> outside a polling station in jerusalem. thank you for covering all of that for us. as he was saying the situation with the palestinians is very much at the forefront of both of the sides. marc was saying there, the union, herzog's party wants to reunite them. benjamin netanyahu doesn't. it's been a year since the peace talks broke down and six months from a devastating war in gaza. they hope the war will bring about change. from the west bank, we have this report. >> reporter: this class is the occupied west bank through the check points which is manned by israeli soldiers. this is part of israel's separation barrier. palestinians living here these have become symbols of the decades old conflict with israel. those in the best bank and east jerusalem and

mr. netanyahu trailing his main opponent isaac herzog of the zionist union. monday the prime minister made a final appeal to right-wing voters. he says if he keeps his job, he would never establish a palestinian state. mr. netanyahu had previously supported a two-state solution. >> translator: anyone who is going to establish a palestinian state, anyone who is going to evacuate territory today is simply giving a base for attack to radical islam against israel. this is the true reality that was created in the last few years. they who do. understand stick their heads in the sand. the left are doing it time and time again. >> translator: so if you are prime minister a palestinian state will not be formed? >> translator: indeed. >> palestinians say the world is now seeing the true benjamin netanyahu. chief negotiator for the palestinian authority said and i'm quoting, "netanyahu has done everything possible to bury the two-state solution. that's not something new for us. kwt" netanyahu's statement is a response to all those government who's tried to block palestin

mr. herzog said he takes the two-state solution seriously.ld give 100% effort not guaranteeing 100% outcome to a two-state solution with the palestinians. melissa: adam, thank you so much for that report. we'll stay on top of that as well. we have no breaking news right now. illinois representative aaron shock is set to reson according to "politico." the 33-year-old republican has been plagued by questions about his spending of taxpayer and campaign dollars over the last few weeks. there ace new way to send your children to school. not everyone is happening about this one. busy parents are putting their kids in an uber? you will chat this one out next. you don't want to miss this debate. >>> plus the end of the runway for gisele. why the world's biggest supermodel taking a little bit of time off. do you ever have too much gisele? i mean money? ♪ when the moment's spontaneous, why pause to take a pill? or stop to find a bathroom? cialis for daily use is approved to treat both erectile dysfunction and the urinary symptoms of bph, like needing t

mr. herzog and others running against him are chagrinned with the fact that he's here right now. >> he's about to be introduced. let's listen into the speaker of the house. >> members of congress, i have the high privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you, the prime minister of israel, his excellen excellency, benjamin netanyahu. [ applause ] >> speaker of the house john boehner, senator orrin hatch, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, house minority leader nancy pelosi and house majority leader kevin mccarthy, i also want to acknowledge senator democratic leader harry reid. harry, it's good to see you back on your feet. [ applause ] i guess it's true what they say, you can't keep a good man down. my friends, i'm deeply humbled by the opportunity to speak for a third time before the most important legislative body in the world, the u.s. congress. [ applause ] i want to thank you all for being here today. i know that my speech has been the subject of much controversy. i deeply regret that some perceive my being here as political. that was never my intention. you want to thank y

mr. herzog's promise to spend more on education, and affordable housing? what are you hearing from people on the streets? >> reporter: what i'm hearing is that it's become an untenable situation here for israelis. the average israeli dponts make enough to buy a house, the price of basic foodstuffs. they like to talk about the price of cottage cheese because cottage cheese is a very popular item. it's gotten to the point where they can't afford to bring that home for their kids. many young israelis are leaving the country after they get an education for berlin and australia. they need a shift towards more affordable housing, higher-paying jobs. greater pension funds for the elderly. and they want to see politicians address those. they're sick of elections that address hezbollah and iraq and iron iran. he want to talk about day to day realities. >> thanks very much for taking the time to speak to us this morning. >>> still to come here on cnn, as iraqi forces battle for the town of tikrit isis is making another town pay the price. we'll have the details just

mr. herzog and meeting with ayman o'day. this is a group of political parties who for the first time in israeli elections history joined together to contest the poll coming in third which is a very significant showing for this party. whatever the case, none of those three parties managed to secure the 61 seats needed to form an outright majority government, so a coalition will need to be built. >> the horse trading has already started, but what would a possible coalition look like? >> well, if we look at it through the lens of a government or a coalition rather, built by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, which it looks very certain that is what is going to happen there's two potential paths you can go down. the obvious one is more mr. netanyahu to solidify his base which essentially means building a coalition with far right coalition parties and religious parties. these are partners in his previous government and effectively would cement his control. the fact of the matter is that the situation for mr. netanyahu has

mr. herzog says that he want to repair the relationship between israel and the united states but what arether key differences? >> certainly there's a huge style in style and temperament. herzog is a mild mannered fellow. he's not charismatic but did recently well in holding together the remnants of the party and making the coalition with the lebanese center right party. they now have a slight lead in the polls. he's done a pretty good job of political and electrical engineering. and the run-up to the vote. there are clearly differences in social spending and dealing with issues of employment, housing, immigration, things like that. there doesn't seem to be much difference at all on the bigger issues in terms of israeli/palestinian peace making negotiation. herzog came up with a platform this weekend, and it doesn't really show very much difference between the netanyahu position which is very hard line to continue settlements, annex much of the west bank and jerusalem. and there's not much difference on big issues between the two leading party. so this is very much going to be decided by p

mr. herzog, what are the key differences would you say between him and netanyahu. >> in terms of internationalelations, herzog says that netanyahu has strained the relationship between israel and america. of course everybody here knows that that's critical to the security of the country. remember netanyahu's speech before congress? he was clear on thanking president barack obama. at the same time we know there's a strained relationship there. herzog has said from the very beginning that he wants to improve the relationship. he wants to work with america, with european powers to improve israel's standing in term of international elections. now the second question you asked -- over the last few days netanyahu has been saying there's foreign money trying to influence the elections. certainly there are organizations like v15 and one voice funded by jewish american billionaires pouring money in. they would like to see a change of regime and would lie to see netanyahu out. at the same time everybody is aware that netanyahu's money in large part comes -- comes from america. we actually checked the st

mr. herzog in portraying himself as the leader who can look after the security of the state and of the individualens in the state. he did also outflank the right wing party. if you look at the breakup of the vote, there was not so much a shift from the left to the right but a shift inside the right wing camp. and so they were successful in-- mr. bennett and mr. lieberman and-- his own likud party. and of course he's a con sum at complaining. -- er and did a very good job in coming up from a low position to the victory of last night. >> ifill: bob satloff did he just outcampaign his opposition? and what does that mean if he did? >> well, prime minister netanyahu is an extraordinary politician this is not the first time that israelis went to bed thinking someone else won and waking up and bebe was the winner. he knows how to pull the strings especially among the center right and the right. this time his main target were not undecideds. his main target were people further to the right than he is, to pull them into his likud party. he did it in the last couple of days. actually both main camps panick

herzog has called benjamin netanyahu and congratulated him on his election win. 99% of the votes have been counted and the results show netanyahu's likud party has taken 29 seats. the zionist union of mr 24 seats. indonesian rescue teams have called off the search for victims of the air asia plane crash in the java sea. the plane was on its way to singapore in december. all 162 people on board were killed and there are 56 bodies still unaccounted for. >>> the red cross as launched a $3.8 million emergency appeal to help vanuatu after it was devastated by cyclone pam. aid agencys are slam medical to go deliver food and water to plaintiff the remote islands hardest hit. >>> we mentioned earlier the car bombing in afghan staff. we are live in kabul with jennifer glasse to tell us more about this. jennifer, go ahead. >> reporter: that's right, the capital of the province, the car bomb meant went off. and we have been told seven civilians killed and 20 injured in that attack. they are blaming the taliban for that attack. the taliban have not claimed responsibility. but fighting between the taliban and government forces and the police in helman province has been particularly fierce even thr

mr. herzog or anyone else in opposition to prime minister netanyahu agree with this characterization? is your country occupying the west bank? are you there to make sure that the west bank doesn't turn into gaza? i talked with the prime minister saturday and i congratulated him on a decisive victory and i look forward to working with him, and he told me very clearly that he believes a two-state solution is not possible as long as the palestinian authority embraces hamas which controls the gaza strip and a terrorist organization by any reasonable definition. who do you make peace with, mr. president? what kind of deal with you make when half the palestinian people almost, are in the hands of a terrorist organization who vow to destroy you every day? what kind of deal is that? so do i want a two-state solution? yes, i'd like a two-state solution where the palestinians recognize the right of israel to exist and they have the ability to chart their own destiny. they're not anywhere near there. the palestinian community's broken into two parts. the hamas terrorist organization controls an

mr. netanyahu and at the very least his nearest challenger, isaac isaac herzog. mr. netanyahu did extremely well in this election, better than expected. it was a surprise result in that he gained over 30 seats in the poll, still far short of the 61 that he needs to have an outright majority, so he has some coalition building to do. >> as you say the horse trading has already started, but what would a possible coalition look like? >> i think if mr. netanyahu had his way, he would effectively partner up with the parties that he did in the last election, including far right parties and religious parties but we heard just briefly a comment from the u.s. president, barack obama in which he said that a path towards building a palestinian state looks unlikely, in his words. that's certainly something that is going to be something that mr. netanyahu will think about as he forms his coalition government. was, it would be very easy for him to join up with his right wing partners from the prefers government but he may want to present himself as a more doveish israeli leader. at

whose leader yitzhak herzog has conceded victory. mr.etanyahu now has to build a coalition government. while there are 120 seats in parliament which is known as the knesset, the majority of 61 is needed to form a government. the center left zionist union which initially appeared to be a strong contender gained only 24 seats. and while prime minister netanyahu's lickkud party won 30 seats. the alliance of israeli arab dominated parties came third with 14 seats. let's cross over to jerusalem, the bbc's mark lowen has been following the election and mark he's denied not only the opinion polls but also the exit polls. . >> reporter: yes against all the odds there. remarkable victory for benjamin netanyahu. the opinion polls suggest he was trailing his opposition in the exit polls late last night showed it was a neck and necktie, and israel awoke on this beautifully sunny day to find they would have a fourth term of benjamin netanyahu as prime minister. what won it for him at the end? possibly because he taxed quite hard to the right towards

mr. herzog his opponent. >> reporter: no question about that. official line from the white house is that president obama will work with whoever wins but make no mistake about it tensions between the united states and israel have never been lower during this obama administration than right now and they would love to have a new start with a new israeli prime minister. >> okay jon karl thanks very much. >> let's check in with ginger. there's serious weather condition as cross the country. >> wildfire is where we start. from woodward oklahoma the video you're about to see up to north platte nebraska major wildfires breaking out, dozens of hopes evacuated and fueled by this record high temperatures the earliest 80 plus degrees in march ever in denver. you're seeing sioux city iowa 43 degrees above average. that dogs not last long. along with the wind and the shift of the cold front, comes much colder air. these are highs today. sioux city went to 50. 40 degrees colder today. milwaukee, called a pneumonia front for a reason because it really changes t

mr. herzog has made it clear he is talking about domestic issues, the high price of food and housing. housing apparently shot up 55% between 2008 and 2012. whereas mr. netanyahu is talking more about security. >> yeah, so the social and economic issues are obviously a big deal here. and they have given rise to a whole rask of parties. it's not just herzog's party it is lapid who is the finance minister. a gentleman who heads a right of center parties is talking about social issues. there is many parties capitalizing on the social issues. netanyahu has stuck with the security shyst. that is always -- who he is and what is proven to be his most successful campaign strategy. i think it may have been a mistake. i think he should have talked more about the social and economic issues. i think he has the credentials to do so. he in these closing weeks has focused almost exclusively on security. >> what's interesting is, you know, for mr. netanyahu to come out at the 11ts hour and say no statehood for palestinians that is exactly what the obama administration has been pushing for. yesterday, o

opposition leader yitzhak herzog has called mr. netanyahu to congratulate him. >>> violent clashes between police and protesters in frankfurt where anti-capitalist campaigners are trying to disrupt the integration of the european central bank's new headquarters. >>> hello. coming up in sport, nick marshal mccormack south africa are the first team through to the world cup semifinals after a sri lanka collapse. the fallout from tuesday's champions league. tells us how they handled the pressure of penalties and the maria sharapova admits she was beaten by panetta's power and pace at end yap wells coming up in 30 minutes time. >>> yes, in 30 minutes. first, research conducted in brazil suggests babies who are breast-fed for longer become more intelligent, educated and financially successful adults. it's thought longer exposure to certain fatty acids in breast milk necessary for brain development may be boosting intelligence. >> reporter: breastfeeding can prove challenging. new mom sarah has needed support to help her and baby nathenle

mr. netanyahu's main opponent isaac herzog. and these are live images coming to us. as we said the polling stations have in fact opened. it is 7:00 local time. people are turning up we hope to cast a ballot in what could be -- we say this every time but we really mean it -- a decisive election. >> and also even after tomorrow you won't necessarily know who the prime minister's going to be because they have to form a coalition. so it's up to the king makers to decide. >> the israeli president to decide who's got the mandate. and if the president doesn't like bibi and his personal relationship it's going to be fascinating. >>> meantime russian president vladimir putin is back to business after more than a week out of the public eye. >> he joked about his absence, saying it would be boring without gossip. on monday he met with kurdistan's president. he also ordered the country's northern fleet to full alert to test its combat capabilities. >> meanwhile, president putin says he was ready to put russia's nuclear forces on alert over last year's crisis in crimye crimea. >>

mr. netanyahu's main challenger, isaac herzog of the zionist union plans to restart talks with the palestiniansfrom jerusalem. about four hours left in voting. david is founder editor of "the times of israel." we're getting statements from the prime minister with hours left to go in the polls. he says his opponents are bussing in arabs. it seems like inflammatory rhetoric. >> the arab judge who is supervising these elections saying if someone files a complaint about that statement, he'll investigate it. what you're hearing are final hours of a campaign that however it plays out certainly didn't go the way netanyahu would have wished because he called these elections. he went back to the public more than two years earlier than he needed to. i think he thought he would have an easier time than he's having in getting re-elected. >> david, you interviewed netanyahu late last week. what's your impression? what's your biggest takeaway? what is he saying about if he wins the impact and damage maybe or the impact that this has already had and his controversial speech before the american congress on the

the -- >> it's the security route which is what all the economic and social reform that herzog is going on about. >> mr. netanyahu has been in the spotlight for years. we don't know much about his opponent. >> isaac herzog a career as a politician in the knesset began in 2003 with the labor party. he knows what he wants for israel and those if his party wins. >> reporter: at israel's holiest site for jews isaac herzog said a prayer to fulfill what he calls his destiny. in a country used to warriors-turned-politicians, he seem an unlikely candidate for prime minister. >> i've always suffered from a certain underestimation. >> reporter: even his high- pitched voice has become an issue. something the mild-mannered u.s.-educated lawyer has acknowledged when he poked fun of himself in this campaign ad using someone else's voice. [ speaking native language ] >> reporter: he comes from political royalty. the israeli version of the kennedys. his grandfather, one of israel's first chief rabbis. his uncle, a revered prime minister, and his father is israel's sixth president. benjamin netanyahu, falling behind in

herzog and odey heading the joint list. a resume that joined together in a poll and coming in third. mr rivlin will decide who he will appoint to form a government. it looks all but certain that he'll ask binyamin netanyahu, who performed well in the election surpassing anybody's expectations, but mr binyamin netanyahu has a bit of a difficult choice ahead of him. he made controversial statements in the final days of the election and the final hours of the poll. those statements have caused a bit of a rift with the united states, and so mr binyamin netanyahu needs to decide if he wants a more hawkish government and forming the coalition with far right political parties and religious parties, which are his normal allies or he can do what the president wants which is form a unity government with the position leader isaac herzog and perhaps present a more dovish israeli government. whatever mr binyamin netanyahu decides we will not learn soon. he has six weeks to effectively cobble together a coalition. as we say, it will be some time before seeing the shape of israel's 34th parliament >>>

herzog. but a short time ago, mr. netanyahu pulled ahead.israel's system, voters select parties and the leaders form alliances with smaller partys to create a coalition government. earlier today mr. netanyahu made a play for votes saying right wing rule was in jeopardy and warning that israel's citizens were voting in droves. >> to prevent the rise in power of the left wing party, there's only one thing to do. close the gap. >> his opponent had been leading the polls just a few days ago. now mr. netanyahu seems to be on his way to a third term. >>> the nfl responded today a decision by linebacker chris boreland to retire from the 49ers after his rookie season. azenith tells us he's walking away from america's most popular sport due to concerns about his safety on the feel. chris boreland was by all accounts on his way to becoming one of the nfl's great. the 24-year-old is walking away from a reported $4 million three year contract for one reason. his health saying the violent sport isn't worth it. >> it doesn't to me it doesn't permit people

herzog is expected to take 24 seats. that's a significant gain for likud over early exit polling. mr. netanyahu wasted no time declaring victory. take a listen. >> translator: we won the national camp led by likud has won. we achieved the huge victory for our people. i'm proud -- i'm proud for the people of israel. >> mr. netanyahu says he has already spoken to the leaders of other parties and asked them to join a unity government. orrin hereby man joins us -- lieberman joins you live. so how he going to pull together this governing coalition whose likely to be part of this and how tortured an arrangement will it be? >> reporter: it will be a lot easier than it looked last night after exit polls. this appeared to be a very close race with the likud and zionist party looking at around 27 seats apiece. now when we see the unofficial numbers, instead of exit polling, actual results from the ballot boxes, likud and benjamin netanyahu have opened up a significant lead a five-seat lead. this just a few days after it looked like it was the other way around. the last election polls on friday

herzog's campaign has focussed on economic issues as well as improving ties with allies. mr. netanyahu has stressed national security. >> he doubled down on his appeal to conservative voters. he says if he keeps his job he would never establish a palestinian state. this is a back-pedal on his previous support for a two-state solution. listen. >> translator: anyone who is going to establish a palestinian state, anyone who is going to evacuate territories today is simply giving a base for attacks by radical islam against israel. this is the true reality. those who don't understand that are sticking their heads in the sand. >> reporter: so if you are prime minister a palestinian state will not be formed? >> translator: indeed. >> earlier, cnn spoke to the communications adviser for herzog. >> israelis are not going to be bamboozled this time. of course we have a different policy fully support the two-state solution and will take steps in that direction. herzog has said himself that he would go to ramallah and find out if there is a palestinian partner on the other side. but this

herzog. he visited jerusalem's western wall sunday. he says israelis want change and that mr.tanyahu's focus on security and threat from iran are not the priorities from voters. >>> exactly how an israeli government is formed sudden a bit of a complicated matter. a party might win the most seats in the knesset, but it doesn't mean that party will control the government coalition. orrin lieberman explains. >> reporter: israeli politics is all about where you sit in this room. this is the knesset. the israeli parliament the legislative branch of the government. of the 130 seats below me, the most important is at the center of the u, the prime minister's seat's the seats around that that determine who gets to sit there. here it is where voters don't pick a favorite politician instead they vote for a political party. no one party will win an outright majoriti. most successful part in the upcoming elections may win as few as a quarter of the seats. after the elections, the political parties meet with the president and tell the president this is who we want for prime minister this i

opposition leader herzog and odai who heads the joint list, a grouping of political parties, israeli/palestinian who joined together in a pollanding managed to do very well. in fact, coming in third mrvlin will decide who amongst them he will .to form a government. it looks all but certain that he will ask mr. netanyahu, who performed extraordinarily well in the election surpassing anybody's expectation, but mr. netanyahu has a bit of a difficult choice ahead of him. made some controversial statements in the final days of the election and the final hours of the poll. those statements have caused a bit of a rift with the united states. so mr. netanyahu needs to decide if he wants to have a more hawkish government forming the coalition with far right political parties and religious political parties which are hers normallies or he can do what the president wants, which is to form a unity government with the opposition leader t icic herzog and perhaps present a more dovishitionisi government. whatever he decides, we won't learn any time soon. he has six weeks to effectively cobble together a coalition. so, a we have been saying, it will be some time before we see the shape of israel's

mr. netenyahu himself. it seemed like a deliberate attempt to strengthen his coalition. but it really seemed like he was doing quite badly in the weeks leading up to the election. it seemed to favor isaac herzog was focusing on the economy. and that really did seem to resinate with a lot of israeli voters, but when they went to the polls and were confronted with a choice, they opted on that with mr. netenyahu. and not only mr. netenyahu, of course, we did very well securing roughly around 20 seats, 12 more than the previous election. the far-right parties also did extremely well. so the israeli public embracing, if you will the defense, i suppose issue that has dominated israeli politics for decades. and that clearly has not changed. >> thank you very much for joining us. >>> one of the other outcomes of this election is the joint list of israeli palestinian parties is now going to be the third largest political force in the israeli parliament. our correspondent is in nazareth with more. >> reporter: the joint list of mainly arab members is now the third largest political party in the israeli parliament. and it has said it will do whatever it can to try to prevent another right-wing governmen

mr. netanyahu has reached out to the leaders of other parties asking them to join him in a coalition government. >> earlier tuesday, isaac herzogults are not time. he says everything is wide open and thinks he still could be the one to form a coalition. diana is a political analyst and human rights attorney. i spoke with her earlier about the israeli vote. previously benjamin netanyahu was behind in the opinion polls and now doing a lot better than expected. he made those comments about there never being a palestinian state under his watch. how much do you think that helped him in the end? >> i think it helped him a great deal. we're talking about a country that has premised on the idea that palestinians don't have rights whether that's equal rights or the right to freedom. so i think the fact that he was saying that something that he's already been talking about for a long period of time he doesn't believe there should be a palestinian state, as well as his claims that arabs were voting in droves, as he put it are the two things that ended up working in his favor. it's racism and it's this idea that palestinians are not equals

mr yerz looks like they'll get 24. universal sports network promised not to -- binyamin netanyahu promised not to allow the palestinian state if he win, and isaac herzog talked about backing a two-state. and the small arab parties, coming under one umbrella, taking 14 seats. let's bring to together with imtiaz tyab our correspondent in west jerusalem for us. nice to see you. the process - talk us through this first of all. i mentioned before that the president will have to invite binyamin netanyahu. what happens then? >> well as soon as binyamin netanyahu is tasked to form the government, that's when the horse trading begins. mr binyamin netanyahu is entering the coalition building exercise if you will in a stronger place than he ever has. he has, as you mentioned a projected 29 or so maybe more seats in parliament. his likud party does. when you consider the fact that he has 18 going into the previous coalition, he's in a better standing. in saying that some of his far right coalition partners lost a lot of voters to likud. they'll not, from the number of seats they have in the past. many eyes are on the name or paying attention to one man. this man

the right, they have attacked isaac herzog for his comments and said his views will not serve him well politically. what does it mean politically, and what impact is mrikely to have on the march 17 elections do you think? >> well, it's not a secret that netanyahu's party, the likud, has weakened in the last couple of weeks. and therefore there is no question that the timing of this speech has to do with this current campaign. i do believe that looking at the mood of the israeli streets, the speech of addressed maybe to those 20% in the israeli population that still did not decide who to vote for. in this aspect they do have some chance to vote for the likud following the speech so it was positive. herzog on the other hand tried to contradict the speech by speaking publicly 20 minutes after netanyahu finished his speech near the gaza border, trying to pretend as if he is a security expert. this i'm afraid did not bring herring on any suspense. >> a lot of olympics breathe side. why did mr. netanyahu lobby so publicly against a sitting u.s. president and offer no alternative to the deal being worked out in regards to iran? what is his end game do you t