Israeli election too close to call as polls close

Voting ended Tuesday in Israel's parliamentary elections with the top two parties locked in a virtual tie.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party and Isaac Herzog's center-left Zionist Union were projected to hold 27 seats apiece in the 120-seat Knesset, according to exit polls from two major TV stations. A third exit poll gave Likud a 28-27 edge. In a brief Facebook post, Netanyahu called the preliminary results "a great victory for the Likud," though the outcome remained too close to call.

With his support lagging in the election's closing days, Netanyahu made a last-minute appeal to right-wing voters by proclaiming there would never be a Palestinian state on his watch. And in a bid to goose turnout among that same bloc, he warned Tuesday on Facebook that Israeli Arabs were voting in "huge amounts."

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