Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was yesterday poised to return to power, saying that his right-wing camp was on the cusp of a resounding election win.
With roughly 70 percent of votes counted, Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party and its likely religious and far-right allies were on pace to control a majority in parliament. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s short-lived ruling coalition that hailed largely from the center-left appeared to collapse.
“We have won a huge vote of confidence from the people of Israel,” a smiling Netanyahu told cheering supporters at his election headquarters. “We are on the brink of a very big victory.”
Photo: AFP
His voice hoarse from weeks of campaigning across the country, Netanyahu vowed to form a “stable, national government,” as the crowd interrupted him singing: “Bibi, king of Israel.”
Although the landscape could shift as the ballot count trickles in, the partial tally showed Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption he denies, leading a bloc of four parties taking 67 of the Knesset’s 120 seats.
Less than 18 months out of office, Netanyahu said he would wait for official results.
The record 12-year consecutive reign of Israel’s longest serving prime minister ended in June last year when centrist Lapid managed to stitch together an unlikely coalition government of liberals, rightists and Arab parties.
However, the fragile alliance unraveled a year into its rule.
Lapid has stopped short of conceding the election and said he would wait until the final count.
“The people want a different way. They want security,” Netanyahu said, “They want power, not weakness ... they want diplomatic wisdom, but with firmness.”
Israel’s fifth election in less than four years was dominated by the outsized personality of Netanyahu, whose legal battles have fed the stalemate blocking Israel’s political system since 2019, and deepened the split between his supporters and opponents.
The campaign was shaken up by firebrand West Bank settler Itamar Ben-Gvir and his ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism list, now set to be the third-largest party in parliament after surging in from the political margins.
Netanyahu has been counting on support from Ben-Gvir and fellow far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich.
However, the prospect of a government including Ben-Gvir risks alarming allies, including Washington. He is a former member of Kach, a group on Israeli and US terrorist watchlists, and was once convicted for racist incitement.
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