Not all the votes have been counted yet, but right-wing conservative opposition leader Netanyahu can already feel like the clear winner of the election. His Likud party became the strongest force in parliament. For the first time in Israel’s history, a right-wing extremist alliance took third place.
After almost 85 percent of the votes were counted, a clear election victory for the right-wing conservative opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu is emerging in Israel. According to Israeli media reports, his right-wing religious camp secured a majority of 65 of the 120 seats in the parliament (Knesset). The Likud party of the 73-year-old, against whom corruption proceedings are ongoing, was said to be the strongest party with 31 seats in parliament.
Liberal Prime Minister Jair Lapid’s Future Party came second with 24 seats. For the first time in Israel’s history, an extreme right-wing alliance made third place. The Religious Zionist Party of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir is seen as the kingmaker for Netanyahu.
The left-liberal Meretz party and the Arab Balad party, on the other hand, could fail at the 3.25 percent hurdle. The preliminary final result is expected by Thursday. The turnout was comparatively high. When the polling stations closed at 9 p.m. (CET) on Tuesday evening, it was 71.3 percent of the approximately 6.8 million eligible voters.
For Netanyahu, it would be the second comeback to the post of prime minister. In Israel’s history, no one has held office longer than he. The right-wing conservative politician was Prime Minister from 1996 to 1999, then again continuously from 2009 to 2021. With his replacement last year by Naftali Bennett at the head of an eight-party coalition, the Netanyahu era was initially considered over. However, the coalition of parties from the right to the left broke up in June after internal disputes. Foreign Minister Lapid then took over the post of head of government.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtaje has described the shift to the right in the Israeli elections as a “natural result of years of growing extremism and racism in Israeli society.” “We had no illusions that the Israeli election would produce a peace partner,” he said in a statement.
Shtaje said he saw the difference between the various Israeli parties “like the difference between Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola.” The Palestinian Prime Minister stressed that his people will continue to fight against the Israeli occupation and for the establishment of an independent state. He called on the international community to “protect our people against aggressive Israeli policies after racist parties took power in Israel.”
In 1967, Israel conquered the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in the Six-Day War. The UN classifies the areas as occupied. The Palestinians want them for their own state of Palestine – with East Jerusalem as the capital. The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians has been idle since 2014.
