Israel was poised for a shift to the right after Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory in the country’s election, firing the starting gun on tough coalition talks.
At the negotiating table will be the Otzma Yehudit party, whose leader was banned from running in the election over racist remarks and which has called for Arabs to be expelled from Israel.
Also present will be two Ultra-Orthodox parties – Shas and United Torah Judaism, both long-term allies of Netanyahu – who increased their seats at this election.
But the likely king-maker will be the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party which has already started playing hardball by threatening to deny Netanyahu his majority.
Under Israel’s complex proportional representation voting system, no single party has ever won enough seats to claim a majority, so victory depends on intricate alliances between disparate groups.
Netanyahu’s Likud party and their likely allies walked away from the vote with 65 seats, compared to 45 for rival Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party and their allies.
Two Arab parties picked up a total of 10 seats.
While the result puts Netanyahu in prime position to form the next government, the vote saw the make-up of his future coalition shift since the last election in 2015.
Some of the Prime Minister’s tradition allies – such as the New Right party – were kicked out of the Knesset and replaced with more extreme alternatives.
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Chief among them is the Union of Right-Wing Parties, itself comprised of three smaller parties – The Jewish Home, Tkuma, and Otzma Yehudit – the latter of which is known for its harsh views towards Israeli Arabs.
The party’s leader, Ben-Ari, was banned from running in the 2019 race for ‘incitement to racism’ after he branded Israeli Arabs ‘enemies’.
A sticking point during talks will be what role, if any, Otzma Yehudit gets in the new government.
Netanyahu himself lobbied the union to include Otzma in its ranks during the election to avoid splitting the right-wing vote.
He also showed his willingness to compromise to their demands after saying on the campaign trail that he would annex Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Rafi Peretz, leader of the union, demanded two ministerial roles on Wednesday in return for backing Netanyahu and refused to rule out a role in parliament for Otzma.
Meanwhile the Yisrael Beytenu party began leveraging the five seats it won by refusing to back Netanyahu until ‘clear answers’ are given over the direction of the new government.
Party leader Avigdor Liberman told the Times of Israel that he would not back Gantz, but would also not commit to backing Netanyahu.
Should Yisrael back out of the talks it would bring Netanyahu’s seat-share down to 60, denying him a majority.
The biggest losers on election night were the New Right party, which contains two former senior ministers, and the ‘dark horse’ Zehut party, run by a pro-cannabis libertarian, who both failed to garner enough votes to enter parliament.
New Right leader Naftali Bennett was still holding out hope on Wednesday morning that the uncounted 3 per cent of ballots would contain enough votes for his party to squeak into the Knesset, as they were just 4,300 short.
But even if his party does secure the required votes, it will do little to change the outcome of the election, because he is allied to Netanyahu. (DailyMail)
