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The most righteous government Israel has ever had

He is back.

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The most righteous government Israel has ever had

He is back. After a year in opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu looks set to return to power. The last votes in the election in Israel are still being counted, but one thing is already clear: Netanyahu's Likud is the strongest party. And the right-wing bloc gets the most seats in parliament.

"King Bibi", as he is called by his supporters, has a good chance of being able to form a coalition with him at the top. And to improve his record as the longest serving prime minister to date.

After more than a year of opposition, Benjamin Netanyahu could face a return to the post of prime minister, according to forecasts in Israel. In the fifth parliamentary election within three and a half years, his right-wing religious camp achieved a narrow majority.

Source: WORLD

When Netanyahu appeared in front of his voters on Wednesday night, he was unusually reserved. He promised to form a balanced and responsible government, to govern "wisely" and without adventure. And: He will "reduce flames of public discourse," said the election winner. A few hours earlier he had stoked her vigorously.

Because until the very end, it had looked as if the Arab Balad party could still climb over the 3.25 percent hurdle and the Netanyahu camp would thus lose the forecast narrow majority in the Knesset. As a precaution, Netanyahu began spreading the tale of alleged irregularities in polling stations in Arab communities in the late evening hours via Twitter.

The police and the election commission denied this, but that didn't stop him from posting more false reports. Apparently, Netanyahu was planning a Trump-like maneuver in case his alliance failed to gain a majority. Then he could have claimed that the election victory had been “stolen” from him.

Now that all signs are pointing to victory, he is suddenly statesmanlike forgiving. Netanyahu, who already has 13 years of experience as head of government in various coalitions, is an extremely skilled power politician. He never chooses a word without thought. When he now talks about wanting to quench the "flames" of hate-filled public debates, he is also addressing the international audience. Because concerns are already being raised from all quarters that Netanyahu is planning to form a coalition with an arsonist.

The far-right party alliance Religious Zionism is the sensational success of this fifth election in less than four years. The association of national-religious parties got around 14 seats in the Knesset almost out of nowhere. The common ideological core of the alliance consists of anti-Arab racism and homophobia. This is accompanied by a pronounced skepticism about the judiciary, to put it mildly.

The right-wing extremists around the politicians Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich make no secret of the fact that they want to expel Arab residents of Israel and restructure the democratic system. In their opinion, the Supreme Court should no longer be able to overturn laws.

The government, on the other hand, should be given the power to fill the bench with ideologically acceptable candidates. And for Netanyahu, they want to water down the country's corruption laws so that the case against him will be dropped.

The corruption process in which the ex-prime minister has to answer is one of the reasons why former parties on the centre-right spectrum, who are actually politically closer to him, no longer want to form a coalition with him. Netanyahu is therefore unlikely to avoid forming a coalition with the right-wing extremists, although he does not have much in common with them – apart from the goal of weakening the judiciary.

The settler Itamar Ben-Gvir is the best-known face of the far-right party alliance Religious Zionism. In the past he has been convicted of sedition for his anti-Arab rhetoric.

The 46-year-old, who recently asked police officers to shoot at Palestinians throwing stones, wants to become police minister. His rise, which Netanyahu himself pushed, is viewed with concern abroad, especially in Arabic-speaking countries.

The United Arab Emirates even warned Netanyahu that such extremists' participation in the government would jeopardize relations between Israel and its Arab allies. Two years ago, the Emirates and Bahrain, among others, signed the so-called Abraham Agreements with Israel and thus officially entered into relations with the Jewish state. According to Israeli media reports, Netanyahu replied that he would manage the matter.

The next few weeks should show whether he is capable of doing so. Ben-Gvir's supporters celebrated the election predictions in Jerusalem by throwing stones at Palestinian cars and chanting "death to the terrorists".

Should Netanyahu actually form a coalition of ultra-Orthodox and ultra-nationalist parties, as predicted, the coming government would be the most right-wing Israel has ever had. Unlike the previous grand coalition, Arabs would not be represented and women would be severely underrepresented.

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