Netanyahu Poised To Regain Israel Leadership

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared headed toward victory Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, with 80% of the ballots from national elections counted that showed voters giving him and his far-right allies what looks like a stable majority in parliament, Tia Goldenberg reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: The vote, like past elections, was tight but initial indications showed Netanyahu was headed back to the premiership with a firm majority in Israel’s 120-seat parliament.

Votes were still being counted and results were not final. But if Netanyahu’s fascist allies win, Israel will have its most right-wing government bolstered by the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, whose members prattle anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and promote ethnic cleansing.

Far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Religious Zionism, which emerged as the third-largest party, promotes the ideology of racist rabbi Meir Kahane, who was banned from parliament and whose Kach party was branded a terrorist group by the US before he was assassinated in New York in 1990, Ilan Ben Zion and Josef Federman also reported for AP.

Kahane’s agenda called for banning intermarriage between Arabs and Jews, stripping Arabs of Israeli citizenship, and expelling large numbers of Palestinians. It advocates a Jews-only Israel.

The initial results pointed to a Kahanist shift, dimming hopes for peace with the Palestinians and setting the stage for conflict with the Biden administration and Israel’s supporters in the US.

The early results also showed that Netanyahu had overcome his detractors, who said he was not fit to rule while on trial for corruption and have refused to sit with him in government. Netanyahu’s partners have promised to help him evade a conviction.

“We are on the verge of a very big victory,” Netanyahu, 73, told supporters at a gathering in Jerusalem early Wednesday. “I will establish a nationalist government that will see to all Israeli citizens without any exceptions.”

Elections officials worked through the night tallying votes and by Wednesday morning, nearly 80% of the ballots had been counted.

The vote, like past elections, was tight but initial indications showed Netanyahu was headed back to the premiership with a firm majority in Israel’s 120-seat parliament, Joseph Krauss also reported for AP.

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