Benjamin Netanyahu Returns, and the Israeli Prime Minister Admits Loss

Following Yair Lapid’s capitulation, Benjamin Netanyahu, a former prime minister, will likely create the most right-wing administration in Israeli history.
The interim prime minister of Israel, Yair Lapid, congratulated Benjamin Netanyahu on his “win” on Thursday, admitting loss two days after the election.
With Lapid’s surrender, he now has the opportunity to establish what could be the most right-wing administration in Israeli history.
According to the Central Elections Committee, up to 99 percent of votes have been counted, and the results show that the right-wing group led by the seasoned hawk won the majority of the vote in the country’s fifth election in four years.
According to a statement from the premier’s office, Prime Minister Lapid congratulated Opposition Leader Benjamin on his victory in the elections and informed him that he had given his whole staff the go-ahead to arrange a smooth transfer of power.
The extraordinary period of political gridlock was about to come to an end as Religious Zionism, Netanyahu’s Likud party, and its ultra-Orthodox Jewish supporters were poised to win a commanding majority in Israel’s 120-seat Knesset.
Rival to Netanyahu fiercely, Lapid had earlier advised followers of his centrist Yesh Atid party to hold off on making any decisions until all votes had been tabulated.
The group that backs Netanyahu continued to have 64 seats when the final votes were being counted. In order to gain at least four seats, the tiny left-wing Meretz party needed to poll 3.25 percent of the vote, although it was likely that they would fall short.
The 73-year-old finally completed his comeback after 14 months of opposition. On Monday, the trial will resume in court. He continues to be accused of corruption, which he denies.
coalition negotiations
Netanyahu reportedly has already begun talking to potential coalition partners regarding the make-up of a new government, according to Israeli media, but his Likud party has not yet confirmed this information.
President Isaac Herzog will allow Benjamin Netanyahu 42 days to form a government next Monday, with victory all but assured.
The burden of allocating cabinet positions to his coalition partners will then fall to Netanyahu, who has held the position of premier for the longest period of time in Israel’s 74-year history.
The co-leaders of the far-right Religious Zionism party, which is anticipated to win 14 seats and therefore double its representation from the last parliament, will undoubtedly play significant roles in this.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, a flamboyant figure known for his anti-Arab vitriol and vehement demands that Israel acquire the whole West Bank, has declared his desire to become the country’s minister of He applied for public security, which would place him in charge of the police.
Ben-Gvir has urged the security services to use more force in the previous days to quell Palestinian uprising.
Ben-Gvir declared on election night that it was time for us to reclaim our position as the nation’s rulers.
Bezalel Smotrich of religious Zionism has stated his desire to serve as defense minister.
While Britain demanded that all politicians “refrain from inflammatory language” and respect minorities, the US State Department expressed covert alarm over the possibility of far-right ministers in a future coalition administration.
Israeli researcher Yossi Klein Halev told AFP that Netanyahu “will have a hard time controlling his new collaborators” at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.
Arab rift
Tuesday’s vote took place against a backdrop of escalating violence in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed.
The break among Arab parties, which ran as three separate groupings rather than the unified list that helped them gain a record number of seats in March 2020, was considered as a major factor supporting Netanyahu.
Separately, as not every faction met the requirement for representation in parliament, their votes were ineffective.
Even though his party was slated to be excluded from parliament, Sami Abou Shahadeh, the leader of the Balad party that opposes all collaboration with Israeli governments, defended the choice to run independently.
“We may be losing seats in the Knesset, but we earned the love of our people,” he proclaimed.