ISRAEL: Netanyahu Fails To Win Majority In Knesset

Politico Europe reports:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies failed to garner a majority of seats in Israel’s legislature, as Israelis went to the ballot boxes for the second time in a year on Tuesday following an inconclusive election in April.

With 92 percent of votes counted, the prime minister’s Likud party is set to take a total of 32 seats, with its right-wing and ultra-Orthodox allies winning a further 24 seats, falling short of the 61 seats required for a majority in Israel’s 120-seat legislature.

The election results have raised new questions about Netanyahu’s political future. The prime minister is already facing a possible indictment over corruption charges, and his failure to lead Israel’s right-wing camp to victory could further erode his position.

Haaretz reports:

After a crude and thuggish campaign, in which he trampled the election laws alongside his son, who attacked every government institution, it looks as though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is closer than ever to losing power.

If the TV exit polls did not fall victim to an extreme tsunami of lies, then as of Tuesday night the Netanyahu era as we have known it in the past decade is over.

Only on Thursday afternoon, at the earliest, will we know for certain whether the man who for the past 111 days has been waging the battle of his life – in political and mainly in personal and legal terms – is about to lose his entire world.

The Jerusalem Post reports:



The posters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv awkwardly remain, like January Christmas decorations or a November sukka.

The results of Tuesday’s election appeared to indicate that the slogan “Netanyahu: In Another League” was not as persuasive as the creative minds in Likud envisioned. But maybe it was not the slogan that was ineffective but the relationship itself of Netanyahu and Trump.

If Trump lost the election for Netanyahu, it would prove once again that Israeli and American politics are hopelessly intertwined, whether or not they are in another league.