Netanyahu and his allies appear to be heading for election victory in Israel | NOW

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party and its political allies are leading the elections in Israel. According to exit polls, Netanyahu and his bloc have a majority of 67 of the 120 seats in parliament.

But exit polls should be taken with a grain of salt. They got it wrong in the previous elections. Even then, it was thought that Netanyahu’s coalition would win a majority, but that did not happen.

In fact, Netanyahu failed to form a government. His opponents managed to do so, after which the former prime minister found himself in opposition. But the bloc that opposed Netanyahu also crumbled. As a result, Israelis had to go to the polls yesterday for the fifth time in four years.

Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party appears to be the largest party again with some 30 seats, followed by incumbent Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid. To form a government, Netanyahu will seek support from far-right parties.

“The voters have shown us their immense confidence,” Netanyahu said Tuesday evening. “We are heading for a huge win.”

Netanyahu, now 73, served as prime minister in the 1990s and also between 2009 and 2021, making him the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history. He has also been involved in several corruption cases for years. His supporters call it a witch hunt. They see Netanyahu as the only leader capable of ensuring political stability.

The expected election result shows “emerging extremism” in the Jewish state, according to Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. The gains of Netanyahu’s bloc, which he describes as the “religious far right”, are due to “growing extremism and racism in Israeli society”. “It proves that we don’t have a peace partner,” Shtayyeh said.