Bad penny shekel alert! It would appear that reports of former far- right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyanhu's most welcome political demise may have been premature:
Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing allies have won just enough seats to form a narrow majority in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, according to preliminary exit polls, marking a potential comeback for the country’s longest-serving and most polarizing leader.
The election on Tuesday — the fifth since 2019 — was a referendum on Netanyahu, who until last year had ruled Israel for 12 consecutive years. While critics feared a Netanyahu victory would empower the ultranationalist far right, others hoped it would mark the end of a political crisis that has paralyzed the country.
Exit polls published Tuesday night by the three main Israeli television channels showed that Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc was set to secure 61 or 62 seats, which would allow him to form a ruling coalition. The current government is helmed by centrist caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party, which was projected to get 54 or 55 seats. On Wednesday morning, about 62 percent of the votes counted showed an even more definitive edge for Netanyahu, with this right-wing bloc clinching 62 seats, according to all three channels, enough to form a narrow majority in the 120-seat Parliament.
The far-right bloc that has joined Netanyahu’s coalition, known as Religious Zionism, was predicted to win 14 or 15 seats — an unprecedented showing for a movement once considered too extreme for the political mainstream.
The comparisons with his pal and alter ego in American politics, the Malignant Loser, are all there: the corruption, the mania for power, the far- right/religio-fascist politics (in Israel, Netanyahu's Religious Zionism party parallels with Christian Nationalism here). Bibi is arguably more dangerous for his country's future because, unlike the Malignant Loser, he isn't a toddler and he has a working brain. Should he stage a comeback, it will go counter to the most recent rejection of authoritarian right politics -- the outcome of the presidential election in Brazil, where another Trumpy politician was ousted. One step forward, one step back.
(Photo: Matching red ties like peas in a pod/ AP)
