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Analysis

Jewish News: How Netanyahu did it again, by Toby Greene

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Israeli elections usually defy pollsters predictions, but Tuesday’s result is especially surprising. The Israeli political commentariat widely anticipated a poor showing for Likud, claiming the party looked jaded and its leader out of touch. Even Netanyahu himself appeared to fear disaster. But he won back voters supporters with a late campaign blitz in which he stressed security threats facing Israel, and convinced voters that wanted him to remain prime minister that his premiership was in danger. His surge came mainly at the expense of other right wing parties, especially Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home and the hard-right Yahad, the latter failing to reach the threshold.

Consequently, the balance between left, centre and right is not very different from that predicted, but critically, Likud is by far the largest party. Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog’s hopes to receive a presidential nomination to form a government depended on emerging as leader of clearly the largest party. There is a conceivable ‘anyone but Bibi’ coalition that could be formed around Herzog, but it would require strange bedfellows, and would seem out of step with the expressed will of the public.

The fact that Zionist Union finished so far behind Likud will be seen as a failure. The party won close to the total it had been predicted by pollsters, and its  24 seats is more that Labour and Livni’s Hatnua won separately in 2013 (21). But the campaign did not convince enough voters that they offered a credible alternative to Netanyahu.

Read the article in full at Jewish News.