Israel after the Election

After a bitter and divisive election campaign, Israel has voted to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  another term in office. With 23.40% of the vote share, the Likud Party, in Israel’s proportionate representation system, won 30 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, six more than its closest rival, Zionist Union, an alliance between Labour and Hatnuah. The pollsters who had predicted a closer race between the two were proved wrong. Likud has secured the support of 37 additional members from five parties to form the government. These parties range from the centre–right to ultra–right of the newly elected Knesset.

The election result puts paid to the hope, at least in the near term, of peace talks for settling Palestinian statehood. The concern was articulated by none other than Israel’s most dependable ally, the United States (US), where President Barack Obama said: “We believe that two states is the best path forward for Israel’s security, for Palestinian aspirations, and for regional stability […] And Prime Minister Netanyahu has a different approach.” That approach was there for the world to see in the six years that Netanyahu was in office prior to his new term. According to Peace Now, an anti-settlement non-governmental organisation (NGO), his government pursued aggressive pro-settlement policies over the 1967 Green Line, undermining the very basis of a two-state solution: construction and planning for future construction in existing West Bank settlements; legalising existing settlements, thus encouraging the practice; and record construction approvals in East Jerusalem. A day before the election, Netanyahu pledged that if he remained Prime Minister, there would be no two-state solution.