Jerusalem: An alliance of far-right groups, including openly racist and homophobic candidates, appears poised to enter Israel’s parliament, possibly as an indispensable member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition.
Exit polls by three main television channels after Tuesday’s general election projected the Religious Zionist Party would win six to seven seats, the best-ever showing by an extreme right-wing party.
The party includes a new incarnation of the Kahanist movement, a Jewish extremist group outlawed as terrorists by Israel, the United States and other Western countries decades ago over its incitement to violence against Arabs.
Right-wing parties support West Bank settlements and oppose concessions in peace talks with the Palestinians.
With Netanyahu and his opponents deadlocked after four elections in two years, he will likely need the group if he is to succeed in assembling a narrow majority in the 120-member Knesset.
The polls indicated that Netanyahu, his religious and nationalist allies, and a group of anti-Netanyahu parties all fell short of the majority required to form a new government. That also raised the possibility of an unprecedented fifth consecutive election later this year.
The election was widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s divisive rule. After three previous inconclusive elections, he had been hoping for a decisive victory to form a government with his traditional ultra-Orthodox and hard-line nationalist allies and seek immunity from corruption charges.
Read the article by Joseph Krauss in The Sydney Morning Herald.