Israel’s former premier Benjamin Netanyahu is poised for a return to power, claiming a “huge vote of confidence” from voters and declaring his right-wing camp is on the cusp of a resounding election win.
With roughly 70 per cent of votes counted, Netanyahu’s conservative Likud and its likely religious and far-right allies were on pace to control a majority in parliament after Israel’s fifth election in less than four years.
“We are on the brink of a very big victory,” a smiling Netanyahu told cheering supporters at his Likud party election headquarters on Wednesday, his voice hoarse from weeks of campaigning.
Netanyahu’s alliance with far-right firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose Religious Zionism bloc is on course to become the third-largest party, has alarmed Palestinians and drawn concern among some allies, including the United States.
But Netanyahu, whose position appeared to have strengthened after early exit polls showed him with only a razor-thin majority, vowed to form a “stable, national government,” as the crowd interrupted him singing “Bibi, king of Israel.”
The former premier, who in 2020 forged formal diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, said a government under his leadership would act responsibly, avoid “unnecessary adventures” and “expand the circle of peace”.
Read the article by Maayan Lubell in The Canberra Times.