Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing coalition appears headed to victory in Israel’s parliamentary elections. Against the backdrop of his ongoing bribery and corruption trial, the win may provide him with a badly needed get out of jail card. But he is not the election’s biggest winner. That honour goes to Israel’s Religious Zionism party.
The results offer them a place in the sun and political legitimacy. They have moved from the fringe to the mainstream, with 15 seats in the 120-member Knesset. “The time has come for us to reassert ownership of this state,” the neo-Kahanist Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the party, told his fans.
