After a brief stint in opposition, Benyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and their far-right allies have bucked the pollsters’ predictions of an electoral stalemate and look set to take power with a majority in the Knesset (the Israeli parliament). It will be the most right-wing government since the founding of the state in 1948.
Many observers, including the International Crisis Group, believe the new government is likely to take a hardline, ideologically driven approach to the Palestinians,which recently declared: “Not only will the yet-to-be-formed government almost certainly step up Israel’s policy of de facto annexation of the occupied territories, it may go beyond that”.
It is thought the coalition is likely to push a narrow and sectarian view of Jewish identity, turn a blind eye to corruption in its ranks and engage in inflammatory rhetoric and acts. This approach is likely to push Israel into another cycle of violence with the Palestinians as well as leading to increased political violence within Israeli society itself as left and right drift ever further apart.
