It looks very much as if Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Benyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, will soon be back in office. The results of the 2022 elections (the fifth in four years) give his bloc a clear lead in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
In each of the four elections, Netanyahu has made himself the main issue. It’s an issue that has cut across traditional left-right divisions – which in June last year produced a coalition government that stretched from the hard right through to the left. This coalition was essentially united on one issue – that Netanyahu, who is standing trial on corruption charges, should be kept out of office.
This unlikely alliance had a wafer-thin majority of one, but was unique in Israeli history in representing a government backed by an Arab party, the Islamist Ra’am. It managed just 17 months in office.
