In some ways, Tuesday’s election looked drearily familiar to voters in Israel – inevitably so, as the fifth in less than four years. Once again, it was fought to a large degree on whether Benjamin Netanyahu, still on trial for corruption, is fit for office. The official results will not be declared until next week, and tiny shifts in votes could push smaller parties over the threshold for representation, which can be critical in the usually drawn out process of coalition-building. Nonetheless, it seems extremely likely that Mr Netanyahu will be back as prime minister once more, with a small majority in the 120-seat Knesset, after a brief interregnum.
Yet the results so far are also deeply shocking. They mark the triumph of the racist far right, in the form of Mr Netanyahu’s Religious Zionist allies, who want the deportation of “disloyal” Palestinian citizens of Israel and the annexation of the occupied West Bank. They are not only Mr Netanyahu’s partners, but his creation: he brought three far-right parties on to the same slate, welcoming them into the mainstream. Itamar Ben-Gvir, second on the list, is an anti-Arab former follower of the banned Kach terrorist group, with a conviction for inciting racism. Until his 2019 Knesset run, he had a picture of Baruch Goldstein – who massacred 29 Muslim worshippers in Hebron – in his living room. For years he was politically untouchable. Thanks to Mr Netanyahu, he now dominates the third-largest political force in Israel, and is expected to become a senior minister.
