Netanyahu's Likud and right-wing allies appeared to have beaten a bloc of parties on the left. The unofficial results mean Netanyahu will likely be able to form a coalition.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Weiken
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set early Wednesday to secure a record fifth term in office with the support of right-wing parties, according to near complete unofficial election results.
Netanyahu's Likud and the rival centrist Blue and White, led by former military chief Benny Gantz, were on pace to receive 35 Knesset seats each in the 120-seat parliament.
However, Likud and its allied right-wing and religious parties were set to win 65 seats, beating the leftist bloc. The results mean that Netanyahu appeared to have a mandate to form a coalition.
"I was very moved that the nation of Israel once again entrusted me for the fifth time, and with an even greater trust," Netanyahu told supporters. "I want to make it clear, it will be a right-wing government, but I intend to be the prime minister of all Israeli citizens, right or left, Jews and non-Jews alike," he said.
The election outcome confirmed Israeli politics' continued shift to the right in a highly divisive election overshadowed by Netanyahu's legal troubles. The next government is likely to be the most right-wing in the country’s history.
Divisive election
Despite issuing a conciliatory message, Netanyahu's campaign was characteristic of his divisive and fearmongering style. He repeatedly rallied right-wing voters by accusing Gantz of conspiring with Arab parties, warned of the dangers posed by "leftists" and assaulted the judiciary and media.
He also touted his close relationship with US President Donald Trump, who has recognized Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
On Wednesday, Trump said that he'd called Netanyahu to offer his congratulations, saying that Netanyahu's electoral win improves the chances of success for a US peace plan in the Middle East.
"Everybody said you can't have peace in the Middle East with Israel and Palestinians. I think we have a chance and I think we now have a better chance," he said.
Golan Heights Recognition
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In the final days of the campaign, Netanyahu for the first time pledged to annex parts of the occupied West Bank to energize right-wing voters. Such a move would effectively end the prospect of peace with the Palestinians. Critics say it would challenge the concept that Israel is both Jewish and democratic.
Arab leaders accused Netanyahu of demonizing the country's Arab community, which accounts for about 20% of the population. Turnout for the election among the Arab community was low. The Arab-majority Hadash-Ta'al party secured six seats in the Knesset.
The vote occurred as Netanyahu faces possible corruption and bribery charges that he has described as a "witch hunt." To avoid prosecution, he is expected to demand his coalition partners back him if he is indicted and find a way to grant him immunity.
A narrow right-wing government majority may allay some of the prime minister's legal woes, but it will put him at the head of an unstable coalition with smaller partners seeking to extract political concessions.
A history of the Middle East peace process
For over half a century, disputes between Israelis and Palestinians over land, refugees and holy sites remain unresolved. DW gives you a short history of when the conflict flared and when attempts were made to end it.
UN Security Council Resolution 242, 1967
United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, passed on November 22, 1967, called for the exchange of land for peace. Since then, many of the attempts to establish peace in the region have referred to 242. The resolution was written in accordance with Chapter VI of the UN Charter, under which resolutions are recommendations, not orders.
Image: Getty Images/Keystone
Camp David Accords, 1978
A coalition of Arab states, led by Egypt and Syria, fought Israel in the Yom Kippur or October War in October 1973. The conflict eventually led to the secret peace talks that yielded two agreements after 12 days. This picture from March 26, 1979, shows Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, his US counterpart Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after signing the accords in Washington.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/B. Daugherty
The Madrid Conference, 1991
The US and the former Soviet Union came together to organize a conference in the Spanish capital. The discussions involved Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinians — not from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) — who met with Israeli negotiators for the first time. While the conference achieved little, it did create the framework for later, more productive talks.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Hollander
Oslo I Accord, 1993
The negotiations in Norway between Israel and the PLO, the first direct meeting between the two parties, resulted in the Oslo I Accord. The agreement was signed in the US in September 1993. It demanded that Israeli troops withdraw from West Bank and Gaza Strip and a self-governing, interim Palestinian authority be set up for a five-year transitional period. A second accord was signed in 1995.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Sachs
Camp David Summit Meeting, 2000
US President Bill Clinton invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to the retreat in July 2000 to discuss borders, security, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem. Despite the negotiations being more detailed than ever before, no agreement was concluded. The failure to reach a consensus at Camp David was followed by renewed Palestinian uprising, the Second Intifada.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/R. Edmonds
The Arab Peace Initiative, 2002
The Camp David negotiations were followed first by meetings in Washington and then in Cairo and Taba, Egypt — all without results. Later the Arab League proposed the Arab Peace Initiative in Beirut in March 2002. The plan called on Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders so that a Palestinian state could be set up in the West Bank and Gaza. In return, Arab countries would agree to recognize Israel.
Image: Getty Images/C. Kealy
The Roadmap, 2003
The US, EU, Russia and the UN worked together as the Middle East Quartet to develop a road map to peace. While Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas accepted the text, his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon had more reservations with the wording. The timetable called for a final agreement on a two-state solution to be reached in 2005. Unfortunately, it was never implemented.
Image: Getty Iamges/AFP/J. Aruri
Annapolis, 2007
In 2007, US President George W. Bush hosted a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to relaunch the peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took part in talks with officials from the Quartet and over a dozen Arab states. It was agreed that further negotiations would be held with the goal of reaching a peace deal by the end of 2008.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Thew
Washington, 2010
In 2010, US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to and implement a 10-month moratorium on settlements in disputed territories. Later, Netanyahu and Abbas agreed to relaunch direct negotiations to resolve all issues. Negotiations began in Washington in September 2010, but within weeks there was a deadlock.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Milner
Cycle of escalation and ceasefire continues
A new round of violence broke out in and around Gaza in late 2012. A ceasefire was reached between Israel and those in power in the Gaza Strip, which held until June 2014. The kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June 2014 resulted in renewed violence and eventually led to the Israeli military operation Protective Edge. It ended with a ceasefire on August 26, 2014.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Paris summit, 2017
Envoys from over 70 countries gathered in Paris, France, to discuss the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Netanyahu slammed the discussions as "rigged" against his country. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian representatives attended the summit. "A two-state solution is the only possible one," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at the opening of the event.
Image: Reuters/T. Samson
Deteriorating relations in 2017
Despite the year's optimistic opening, 2017 brought further stagnation in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A deadly summer attack on Israeli police at the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims, sparked deadly clashes. Then US President Donald Trump's plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem prompted Palestinian leader Abbas to say "the measures ... undermine all peace efforts."
Image: Reuters/A. Awad
Trump's peace plan backfires, 2020
US President Donald Trump presented a peace plan that freezes Israeli settlement construction but retains Israeli control over most of the illegal settlements it has already built. The plan would double Palestinian-controlled territory but asks Palestinians to cross a red line and accept the previously constructed West Bank settlements as Israeli territory. Palestinians reject the plan.
Image: Reuters/M. Salem
Conflict reignites in 2021
Plans to evict four families and give their homes in East Jerusalem to Jewish settlers led to escalating violence in May 2021. Hamas fired over 2,000 rockets at Israel, and Israeli military airstrikes razed buildings in the Gaza Strip. The international community, including Germany's Foreign Ministry, called for an end to the violence and both sides to return to the negotiating table.
Image: Mahmud Hams/AFP
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At least 11 parties to enter parliament
In other results, Tuesday's vote saw the Labor party, which ruled the country for its first 30 years, crumble to only six seats. The secular, pro-two state solution Meretz party won four seats, as did the Arab Balad party.
The ultra-Orthodox religious political parties Shas and United Torah Judaism won eight seats each, while Yisrael Beiteinu, led by former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, won five seats. The Rightest Union secured five seats, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu party won four seats.
In another surprise, Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked's newly formed far-right New Right party were on the cusp of falling below the 3.5% election threshold to enter parliament.
Zehut, a far-right libertarian party that supports the legalization of marijuana, also failed to pass the electoral threshold.
What's next?
Once final results are announced, President Reuven Rivlin will task the party leader most likely to gain the support of other parties to form a coalition. The prime minister candidate will then have 28 days to do so, with a possible two week extension.
