Israel's Netanyahu secures election victory - Israeli TV channels

By Jeffrey Heller and Maayan Lubell

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara react as they stand on stage following the announcement of exit polls in Israel's parliamentary election at the party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has won the Israeli national election, securing a record fifth term in office despite running neck in neck with his challenger Benny Gantz, the country's three main television channels said on Wednesday.

 

With 97 percent of the votes counted, neither of the candidates' parties had captured a ruling majority, but Netanyahu was clearly in a strong position to form a coalition government with other right-wing factions that have backed him.

 

The closely contested race was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on Netanyahu's character and record in the face of corruption allegations. He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all of them.

 

The veteran right-wing leader's Likud party and Gantz's new centrist Blue and White party both won 35 seats, according to the Knesset website and the Israeli TV channels. That would mean a five-seat gain for Likud.

 

"It is a night of colossal victory," the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters, while cautioning that a "long night and possibly day" lay ahead awaiting official results.

 

Fireworks flared behind him as his wife Sara applauded and kissed him. "He's a magician," the crowd chanted.

 

Final results were expected by Friday.

 

If he wins, Netanyahu, 69, will be on track to be the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's 71-year history. Netanyahu said he had already begun talks with prospective coalition allies.

 

Netanyahu, in power consecutively since 2009, has been fighting for his political survival. He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all three.

 

Rival Gantz, 59, earlier had also claimed victory, citing preliminary exit polls that were published soon after voting ended on Tuesday showed his party had won more seats than Likud.

 

"We are the victors," said Gantz, a former military chief fighting his first election. "We want to thank Benjamin Netanyahu for his service to the nation."

 

Despite both men claiming victory on Tuesday night, a clearer picture emerged by Wednesday morning as the results began streaming in, painting Netanyahu as the winner.

 

NETANYAHU HIGHLIGHTS TRUMP TIES

During the campaign, the rival parties accused each other of corruption, fostering bigotry and being soft on security.

 

Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy to the holy city last May.

 

Two weeks before the election, Trump signed a proclamation, with Netanyahu at his side at the White House, recognising Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

 

In a rare turn during the race towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu further alarmed Palestinians by promising to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. Palestinians seek a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

 

During the campaign, Gantz said a government under his stewardship would pursue peace, but stopped short of committing to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

 

Commenting on the election, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said: "Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said no to peace and yes to the occupation".

 

The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014.

 

Trump is expected to release his administration's long-awaited Middle East peace plan after the election. If it includes Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, Netanyahu’s probable far-right coalition allies will likely object.

 

A close result in the election would put smaller parties in a powerful position, turning marginal political figures into kingmakers.

 

Once the votes are tallied, President Reuven Rivlin will ask parties that have won parliamentary seats who they support for prime minister. He will then pick a party leader to try to form a coalition, giving the candidate 28 days to do so, with a two-week extension if needed.

 

(Additional reporting by Rami Ayyub in Rosh Ha'ayin, Ron Bousso and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad in Haifa, Rahaf Ruby, Stephen Farrell, Dan Williams and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Sonya Hepinstall and Simon Cameron-Moore)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-04-10

mazel tov.......

super corrupt guy back again.

can clearly see the fact that corruption is OK in Israel and you get even be a prime minister again easily with all those allegations!

 

super corrupt guy back again.
can clearly see the fact that corruption is OK in Israel and you get even be a prime minister again easily with all those allegations!
 

True but unless Bibi manages to fix it which he might be able to do now he is still subject to the law. Israel has in the past jailed some very high officials.

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An evil man. I hope there is a hell where he will get his comeuppance. The Israelis should have picked a better leader. There is no excuse for voting for this sob.

7 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

An evil man. I hope there is a hell where he will get his comeuppance. The Israelis should have picked a better leader. There is no excuse for voting for this sob.

what evils are those? I don't pay much attention to  other countries politics! I do know he is greatly admired by others!

As for the difference between Netanyahu and Gantz:

"Israel’s election on Tuesday came down to a battle between a prime minister who promised to annex part (or possibly all) of the West Bank and its several million Palestinians into Israel, but without giving them equal rights to Jews, and a former army general and chief of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who boasted about how many Palestinians he had killed, or had his army kill, in past invasions into Gaza.

How did this happen?"

https://www.salon.com/2019/04/09/racism-and-israels-election-how-did-the-jewish-state-become-an-oppressive-state/

he shall win  a locked room in the worst globe jail and be locked for life !

19 hours ago, Jingthing said:

True but unless Bibi manages to fix it which he might be able to do now he is still subject to the law. Israel has in the past jailed some very high officials.

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hopefully they do.

most israelis (usually ultra left people as you might guess) i know and i talk really hate Netanyahu and see him as a pillar of corruption, filth, fascism and discrimination.

and see him one of the main sources of this bloodshed there.

and they stated like ; Netenyahu gets most of its votes from illegal settlers sitting on stolen lands with their free houses and from ultra nationalist Jewhadists.

bc Netanyahu wants to annex all those stolen land from Palestine where there are illegal israeli settlements on them. This is coming soon.

So these cheap  a. s   s freeloader Jewish settlers with fake documents from russia or then iron curtain countries and around the world with a fake Jewish background, can get their free houses and sit on those lands forever.

this what makes him win on top of illegal annexing of Golan Heights. these made this fascist popular again.

 

and tell me, are you happy with this guy? and happy how israelis selected a corrupt guy who wants to annex lands and bring more trouble?

i am sure you dont.

This just shows what is in the minds of Israeli voters and that is to expand the country at the expense of their neighbors and to continue with aggressive military policy.  Sad state of affairs.