Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli’s polls opinion was far from the real results, giving Netanyahu an amazing victory against his closes opponent Yitzhak Herzog. Benjamin Netanyahu scored a higher victory than the exit polls had suggested. Mr. Netanyahu demonstrated once again that he is a great politician. After elections, Mr. Herzog has now established himself as the undisputed leader of his party, now waiting for further discussions and strong opposition.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Wednesday to form a new governing coalition quickly after an upset election victory that was built on a shift to the right and drew an immediate rebuke from the White House.
In the final days of campaigning, Netanyahu abandoned a commitment to negotiate a Palestinian state – the basis of more than two decades of Middle East peacemaking – and promised to go on building settlements on occupied land. Such policies defy the core vision of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict embraced by President Obama and his Republican and Democratic predecessors.
With nearly all votes counted, Netanyahu’s Likud had won 30 seats in the 120-member Knesset, defeating the center-left Zionist Union opposition on 24 seats. A united list of Israeli Arab parties came third. The result was a dramatic and unexpected victory for Netanyahu – the last opinion polls four days before the vote had shown Likud trailing the Zionist Union by four seats.
