Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu beat the odds on Wednesday to win a resounding election victory that will likely deepen tensions with the Palestinians and the West.


With nearly all of the votes counted, his right wing Likud party was seen taking 30 of the Knesset's 120 seats, with the centre-left Zionist Union a distant second on 24.

Exit polls had put the two parties neck-and-neck with 27 seats each but the picture changed dramatically through the night as the votes were counted.

"Against all odds we achieved a great victory for the Likud ... for the national camp ... for our people of Israel," the premier said in a victory speech in Tel Aviv.

Likud activists in Tel Aviv celebrated their victory by dancing late into the night.

Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog conceded defeat and congratulated Netanyahu on winning a third consecutive term.

"A few minutes ago, I spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I congratulated him on his achievement, and wished him luck," he said, brushing off questions about possible coalition alliances.

Netanyahu pledged to establish a new government within weeks and said he had already spoken with rightwing and religious party leaders whose support he will need to form a majority coalition.

"The prime minister intends to begin forming the government immediately in order to finish the task within two to three weeks," his party said.

Netanyahu had put security at the forefront of his campaign, arguing he is the only one capable of protecting Israel from an Iranian nuclear threat and vowing never to allow the Palestinians to establish a capital in east Jerusalem.

In response, the Palestinians vowed to step up their diplomatic campaign for statehood.


- 'Netanyahu has done it' -

In a last-minute appeal to the far-right just hours before the vote, Netanyahu ruled out the establishment of a Palestinian state if reelected, effectively reneging on his 2009 endorsement of a two-state solution.

Herzog has repeatedly called for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

And on election day itself, Netanyahu made a last-minute appeal to his supporters to go to the polls to counter a high turnout among Arab Israelis.

"The rule of the rightwing is in danger. Arab voters are going to the polls in droves!" he said in a video on Facebook. "Go to the polling stations! Vote Likud!"

The count showed the Joint List which groups Israel's main Arab parties taking third place with 14 seats.

Likud had been trailing the Zionist Union by up to four seats in surveys in the week leading up to the vote, which was seen as a referendum on his premiership.

Netanyahu is certain to be the party leader to be asked by President Reuven Rivlin to form a government after the official results are published -- likely on Thursday, election officials said.

"Netanyahu has done it. He has managed to catch up in the final lap," said Claude Klein, a specialist in constitutional law at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.

"On paper, Isaac Herzog has no chance of putting together a majority which would depend on the support of the Arab List which includes openly anti-Zionist MPs."

Under Israel's electoral system, the prime minister is not the leader of the party that gains most seats but whoever can build a coalition commanding a majority of at least 61 seats in parliament.

Moshe Kahlon, a popular former Likud minister whose newly-formed Kulanu party won 10 seats, is now in the position of kingmaker.

A total of 4,017,235 people cast their ballots out of 5.8 million who were eligible to vote, election committee statistics showed.

That 71.8 percent turnout compared with 67.8 percent in the last election in 2013.

"Israel has serious problems, and only a rightwing leader can handle them," said a Jerusalem voter who gave his name only as Yehoshua.

"The only prime minister who can do this is Bibi."

But others had hoped to see the back of him.

"I'd like to see Netanyahu disappear for many, many years," said Shulamit Laron.

"I hope for change, of course, but I doubt things will change."

http://news.yahoo.com/israels-herzog-concedes-defeat-congratulates-netanyahu-073922625.html

What a great victory.

Hmm

Buhari is next...IJN

Sai Netanyahu!!!

Exactly what will happen with PDP and GEJ, any body or group that has Islamic agenda will never win in a circular state.

kestolove95:
Buhari is next...IJN

Olodo Taju, if you had been following the Isreali polls you will find out that a major coalition was formed against Netanyanu. If your muhajadunce brain had been following major trending events about the Isreali election you will see how major news outlet in the west compared Netanyahu to Goodluck.

Mumu , Goodluck will win your Boko commander

The biased Lagos-based media would downplay this news because it does not favour their candidate.

The other time a seventy-something year-old man won election in Tunisia, the whole was awash with the news.

Nigeria shall go backwards...

So he finally won against all odds.........nice!

RevDesmondJuju:



Olodo Taju, if you had been following the Isreali polls you will find out that a major coalition was formed against Netanyanu. If your muhajadunce brain had been following major trending events about the Isreali election you will see how major news outlet in the west compared Netanyahu to Goodluck.

Mumu , Goodluck will win your Boko commander

so why d insult now?..can't u pas ur message without insult?

Exactly what will happen with PDP and GEJ, any body or group that has Islam*ic agenda will never win in a circular state.

kestolove95:
so why d insult now?..can't u pas ur message without insult?

I have to drive it down your thick skull down your pea sized brain

RevDesmondJuju:


I have to drive it down your thick skull down your pea sized brain

never again will you have sense

kestolove95:
never again will you have sense

Coming from a change chanting zombie

If the OPs thinks the same thing will work out for GEJ, Na BIG LIE.

SAI GMB/PYO !!!

I see Oga Jona emulating Natenyahu come 28 March.

sammyj:
If the OPs thinks the same thing will work out for GEJ, Na BIG LIE.

SAI GMB/PYO !!!

It worked fo Zuma. It worked fo Obama. It will will certainly work fo Jona.

So against all odds GEJ would win this election.

kestolove95:
Buhari is next...IJN

Stop disgracing me. I never win election in history of Nijeriya.

paBuhari:

Stop disgracing me. I never win election in history of Nijeriya.

lol....madt man....no wori u go win dix one

sammyj:
If the OPs thinks the same thing will work out for GEJ, Na BIG LIE.

SAI GMB/PYO !!!

Just like Israel, the opposition won in the media, mostly the western media. But the people of Israel knew they were jokers. Please be prepared for your shock come March 28th.

Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog conceded defeat and congratulated Netanyahu on winning a third consecutive term.

"A few minutes ago, I spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I congratulated him on his achievement, and wished him luck,"

Tomorrow you will see Buhari not accepting defeat. running to court in every defeat. after loosing this he will retire from politics.

Another loser is the jihadist in the White house, Obama has been disgraced once again.

....

paBuhari:

It worked fo Zuma. It worked fo Obama. It will will certainly work fo Jona.

...

atlwireles:


Just like Israel, the opposition won in the media, mostly the western media. But the people of Israel knew they were jokers. Please be prepared for your shock come March 28th.

Congratulations Bibi

atlwireles:


Just like Israel, the opposition won in the media, mostly the western media. But the people of Israel knew they were jokers. Please be prepared for your shock come March 28th.

Exactly not just the western media. Listening to the iranian owned Press TV in the past few weeks, it was as if Netanyahu has already lost it especially after his speech to the republicans against iran's nuclear deal. I was surprised to know he still won at the polls.

SalC:
Exactly not just the western media. Listening to the iranian owned Press TV in the past few weeks, it was as if Netanyahu has already lost it especially after his speech to the republicans against iran's nuclear deal. I was surprised to know he still won at the polls.

Sorry, I don't read or listen to Iranian news. Bibi has done a good job defending his country, that's what the voters wanted. They have rewarded him with another term in office. All the western media should learn from this, Nigeria is next. Goodluck's landslide will be studied for years to come.

In three-day push, Netanyahu draws right-wing votes and captures Israel election

(Reuters) - As the dust settles on a dramatic election, the immediate questions are how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu managed to stage such a fierce comeback, why the opposition fell short and what it means for Israel, the Palestinians and the world.

Four days before the vote, Netanyahu looked all but out for the count, with the last opinion polls giving the center-left Zionist Union a four-seat lead - enough not only to win but potentially to form a governing coalition.

Even Netanyahu, a veteran campaigner who has emerged victorious from three elections in the past, seemed to think his days were numbered, saying there was a "real danger" he would lose and calling on his right-wing base to turn out.

But in the final three days of campaigning - and on the day of the vote itself - "Bibi" went on a tear, giving more interviews than he has given in years and making a series of right-wing pledges designed to attract nationalist voters.

Visiting the Har Homa settlement in the West Bank, a development he authorized when he was first prime minister in 1997, he promised to go on building Jewish homes on occupied land the Palestinians want for a state, and acknowledged the settlement was designed to cut Palestinians off from Jerusalem.

In an interview the same day he promised that if he were re-elected he would not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state, a statement that flew in the face of his own past commitments and decades of international efforts to find a two-state solution to the conflict.

At every opportunity he said his Likud party risked losing and sowed fears about what it would mean for Israelis' security and the spread of militant Islam if the center-left were allowed to secure victory.

And on Tuesday - as the vote was underway - he railed against what he called "left-wing organizations" that he said were busing Arab-Israelis to the polls in an effort to bolster the center-left and oust him from office.

While to many Israelis his comments sounded like the rantings of someone facing defeat after six straight years in power, they were carefully calibrated to prod the right- and far-right vote and close the gap with the center-left.

"Seats changed hands within the right and center-left blocs but otherwise not much really changed," said Gideon Rahat, a professor of political science at Hebrew University.

In effect, Netanyahu succeeded in robbing votes from his allies on the right - Naftali Bennett's pro-settler Jewish Home party and Avigdor Lieberman's ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu - to ensure that Likud ended up with the largest total.

Bennett's and Lieberman's support fell but they still won eight and six seats respectively, a tally that Netanyahu will be able to draw on as he tries to build a coalition.

And by not eating in to the center vote, Netanyahu ensured that Moshe Kahlon, the leader of the Kulanu party, a breakaway from Likud, emerged as the election's "kingmaker", someone "Bibi" will now try to entice back into the fold.

LEFT OUT

When it comes to the Zionist Union, it appears on the face of it that leader Isaac Herzog did most things right. His economic- and socially-focused campaign won traction with voters and his final tally of 24 seats was both in line with opinion poll predictions and up from the last election in 2013.

But he had nothing extra to draw supporters away from Likud and the security fears Netanyahu hammered on about may have left undecided centrist plumping for what they knew rather than someone new on the day.

Around 15 percent of Israeli voters were reckoned to be undecided going into the election, making the wide swing in the final tallies more understandable, even if it also suggests Israel's polling methods leave room for improvement.

Surveys showed that the dominant issue for most Israelis in the election was the cost of living and housing. The centrist and left parties that campaigned on that platform saw an overall increase in their support, winning around 50 seats this time, up from around 45 at the last election.

But the bulk of Israeli voters still skew to the right - whether nationalists, settlers or the ultra-Orthodox - and for them issues of security, support for settlements and protection of their interests eclipse standalone economic concerns.

"The politics of identity in Israel is very strong," said Rahat, explaining that religious or nationalist affiliation dominates in Israel rather than socio-economic class. "Support for Likud was based on identity, fear of change and the notion that overall Netanyahu is the only experienced person."

PALESTINIANS AND IRAN

While the election results may come down to the shuffling of allegiances within major blocs, the repercussions are large.

Netanyahu's pledge of no Palestinian state while he is in charge puts him on a collision course with the United States and the European Union at a time when both are desperate to breathe new life into the moribund peace process.

His commitment to settlement building will also add fuel to the fire, strengthening Palestinians' belief that Israel is engaged in a land grab and hardening their determination to seek redress via the International Criminal Court.

Palestine formally becomes a member of the court from April 1 and plans to file war crimes charges against Israel over its 48-year occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as deaths stemming from last year's war in Gaza.

In retaliation ahead of the ICC move, Israel has suspended the transfer of around $120 million a month in tax revenues it collects on the Palestinians' behalf, crippling the Palestinian budget and prompting deep cuts to state employees.

The threat of a return to conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is never far from Israeli or Palestinian minds, and violence aimed at Jewish settlers in the West Bank is likely to intensify if Netanyahu follows through on his commitments.

And hanging over the region is the question of what Israel does next on Iran. Netanyahu has made clear that he is determined to scupper the deal emerging between Tehran and the Obama administration on Iran's nuclear program.

Israel's earlier rhetoric about "going it alone" against Iran if it has to - a hint at possible bombing raids - has died down, but the tension between Netanyahu and Obama has not dissipated and if anything "Bibi" will now be feeling more energized to take Obama on in the last months of his presidency.

(Editing by Anna Willard)


http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/18/us-israel-election-fallout-idUSKBN0ME10120150318