JERUSALEM—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a clear path to re-election on Wednesday, April 10, with parties on the right set to hand him a parliamentary majority and his main challenger conceding defeat.
With more than 99 percent of votes counted—ballots cast by soldiers at military bases will be tallied over the next two days—Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party looked likely to muster enough support to control 65 of the Knesset’s 120 seats and be named to head the next coalition government.
It would be Netanyahu’s record fifth term as premier.
President Donald Trump, who Netanyahu featured on campaign billboards to highlight their close relationship, phoned to congratulate him on his re-election, the Israeli leader said, adding that he thanked his American ally for “tremendous support for Israel.”
Netanyahu tweeted that Trump had called him from Air Force One. The president was on a flight to Texas.
Trump told reporters at the White House that Netanyahu’s re-election improved the chances of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. “He’s been a great ally and he’s a friend. I'd like to congratulate him on a well-thought-out race.”
A team led by Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, but it has not disclosed details.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said on Twitter he would begin meeting next week with political parties that won parliamentary seats to hear who they support for prime minister.
At the sessions, which Rivlin said would be broadcast live “to ensure transparency,” 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.
The close and often vitriolic contest 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.
Despite that, Netanyahu gained four seats compared to his outgoing coalition government, according to a spreadsheet published by the Central Elections Committee of parties that garnered enough votes to enter the next parliament.
“It is a night of colossal victory,” the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv after Tuesday’s vote.
“He’s a magician!” the crowd chanted as fireworks flared and Netanyahu kissed his wife Sara. Earlier that night, Gantz had claimed victory.
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange main indexes were up nearly 1 percent in late trading on Wednesday, displaying confidence in a veteran prime minister who has overseen a humming economy and blunted various security threats, including from Syria.
Netanyahu was now poised to become, in July, the longest-serving Israeli prime minister, overtaking the country’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion.
Closer U.S.-Israel Ties
Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017 and moving the U.S. 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, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.
In a rare turn during the race toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu further alarmed Palestinians by pledging 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.
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.
