19th September, 2019
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled his planned trip to the UN General Assembly next week as his long grip on power appeared in jeopardy on Wednesday.
The elections he called left him tied with his main challenger Benny Gantz raising the prospect of tough negotiations to build a unity government or even the end of his record long rule.
Netanyahu was due to meet his “friend” US President Donald Trump on the fringes of the international gathering to discuss a defence treaty between the two allies.
But now, he needs to stay him to cobble a ruling coalition together.
With more than 95 percent of ballots counted, Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud had 32 seats, while Gantz’s Blue and White took 33 places in Israel’s 120-member parliament.
Gantz’s slim lead, however, gave no obvious path for either party to form a majority coalition, raising the possibility of negotiations towards a unity government.
“There are only two options, a government led by me or a dangerous government dependent on the Arab parties,” Netanyahu told a press conference in Jerusalem on Wednesday night.
“In these times, more than ever, when we face enormous security and political challenges, it cannot be that there will be a government that depends on anti-Zionist Arab parties,” he said.
Throughout his campaign, Netanyahu warned, as he has in previous elections, that left-wing and Arab voters were showing up in large numbers to try to oust him.
Media said the mainly Arab Joint List alliance was set to become the third-largest bloc in parliament with 13 seats.
“The Netanyahu era is over,” said Ahmed Tibi, one of the list’s leaders. “If Gantz calls, we shall tell him our conditions for supporting him.”
If the initial results hold, it will be a major setback for Netanyahu, who hoped to form a right-wing coalition similar to his current administration as he faces the possibility of a corruption indictment in the weeks ahead.
Netanyahu’s challenger, former armed forces chief Benny Gantz, has called for a “broad unity government” after unofficial results gave neither man any obvious path to form a majority coalition
Gantz, addressing supporters in Tel Aviv, called for a “broad unity government” but cautioned that he was waiting for final results.
“We will act to form a broad unity government that will express the will of the people,” the former armed forces chief said.
“We will begin negotiations and I will speak with everyone.”
Ex-defence minister Avigdor Lieberman could prove to be kingmaker, with the reported results giving his secular-nationalist party Yisrael Beitenu nine seats.
He has not declared in favour of either of the two leading contenders.
“There is only one option for us,” he has stated.
“That is to form a broad, liberal, national unity government” with Yisrael Beitenu, Blue and White and Likud.
Such a government would not include the ultra-Orthodox Jews.
The staunchly secularist Lieberman has long campaigned against what he sees as their undue clout which he accuses of seeking to impose Jewish religious law on Israel’s secular population.
He would also not partner with Arab parties.