Netanyahu wins for fourth time

Netanyahu wins for fourth time

• Elections in Israel
• Tough fight between Netanyahu And Herzog
• Likud party bags 29 seats in parliament
• Rival Centre Left Zionist Unions Allians

Venkata Kondubhatla

Washington, D.C. :  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the fourth term  in the Israeli parliamentary elections held on Tuesday. The election was not between Netanyahu and the rest, as the race came too close in the end of the campaigns between Likud and the Labor parties. Likud party has eventually emerged as the largest single party.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Likud party leader, and Isaac Herzog, the Labor party leader, campaigned hard in the elections, and since Netanyahu won he will be the leader who holds the office of Israel Prime Minister for a longer period. He was elected three times before.

Political pundits said it was going to be a very close call but the results were clear who the winner was. Netanyahu has been steadily preparing for the elections, yet, in the end of the campaign, he is more concerned that he could lose. He thinks that the Arabs turnout may take the votes away from him. In the months before the elections he had been vocal against the nuclear deal between the US and Iran. He made the Iran issue central to his campaign. He even addressed the US congress, which is a rare opportunity for any world leader, and said the Iran deal is a bad deal and the Congress should not support the deal. To that extent, the Republican Congress sent a letter to the Iranian Government stating that the Congress would not support a deal and would repeal once the deal reaches them.

All this initially seemed to play out well for Netanyahu in Israel, but did not really seem to make any difference in the elections. Recently in the campaign, he made it clear that he will never allow statehood for Palestinians, reversing his stance he took six years ago. This statement naturally made the Arabs angry and disaffected not only in the country but all around the world. However, the elections are also about the economic conditions of the country. With the prices rising, people need a strong leader who can deliver the promises.

Now it remains to be see whether the fourth term of Netanyahu as prime minister would help in bringing peace and prosperity to Israel.