JERUSALEM (Officialwire) — A badly weakened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrambled Wednesday to keep his job by extending his hand to a new centrist party that advocates a more earnest push on peacemaking with the Palestinians after Israel’s parliamentary election produced a stunning deadlock.
The results defied forecasts that Israel’s next government would veer sharply to the right at a time when the country faces mounting international isolation, growing economic problems and regional turbulence. While that opens the door to unexpected movement on peace efforts, a coalition joining parties with dramatically divergent views on peacemaking, the economy and the military draft could just as easily be headed for gridlock — and perhaps a short life.
Israeli media said that with nearly all votes counted, each bloc had 60 of parliament’s 120 seats. Commentators said Netanyahu, who called early elections three months ago expecting easy victory, would be tapped to form the next government because the rival camp drew 12 of its 60 seats from Arab parties that traditionally are excluded from coalition building.
A surprising strong showing by a political newcomer, the centrist Yesh Atid, or There is a Future, party, in Tuesday’s vote turned pre-election forecasts on their heads and dealt a setback to Netanyahu. Yesh Atid’s leader, Yair Lapid, has said he would only join a government committed to sweeping economic changes and a serious push to resume peace talks with the Palestinians, which have languished throughout Netanyahu’s four-year tenure.
The results were not official, and the final bloc breakdowns could shift before the central elections committee finishes its tally early Thursday. With the blocs so evenly divided, there remains a remote possibility that Netanyahu would not form the next government, even though both he and Lapid have called for the creation of a broad coalition.
Read More at OfficialWire . By Amy Teibel.
Photo Credit: Prime Minister of Israel (Creative Commons)
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Trying to establish peace talks with the Palestinian’s, people that have vowed the destruction of the Jewish State, is like trying to enter a tigers cake with an offering of a large T-Bone steak. The tiger will be grateful for the steak, and grateful for the additional meal that you provided, which was you.
Anyone only has to look at Obama, and see the hatred that he has for Israel, which become clear as a bell whenever he is in talks, face to face with Israel’s Prime Minister. If looks could kill Netanyahu would have been killed at their first meeting. Obama can’t help hating Jews anymore than a fish can survive out of water. He was conditioned to hate Jews as all radical Muslim’s are conditioned to hate Jews as well.