LIVE BLOG: Likud cements victory with nearly all votes counted

[brooklynite]

Source: Haaretz

With nearly all votes counted, Benjamin Netanyahu's Lkud party is set to emerge as the election's big winner with 29 seats. The Zionist Union trails behind with 24 seats. The Joint List of Arab parties is the third-largest party at this point, followed by Yesh Atid, Kulanu, Habayit Hayehudi, Shas, Yisrael Beiteinu, United Torah Judaism, Meretz and Yahad.

President Reuven Rivlin said he would work for a national unity government.

Ballots were cast at 10,372 polling stations throughout Israel. There are 5,881,696 Israelis (citizens over the age of 18) who were eligible to vote today for the 20th Knesset.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-election-2015/1.647304

[deurbano]

1. So disappointing.

[sakabatou]

6. I know

[Ed Suspicious]

2. Feels like WI all over again. Elections are so disappointing lately.

[alp227]

5. But at least Israelis SHOW UP TO VOTE unlike Americans.

reports say that nearly 3/4 of Israelis voted.

[Old and In the Way]

3. Kind of like, "Titanic voters elect to stay course".

I am sure Bibi's policies will make Isreali's security 40 years from now be better. If not, Bibi won't care, he'll be dead.

[brooklynite]

26. In fairness, no they don't

First, remember that voters picked among 26 Parties, and only 1/3 went to Likud.

Second, remember that this was a national election. It did not exclusively turn on Israel/Palestine or Israel/Iran, any more that the 2004 Election was exclusively based on the Iraq war.

[geek tragedy]

4. This is perhaps a blessing given his embrace of apartheid.

Now we know exactly what Israel is and what it will always be.

The elites and old-timers in the party will continue to support Israel because they don't know what else to do, but in the future the support of that theocratic racist pariah will come almost exclusively from our own racist, theocratic party.

[forest444]

7. Well said.

Besides, even if Herzog had been able to form a Zionist Union alliance as most of us had hoped, there's no doubt the Israeli far right would have worked non-stop to sabotage his government generally and the Peace Process in particular - just as they did with bombs in Buenos Aires and London in the Yitzhak Rabin era (and ultimately with Rabin's own assassination) and to some extent during Ehud Barak's brief tenure (Sharon's Temple Mount "visit&quot .

[geek tragedy]

13. What bombs in Buenos Aires and London

are you talking about?

[LeftishBrit]

22. When did the Israel Far Right plant bombs in London or Buenos Aires

The only bombs that I can remember in London during Rabin's tenure (and I lived in London at that time) were planted by the IRA, and totally unrelated to Israel.

[mountain grammy]

8. I remember this feeling

Last November .... Sick.

[jim0311]

9. Happy

Glad he won.

[geek tragedy]

12. Buh bye. nt

[LeftishBrit]

23. I think you've made a wrong turning; this isn't Free Republic.

[Luke Zee]

10. Now is the time to end our UN Security Council vetoes!

After the Nut 'n Yahoo's latest insane statements, what truly loyal American could object to Obama taking that action? (And that question means EXACTLY what you think it means! It's time to identify and assert ourselves against racist tyranny, just like we belatedly did against South African aparthied!)

[MrBig]

17. I am a truly loyal American

and I would object to that action. While his comments were extremely disturbing, I would expect any American response to be based on actual actions, not election verbiage.

edit: I thought at first this response could be referencing a common anti-Semitic trope about Jews being more loyal to Israel than their home country. I was wrong.

[Luke Zee]

18. See Here, Please

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026378209

[MrBig]

19. Great post - thanks for that

And I apologize for thinking negatively about your intentions. I'm a little sensitive to that type of rhetoric, and clearly that was not what you intended.

I disagree with your post in this thread, but I thought the post you wrote in the link was extremely well written. I just wish it would actually be followed.

[freshwest]

11. Thanks for posting the results....

[shaayecanaan]

15. Most Palestinians preferred that Netanyahu win

Hamas wants a Netanyahu victory, since any peace talks between the PA and Israel will compromise the group’s political standing.

Even many Fatah officials prefer a Netanyahu win, since in their eyes it will help the diplomatic fight against Israel. A Herzog victory and a narrow coalition cannot lead to dramatic change on the Palestinian front, they maintain, and certainly a unity government between Likud and the Zionist Union will not change the current situation at all.



Read more: Now interested in vote, Palestinians divided over whom to root for | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/now-interested-in-vote-palestinians-divided-over-who-to-root-for/#ixzz3UhvpJ0Re
Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook

[The Stranger]

27. Hamas, Schmamas. Israel Helped Spawn Hamas to undermine Fatah.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123275572295011847

[MrBig]

16. And the anti-Semites come out to play

As someone who considers themselves both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian, these results are extremely disappointing. Bibi's scare tactics worked, as they do so often in elections all over the globe. Playing on people's fears and emotions is a tried and true method and he did it to perfection.

This thread should be interesting...seeing some of the posts here already

[BlueStater]

20. So sickening.

This moronic asshole should have been driven from public life by decent people everywhere after his DEAD WRONG prediction over invading Iraq. Why these fucking idiots are still allowed to have a voice in world affairs I'll never understand.

[davidpdx]

21. More of the same neocon policies from Israel for the next four years

[LeftishBrit]

24. fuck

[Kelvin Mace]

25. Nothing sells like fear.

[Corey_Baker08]

28. Only 10,373 Polling Places For Nearly 7,000,000 People?

Sounds like Election Fraud To Me...