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Veteran hawk Benjamin Netanyahu opened talks on Friday with his ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies to form the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, sparking concerns at home and abroad.
Netanyahu’s Likud party won 32 of the 120-seat Knesset parliament, according to the latest official election results released Thursday night.
Add to that 18 seats for two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties and 14 for religious Zionism, a burgeoning far-right coalition, and the right-wing bloc that supports Netanyahu gets 64 seats.
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Outgoing caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s centrist bloc won 51 seats, marking Netanyahu’s final victory and ending an era of unprecedented political gridlock in Israel that has forced the Five elections have been held in less than four years.
That could mean a big role for the co-leader of the far-right religious Zionist group, which doubled its representation in Tuesday’s election.
“Where are they going?” said the headline of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, with pictures of Netanyahu and Itamar Ben-Gavier as far-right figures who looked set to be key players in the new government.
“This will be an unprecedented government,” columnist Sima Kadmon wrote in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.
“Most of the important portfolios will be in the hands of the fanatics… everyone knows that if only a fraction of the things the new government promises come true, it will be a different country with a different system of government, ‘ she added.
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