Israel has really done it this time. The results of its general election finally settle the argument. Those in the West who have insisted that Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies are not representative of Israeli society are completely discredited. The baseless illusion that some sort of change will happen from within Israel is dead and buried.
You could see the Western media desperately willing the opposition on, hoping it would allow Israel to reboot its reputation and reverse the growing hostility it attracts in Europe and the U.S. Take one BBC report, which argued that Netanyahu was up against “centrist” and “leftist” figures, describing the opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot as “softly spoken” and “low-key”. All of it was based on fantasy.
Now the result is in, you can hear the counter-argument assemble itself. Did Netanyahu’s bloc not lose 10 seats? Do parties opposed to the prime minister, when combined, not have a 12-seat majority? What possible route to power does Netanyahu have with 54 seats, given that 61 are required to form a majority?
All superficially true – but it ignores the political reality.