Results are in, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will survive to serve another term. His Likud Party, though, shrunk by about 25 percent as a new party, the centrist Yesh Atid, won a surprising 19 seats.
Right now, the right-haredi Knesset bloc and center-left-Arab Knesset bloc are tied at 60 seats apiece, which makes a center-right governing coalition probable.
Here are some takes, from Israel and the U.S., on what it all means:
Amos Harel of Haaretz and Herb Keinon of the Jerusalem Post both say the election showed that Israelis’ priorities have shifted from security to domestic priorities. Harel writes:
Many voters took advantage of the calm to vote according to what really bothered them: their economic situation, the social gaps, the fact that some Israelis bear the burden of the military and taxation while others do not, or a sense of just being plain fed up with the existing regime.
David Horovitz of the Times of Israel says that a new crop of leaders has risen as Netanyahu displayed his capacity to survive:
Tuesday’s was a vote for change. Dozens upon dozens of sitting Knesset members were swept aside. But Netanyahu rolled with the wave, and here he is again.
Mordechai Gilat of Israel Hayom writes that Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid won more on personality than on substance:
It was enough to espouse two vague slogans — concern for the middle class and demanding that haredim be drafted into the army — for a former spokesmodel for Bank Hapoalim (Yair Lapid) to gain on Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich, a woman who for years has fought the real fight on behalf of the proletariat. There’s social justice for you.
Jeffrey Goldberg, at the Atlantic, writes on what this election was not about:
Every television commentator is asking what this means for the peace process. What does it mean for the peace process? Not much.
Roger Cohen, at the New York Times, writes about the rise of the Israeli center:
The Israel that emerged from the vote is not the rightward-drifting, annexationist-tending, religious-lurching nation it has become fashionable to portray. The Jewish state, far from moving right, turned toward the center.
Benny Avni, at the New York Post, says the election was a victory for Netanyahu’s security policies:
Security is still Topic A. But most Israelis pretty much agree with the way Bibi’s government has handled those issues: Awaken the world to the threat Iran poses, but don’t stray too far from America. Keep a low profile on the “Arab Spring,” but remain vigilant on things like the Syrian chemical weapon threat.
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