Thread by @WholePicture_

#Thread about @netanyahu #Israel #israelelections #Netanyahu #Politics :

Leaders have recently started to refer to the parties that Benjamin Netanyahu could put out of office after twelve years as the “block of change”.

nzz.ch/international/…

In the elections they won 57 of the 120 seats in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. Netanyahu, on the other hand, has just 52 seats with his bloc, although his Likud party won by far the most votes.

This means that both blocs missed an absolute majority.

Since only a simple majority is required for the election of the Prime Minister, the respective candidate has two alternatives: he must either draw representatives from the opposing camp to his side or persuade them to abstain.

Two politicians are currently considered to be the men of the hour: Naftali Bennett from the right-wing Yamina party (7 seats) and Mansur Abbas from the moderate Islamist Raam party (4 seats).

Neither of them committed to one side or the other during the election campaign. The fact that a representative of the Arab-Palestinian minority is actually acting in the role of the kingmaker is first of all a good sign, and not least thanks to Netanyahu.

By actively campaigning for the votes of the Arabs, he got them out of the dirty corner and into the center of political normality. At least in theory.

Only once in the country's history has a politician had the courage to enter into an alliance with Arab parties: it was Yitzhak Rabin who, with her support, secured a minority government and thus also brought Oslo agreements with the Palestinians through parliament.

Accused by the rights of treason, Rabin later paid for the brave step with his life. The names of the parties may have changed since then, but the ideological rifts have remained.