Towards a Jewish Identity in Israel: A Far-Right Coalition for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu After the Israeli Referendum to Israel

If Netanyahu wins, he could form a government with religious and far-right partners, which could help him escape conviction in his corruption trial, since it could weaken the independence of the judiciary.

Israel’s political map is split down the middle between parties that want populist nationalist icon Netanyahu in power, and parties that say the polarizing figure on trial for corruption is unfit to serve. A diverse coalition unseated Netanyahu last year, but it broke up this year over ideological differences.

He was campaigning with left-wing allies that he would stop right-wing extremists. Netanyahu promised to bring Israelis a sense of security, after Palestinians killed 25 Israeli civilians and soldiers this year. The Israeli troops have killed more than 130 Palestinians in the last few weeks, their highest toll in several years.

Liron Gur is a gay Israeli voter and he says that the right side doesn’t like gay people or Arabs. If they are the power, I’ll have a bad life.

Some right-wing voters said they were abandoning support for Netanyahu and his allies because they cast their ballot at a polling station where Netanyahu was.

“We don’t believe him,” says cab driver Udi Avni, who for the first time is not voting for Netanyahu and says he’ll cast his vote for the center-left Labor Party instead. “He just care[s] about himself. About his trial … to be free.”

“We are on the cusp of a very big victory,” Netanyahu — known by his nickname Bibi — told supporters after exit polls were released. They cheered, “Bibi, King of Israel.”

“My hopes were that the Jewish people would win and Judaism would win, and we won in the end,” says Netanyahu voter Haim Asher. The prime minister doesn’t really matter. We want a Jewish identity in the country.”

far-right leaders danced with their supporters at campaign headquarters after exit polls were published. Activists chanted “Death to terrorists” during a speech by a far-right politician. He’s going to be a Cabinet minister.

“I woke up into a nightmare. It’s such a hard morning to us all,” said Asmaa Alkadi, 32, a Palestinian Arab citizen of Israel and activist with a group promoting Arab-Jewish equality. After her get-out-the-vote effort in Arab communities, she says she is considering quitting the group, disillusioned by the election results.

“The Palestinians are going to hell”: Comment on Netanyahu’s “theoretical crisis in Israel,” by Yohananan Plesner

YohananPlesner, director of the Israel Democracy Institute, said Netanyahu’s trial could be avoided if major changes to the checks and balances of the judiciary are introduced.

If implemented, the government’s agenda is expected to contribute to an erosion of Israeli democracy.

“It’s sort of despair,” says Marik Shtern, a political analyst and unhappy voter. “The country is going into a very clear direction of nationalism and religious extremism … but we will be OK. The problem will be with the Palestinian citizens of Israel, the Palestinians in the West Bank. All of them are in a near danger for the near future.”