Israel: The Challenges Awaiting Benyamin Netanyahu

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The leader of the right has succeeded in his electoral comeback thanks to his alliance with the radical far right and the ultra-Orthodox.

By Danièle Kriegel, correspondent in Jerusalem

To 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, November 2 was a party at Likud headquarters in Jerusalem. Activists greeted Binyamin Netanyahu chanting, “Bibi, King of Israel. The enthusiastic crowd also launched: “Bibi is finally back! In fact, at the head of a coalition of around 65 deputies out of 120 in the Knesset, the president of the right-wing party is on the way to succeeding, in a masterly way, in his bet to return to power. He leaves far behind Yaïr Lapid, the outgoing Prime Minister.

Binyamin Netanyahu does not owe his success to his charisma alone. As a formidable champion of electoral campaigns, he was not content to make the buzz on social networks. On board his bus, the “Bibi bus”, he plowed the land, going from town to town…

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