Is time finally up for Benjamin Netanyahu?

‘King Bibi’ they chanted at Likud’s victory party last night but Benjamin Netanyahu has not clinched victory and the crown could yet be snatched from his head. Israel’s second election of 2019 — a poll in April ended similarly in deadlock — is poised to end the reign of the country’s longest-serving prime minister. Votes are still being counted but centrist opposition Kachol Lavan is narrowly leading Likud. And when religious and other right-wing parties are counted, Netanyahu appears unable to reach the magic 61 seats required for a majority in the Knesset. 

In ordinary times (if such times exist in Israeli politics) Bibi would be over the line with the support of Avigdor Lieberman, his long-time frenemy and leader of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party. Beiteinu has served in previous Bibi coalitions but Lieberman pulled them out of the government last November, ostensibly over Netanyahu’s gun-shy approach to Hamas but really as a power-play.