Israeli voters have reasserted an iron law of politics – Bibi always wins

‘Bibi Melech Yisrael’ they chanted at the Likud victory rally. ‘Bibi, king of Israel’. The Israeli media, the organised left and the international community have been reacquainted with the lesson they keep forgetting: never write off Benjamin Netanyahu. With counting so far putting Likud on 36 seats, he has achieved his best ever result as leader and the party’s best performance since Ariel Sharon’s stonking 2003 victory. He is still two seats short of an overall majority but his people are already working to tempt a number of opposition MPs over to his side.

Israel’s third election in a year has seemingly ended a political stalemate in which neither Netanyahu nor his centre-left opponents could form a government. Israelis appear to have voted to be done with the uncertainty and restore stability, or as much stability as there can be in Israeli politics. They were not as affronted as they were asked to be by corruption charges against Bibi.