Despite serious lacunas in his approach and style,  Netanyahu is likely to return as Israel President

Israel's former premier Benjamin Netanyahu is all set to return to power. Likud, his right-wing party is likely to make it as  exit polls predict its victory with slim majority. When it comes to choosing the leader Israel seems to be in no mood to experiment and would rather go with Netanyahu who is embroiled in numerous corruption cases and whose faulty policies led to hardships for the common man. But right now as the counting is underway and the election results will be out in a couple of days, all indications show that people have chosen political stability over good governance. This is Israel's fifth election in less than four years where Netanyahu dominated the scene as he had taken legal recourse to block Israel's political system since 2019. Exit polls showed that Benjamin Netanyahu was on course for a comeback as his block of four parties would secure 62 of the Knesset's 120 seats. Benjamin Netanyahu is on trial for corruption. He had to resign 18 months ago. Netanyahu who has a strong base among the right wing, and religious fervents has only split the country down the middle but then political stability matters. The record 12-year consecutive reign of Israel's longest-serving prime minister ended in June 2021 when centrist Yair Lapid managed to cobbled an unlikely coalition government of liberals, rightists, and Arab parties. But the fragile alliance wilted in just a year.

Another big takeaway of this election has been the rise of firebrand West Bank settler Itamar Ben-Gvir and his ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism list which would be the third-largest party in parliament.  Netanyahu has been counting on support from Ben-Gvir and fellow far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich. However, having Ben-Gvir, a former member of Kach, a group on Israeli and U.S. terrorist watch lists, and who was once convicted of racist incitement may make other allies uncomfortable.Netanyahu’s comeback is going to be bad news for Palestinians as the chances of a political solution to the conflict are rather bleak under him. His politics is centered on crushing the Palestinians and even his campaign saw increasing violence in the occupied West Bank. "The people want security," Netanyahu said, "they want power, not weakness ... they want diplomatic wisdom, but with firmness." Indeed people want all of that but they have limited choices and even fewer options when it comes to choosing the right leader.