Netanyahu on course to win Israeli election

Polls show right-wing bloc set for victory, nation on path to 'autocracy' say analysts

Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc looks to be on course for victory in Israel's general election, but analysts said if he becomes the leader, the country may be on the course to becoming an "autocracy".

With 84 percent of votes counted for the 120 seats in the Parliament, called the Knesset, the bloc led by Netanyahu was on course to win 65. "We are close to a big victory," he told supporters of his Likud party. "We have won a huge vote of confidence from the people of Israel."

Religious Zionism's leaders Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have been blatant in their use of anti-Arab language, with Ben-Gvir having been convicted in 2007 of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization.

Last month he was caught on camera pulling out a gun when he became the target of stone throwing during a visit to a predominantly Arab district of East Jerusalem, and speaking to reporters as election results came in, he promised to "work for all of Israel, even those who hate me".

The election — Israel's fifth in under four years — is widely interpreted as being a referendum on Netanyahu himself, who is currently in opposition but has been in power in Israel for 15 of the past 26 years.

He is currently on trial for alleged bribery, fraud and breach of trust, all of which he denies, and is a well-known backer of building Israeli settlements on the West Bank, which has been occupied since the 1967 Middle East war, and which are considered illegal under international law.

He also opposes the creation of a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank as a way of ending the age-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, despite the proposal having the support of much of the international community.

Early indications suggested Likud would be the largest party, with 31 seats, and Religious Zionism would be the third-largest, with 14.

Yesh Atid, the center-left party whose coalition forced Netanyahu out of office in last year's elections, would be the second-biggest party with 24 seats.

As results pointing toward a Nethanyahu victory continued to come in, current Prime Minister Yair Lapid from the Yesh Atid party insisted "nothing" was yet decided and to wait until the picture became clearer, but local media outlets reported that he had canceled his planned visit to the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, with his place being taken by Israel's President Isaac Herzog.

Gayil Talshir, a political scientist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told the BBC that if the exit polls "reflect the real results, Israel is on its way to become Orban's Hungary", referring to Viktor Orban, the leader of Hungary, which was recently branded an "electoral autocracy" by the European Union.