"Unrest In the Middle East" - a valid headline for over 2000 years.

[Mongrel]

Israeli election too close to call. I'm seeing most exit polls showing Blue and White slightly ahead, so there's a real possibility that Bibi is out, but I don't think we should get our hopes up any farther than "cautious optimism" yet.

We should know more tomorrow.

I've seen exit polls which are more pessimistic, so yes, no cause to celebrate yet.

What a desperate Bibi might do to goose a close election is also worth pondering - while at the same time being something no one wants to think about.

[Grath]

[Thad]

Israeli election too close to call. I'm seeing most exit polls showing Blue and White slightly ahead, so there's a real possibility that Bibi is out, but I don't think we should get our hopes up any farther than "cautious optimism" yet.

We should know more tomorrow.

I've seen exit polls which are more pessimistic, so yes, no cause to celebrate yet.

Indeed.

Vox is saying now that it looks like Bibi's clinched it, with 2% of votes uncounted, 35 seats for Likud, and 65 for various other right-wing parties.

He's still under indictment, but parliament could just pass a law saying a sitting PM can't be indicted.

It's nice to see that it was a tough fight and Blue and White overperformed expectations; that's an encouraging sign. But obviously this is not the result any of us wanted to see.

[Blossom]

The people have spoken - those people aren't really people.

[Thad]

Police are investigating.

[Thad]

Saw this on another political board (poster is Israeli):

To recap: Netanyahu wanted new elections. That isn’t supposed to happen. The proper course of action is for the President to nominate a different Prime Minister. And the President has made it clear that he will pass Netanyahu over if he doesn’t form a coalition by the deadline, which is midnight tonight (5pm EDT).

So to stop Netanyahu from holding a vote on dissolving the Knesset, the opposition is filibustering. Meanwhile Netanyahu is still trying to form a coalition, and in so doing he reached out to my own Labor Party with massive concessions that show just how desperate he is.

We have three hours left.

[Mongrel]

Additional background:

Bibi has been trying for weeks to actually form the far-right coalition which was supposed to take power after his win. He's failed because one of the extreme orthodox parties (Yisrael Beiteinu) is refusing to accept a bill whereby students in ultra-orthadox yeshiva schools will be obligated to submit to the draft or some equal form of national service, as all Israelis are obliged to do (there were some religious exceptions, but even most right-wing Israelis don't like the idea of the extremists "free-riding" and a recent court ruling struck those exceptions down, forcing the issue).

Also the leader of YB hates Netanyahu's guts. So much for solidarity among right-wing assholes.

[Thad]

Parliament has voted to disband; new election in 3 months.

[Mongrel]

Globe: The term "left-wing" has been so demonized by Bibi-leaning media that "leftist" is now practically a slur in Israel.

[Upthorn]

So it's like the word "liberal" is in America?

[Mongrel]

So it's like the word "liberal" is in America?

Well, it hasn't quite reached the point in the US where Fox chyrons insult nazis they don't like by calling them "liberal"... yet.

[Mongrel]

Bib's on a roll with mustard.

[Thad]

Israeli election too close to call; it'll probably be a few days before we see the shape of things.

[Thad]

Rivlin has tasked Netanyahu with forming a government.

Which hasn't become any likelier since the last time. So this isn't "Bibi has been reelected", it's "there's going to be a third election."

[Mongrel]

Wonder what the hell Rivlin's thinking is on this one.

[Thad]

My guess is he's thinking neither one of them has a chance of forming a government so he may as well get this out of the way and call another election ASAP. And that choosing Bibi may be a function of still having to work with him until said election.

[Thad]

Bibi has finally been indicted.

[Mongrel]

[beatbandito]

[Thad]

Benny Gantz elected Israeli speaker, signalling deal with Netanyahu