It’s the middle of the night in Israel and election results are still being tallied but it appears than Benjamin Netanyahu has collapsed as much as he could collapse and still survive. Right now, it looks like the center-right has won 61 seats and the center-left has won 59 seats in the Knesset. Yet, even expert Israeli observers are unable to make solid predictions about what it means. I will not attempt to predict which parties will join the governing coalition and which parties will be cut out. I haven’t followed the campaign and I have only a cursory familiarity with the minor parties in Israel.
What seems clear, however, is that Netanyahu has been badly weakened. He should be able to form a government with a bigger majority than one, but his power has ebbed. I do not doubt that he paid a price for listening to Arthur Finkelstein and openly campaigning for Mitt Romney. Most Israelis know that their country needs a strong relationship with the American president and that it is insane for an Israeli prime minister to campaign for one American candidate over the other. It is especially insane to bet on the loser.