Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on the brink of a dramatic comeback, after partial results showed he was on course to win a majority in parliament with the far right’s help.
With 86% of votes from the general election counted, Mr Netanyahu’s bloc is set to win 65 out of 120 seats.
“We are close to a big victory,” he told jubilant supporters in Jerusalem.
However, he will be dependent on the support of the ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism party.
Its leaders, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, have gained notoriety for using anti-Arab rhetoric and advocating the deportation of “disloyal” politicians or civilians.
Mr Ben-Gvir was a follower of the late, explicitly racist, ultra-nationalist Meir Kahane, whose organisation was banned in Israel and designated as a terrorist group by the United States. Mr Ben-Gvir himself has been convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation.
Last month, Mr Ben-Gvir hit the headlines when he was filmed pulling out a gun after being targeted with a stone thrown by Palestinians while visiting the flashpoint predominantly Arab Sheikh Jarrah district of occupied East Jerusalem, and calling for police to shoot the culprits.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mr Ben-Gvir promised to “work for all of Israel, even those who hate me”.
After exit polls were published on Tuesday night, supporters of Religious Zionism gathered in Sheikh Jarrah, shouting taunts and throwing stones towards Palestinian areas.
Mr Netanyahu, accompanied by his wife Sara, appeared at his Likud party’s election night venue at 03:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Wednesday to thunderous applause.
“We have won a huge vote of confidence from the people of Israel,” he told his cheering supporters.
Hours earlier, when the exit polls predicted that Mr Netanyahu’s bloc would win 61 or 62 seats, the room had been a scene of celebration as people jumped up and down, waved flags and chanted his nickname, Bibi. One man repeatedly blew a shofar, or ram’s horn, a ritual instrument used by some Jewish people at times of special significance.
At his party’s camp in Tel Aviv however, current Prime Minister Yair Lapid told his supporters that “nothing” was yet decided and his centre-left Yesh Atid party would wait for the final results.
