Netanyahu looking to quickly form ‘rightwing/religious’ government after victory

ed note–a ‘religious government’, such as this–

‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.” (Leviticus 25:44-46)

and–

‘On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abraham, saying “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates”… Genesis, 15:18

and–

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are to possess and casts out the many peoples living there, you shall then slaughter them all and utterly destroy them…You shall save nothing alive that breathes…You shall make no agreements with them nor show them any mercy. You shall destroy their altars, break down their images, cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people unto the LORD thy God and He has chosen you to be a special people above all others upon the face of the earth…”

Book of Deuteronomy

Times of Israel

With some 99 percent of the votes counted by early Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party appeared set to win a resounding victory in Tuesday’s election, with 30 seats, compared to the Zionist Union’s 24 mandates. Next came the Joint (Arab) List with 14 seats, Yesh Atid with 11, Kulanu with 10 and the Jewish Home with 8. They were followed by Shas, 7, United Torah Judaism with 6, Yisrael Beytenu with 6, and Meretz with 4 seats.

The results came as something of a shock, after exit polls published Tuesday night showed a stronger showing for Zionist Union and Meretz. As votes were counted through the night, however, Likud’s decisive victory became clearer. The final results will be announced Thursday morning.

The Likud party said that Netanyahu has spoken by phone to the party leaders he hopes to form a coalition with — the Jewish Home’s Naftali Bennett, Kulanu’s Moshe Kahlon, Yisrael Beytenu’s Avigdor Liberman, Shas’s Aryeh Deri, and United Torah Judaism’s Yaakov Litzman. If all those party leaders agree to join up with Likud, Netanyahu would be able to form a coalition of some 68 seats, retaining power after an election that was seen by many as a referendum on his rule. The prime minister said he hopes to set up a coalition in the coming two-three weeks.