President Isaac Herzog is urged to respect, and not truncate or undermine, the expressed will of the Israeli people. The electorate has spoken: the pro-Netanyahu bloc secured 53 seats, the largest political bloc in the election. That mandate must not be circumvented through political manoeuvring or technicalities designed to keep Benjamin Netanyahu from leading the next government.
Netanyahu has led Israel through an extraordinarily difficult period of unprecedented terrorist threats and aggression from hostile jihadist neighbours. At a time when Israel’s national security and very survival must remain paramount, setting aside the leader of the largest political bloc in favour of an arrangement involving parties with fundamentally different security priorities would be an enormous risk.
The 19 seats won collectively by the Arab-led parties must not be used to justify an arrangement that compromises Israel’s security or disregards the electorate’s expressed preference.
President Herzog must respect the people’s choice. Netanyahu should be entrusted with forming and leading the government in the interests of national security, democratic legitimacy and the continued security and survival of the State of Israel.
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