Israel’s Electoral Commission confirmed that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies won a majority in the parliamentary elections that took place on Tuesday.
His right-wing coalition won 64 of the 120 seats in the Knesset.
As for the center bloc, led by outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid, it won 51 seats.
Lapid admitted defeat, saying he would instruct his office to prepare for the handover of power to the new prime minister.
Netanyahu’s victory is a dramatic political comeback in Israel.
Netanyahu, 73, is one of Israel’s most controversial political figures, hated by many on the center and left, but adored by his grassroots Likud supporters.
He is a firm believer in building Jewish settlements in the 1967 war-occupied West Bank. These settlements are illegal under international law, although Israel opposes this.
Netanyahu opposes the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a formula supported by most of the international community, including the Joe Biden administration in the United States.
Netanyahu is currently on trial for corruption, fraud and breach of trust, charges he vehemently denies.
His coalition with the far-right “Religious Zionism” party, known for its anti-Arab policies, has alarmed Israel’s allies.
The United States said it hopes the government will continue to embrace “the values of democracy and openness”.
Party leaders, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, had gained popularity for using anti-Arab rhetoric and calling for the deportation of “disloyal” Arab citizens or politicians.
Ben Gvir was a follower of the ultranationalist and outrageously racist rabbi Meir Kahane, whose organization had been banned in Israel and designated a terrorist organization by the United States.
Ben Gvir himself was convicted of inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organization.
Ben Gvir made headlines last month when he was photographed holding a gun after being targeted by a stone thrown at him by Palestinians during his visit to occupied East Jerusalem, which is predominantly Arab, and police he called on those he described as the perpetrators to shoot.
