After World War II, France had 25 governments in 12 years before Charles de Gaulle rewrote the constitution. In Israel, they are coming off a fourth snap general election in two years... fourth and counting. With only exit polls to go on after the close of voting, Benjamin Netanyahu once again declared victory on the night before ballots were counted. So who did win? Each of these elections seems to be a referendum the country's longest-serving prime minister. But is it one time too many, even for the charismatic Bibi?
We do the electoral maths and while we do not know the winner, there are plenty of losers. Can we rank Israeli democracy in that column? With a threshold of just 3-and-a-half percent to win seats in parliament, coalition builders are beholden to small parties like the religious right with outsized powers.
Finally, there is Israel's place in the world. The country has again shown off its know-how with the world's most successful Covid-19 vaccination campaign, but will no longer be enjoying the kind of unconditional backing from Washington that Bibi got from Donald Trump. Which way forward?
Produced by Charles Wente, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.
