Victory in pocket, Netanyahu moves to construct coalition

With most votes counted and the Likud victory all but confirmed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the first efforts toward cobbling together a coalition, placing calls to his most likely partners hours after the polls closed.

The Likud party said in a statement on Wednesday morning that Netanyahu had phoned the Jewish Home’s Naftali Bennett, Yisrael Beytenu’s Avigdor Liberman, Kulanu’s Moshe Kahlon, Shas’s Aryeh Deri, and United Torah Judaism’s Yaakov Litzman.

Based on the current count, a coalition between these parties would be 67 seats strong.

Netanyahu said he hopes to form a coalition “within two to three weeks,” a party statement said.

Visiting the Western Wall Wednesday afternoon, Netanyahu thanked voters for choosing him and said he felt “honored by the responsibility that the Israeli people placed on my shoulders.”

“I deeply value the decision by Israeli civilians to choose me and my colleagues against all the odds and against major forces,” he said, referring to what he has said were foreign actors who tried to oust him from power.

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

Votes from military bases and hospitals have yet to be counted, but likely won’t change the math significantly.

Kahlon — who was largely seen as the kingmaker in the hotly contested election — said that he would be waiting for the final results to come in before he began negotiations.

At the same time, Liberman reiterated his demand for the Defense Ministry. Both Kahlon and Liberman have said publicly they will only join a coalition if their demands are met.

Speaking outside his home early Wednesday, Kahlon confirmed that he spoke to the prime minister, and said Netanyahu insisted “his intentions are serious.”

Kahlon reiterated that he will wait for the final results before starting coalition negotiations, but added that he is pleased with the results. He said his party won’t compromise on its demands.

Before the election, Netanyahu repeatedly promised to make Kahlon finance minister — a key post the ex-Likud minister had set his eyes on. But Kahlon at the time said he didn’t believe Netanyahu, since the prime minister made promises in the past and didn’t follow through.

A short while later, Liberman told the Ynet news website that he will demand the defense portfolio in exchange for joining Netanyahu’s coalition.

“Our demands are clear, we never hid them and put it in writing, and it includes the defense portfolio,” he said. “We don’t want to be the opposition, but we also won’t [simply join the] coalition at any cost.”

Liberman praised Netanyahu for the “extraordinary and impressive achievement.”

MKs from Yesh Atid and the Zionist Union indicated on Wednesday morning that they were headed to the opposition, despite rumors that a national unity government was not entirely ruled out.

Zionist Union MK Stav Shaffir flat-out said her party ““will serve the country from the opposition.”

MK Ofer Shelach of Yesh Atid said it was unlikely his party would join the coalition.

“I assume we’re going to the opposition,” he told the Walla news website.