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ISRAEL took a leap closer to global isolation yesterday as world powers and domestic opponents expressed dismay at Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election.
Isaac Herzog, the head of the Zionist Union which came second in Tuesday’s vote with 24 seats, ruled out joining any Likud-led coalition, saying Mr Netanyahu’s election campaign “touched on racism” and “destroyed a deep relationship with our allies in the world.
“The nation wants an extreme right-wing government. The American reaction is not at all easy,” he said.
US President Barack Obama’s relations with the Israeli prime minister were already souring after Mr Netanyahu’s decision to denounce detente with Iran to the US Congress in a breach of diplomatic protocol.
The White House barely bothered to hide its anger at the result. Mr Obama did not phone the Likud leader to offer his congratulations, as he had done after previous election wins.
A briefing by White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Wednesday night said the president remained “absolutely” committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something Mr Netanyahu explicitly rejected on Monday.
And he slammed the Israeli PM’s “divisive” language in claiming Israeli Arabs were voting “in droves,” saying it marked an attempt to marginalise an ethnic minority.
Mr Netanyahu is now seeking to build a coalition of the far-right with allies including Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home and Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu, groups that Communist Party-led Hadash leader Ayman Odeh described as “fascist.”
Mr Lieberman called for Arab critics of Israel to be “beheaded” during the election campaign.
