Israel voters take fourth shot at deciding Netanyahu’s fate

Israelis were voting on March 23 in their fourth election in less than two years, with the nation still divided over whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deserves to remain in power.

Israel's longest-serving premier, and still its most popular politician, has for several years proved unable to unite a stable governing majority behind him.

He is again facing an electorate of some 6.5 million registered voters, after leading a successful coronavirus vaccination effort that has already fully inoculated half of Israel's roughly nine million people, a pace envied by much of the world.

But while polls project his right-wing Likud will win the most seats on Tuesday, 71-year-old Netanyahu will need coalition partners to secure a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.

That means Israel is looking at three possible outcomes: another coalition under Netanyahu, an ideologically divided government united only by its opposition to him, or a looming fifth election.

Netanyahu is currently on trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust - allegations he denies, but which have helped fuel a protest movement with weekly rallies outside his Jerusalem residence.

The prime minister has said he will not seek to block the trial and is looking forward to being exonerated, but critics suspect that if he earns a majority, he may seek parliamentary action to delay or end the process.

But to form a government, Netanyahu will have to come to terms with small factions that control a handful of seats, likely including a new extremist, far-right alliance called Religious Zionism.

If Religious Zionism crosses the 3.25 percent support threshold, as polls predict, it will send to parliament Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has voiced...