World leaders congratulate Israel's Netanyahu on election victory

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – World leaders have congratulated Benjamin Netanyahu on his victory in Tuesday’s general elections in Israel as he is expected to form a right-wing government.

"I spoke with the leaders of Hungary, Greece, Poland, Romania and Austria, who congratulated me on winning the elections," Netanyahu tweeted on Friday. "Together, we will take our relations to new horizons."

Messages congratulating Netanyahu also came from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Netanyahu’s camp won 64 seats versus 51 seats of the current government led by Yair Lapid in the 120-seat parliament.

Netanyahu’s Likud party won 32 seats, 14 seats went to the Religious Zionism alliance led by far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, ultra-Orthodox Shas secured 11 seats, and United Torah Judaism won seven seats, according to Israeli election commission.

Lapid’s Yesh Atid (There is a Future Party) won 24 seats in parliament.

The results give Netanyahu, a former prime minister, an outright majority in the Knesset to form the upcoming Israeli government.

Tuesday’s elections were the fifth in less than four years, which witnessed a 71.3% voter turnout, the highest in 20 years.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat