Bibi wins by a nose

Israel election: Netanyahu claims victory as main rival concedes

Netanyahu Scores Crushing Victory

The Times comes within a hair of calling him a racist and so does KOS for last minute appeals to his voters that warned the left was busing in large numbers of Arab voters to beat him.

No one says his claims were untrue.

Bibi in Israel

Deep Wounds and Lingering Questions After Israel’s Bitter Race

Says Isabel Kershner,

JERUSALEM — Benjamin Netanyahu was poised to return to power. 

But there was a cloud over his apparent turnaround, the result of an increasingly shrill campaign that raised questions about his ability to heal Israel’s internal wounds or better its standing in the world.

He said there would be no Palestinian state under his watch.

He railed against Israeli Arabs — because they had gone out to vote.

From the capitals of Europe, to Washington, to the West Bank, to the streets of Israel, even while his critics said Mr. Netanyahu had reaffirmed his reputation as a cynical, calculating politician, it appeared that his approach succeeded in drawing votes from other right-leaning parties.

We report, you decide, hmm?

Notable members of the Jewish commentariate are abandoning Bibi and Bibi's Israel.

Here's Jon Chait giving his inverted world vision of what Bibi is about and what traditional Zionism was and is about.

(Hint. A Jewish state in Palestine.)

Netanyahu Clarifies His Chilling Vision for Post-Democratic Israel