The Republic of Israel just held their parliamentary election. Voters finished voting more than six hours ago. Now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shadow Prime Minister Yitzhak Herzog have started building rival coalitions. Incredibly, which man will take office as Prime Minster, depends on the decision of a party leader commanding a mere ten seats, or fewer. But de facto U.S. President Barack H. Obama lost more than anyone in this year’s Israeli elections.

Latest Israeli elections results

Benjamin Netanyahu after the 2013 Israeli elections. Photo: Cherie Cullen, USDoD.

The Times of Israel covered the Israeli elections of 2015 better than any other organ. Most organs issued several different stories, or issued one story with ever-changing headlines and texts. The Times of Israel wrote a “live blog”: multiple insights, changing by the hour, but all under one headline and link. The Hill issued this story shortly after polls closed. The Associated Press competed with The Times of Israel with vote totals from three local Israeli news organs.

This link gives a current count of votes by party. (To translate the Hebrew text, open it in Google Chrome or copy the link to Google Translate.)

As ever, the two largest parties, Likud and “Zionist Union” (read: Labor), will command more seats than any other party. The problem: each will command 27 seats (or maybe Likud will command 28). But a working majority in the Knesset, or parliament, needs 63 votes. (The vote count suggests otherwise. As of this writing, Likud has 23.29 percent of the vote, against 18.78 percent for the Zionist Union. That could mean Likud will have more seats than the Associated Press and The Times of Israel last counted. But even Likud cannot come close to 63 seats on its own.

So either party, to govern, must form a coalition. Perhaps Netanyahu will have the easier task. But everything will depend on what one man decides: Moshe Kahlon, head of a party calling itself Kulanu (literally, We all). He will command either nine or ten seats. And he will decide who will become the next Prime Minister. So far, he refuses to say.

Barack Obama loses

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Barack Obama lost in the 2015 Israeli elections for two reasons. First, as everyone knows, he positively loathes Benjamin Netanyahu. He would have preferred Netanyahu not come back as Prime Minister.

In fact he did more than prefer. He actively worked to get Netanyahu out of the way. His State Department granted some $350,000 American to the One Voice Movement. That movement seeks “one voice” for a Palestinian state. “One Voice” has a wholly owned subsidiary, calling itself “V15,” for “Victory 2015.” Their announced goal: “anybody but Netanyahu!” The head of it happens to have been a ranking Obama campaign officer.

If you think you heard that before: you did. You read it here first.

Aaron Klein, Jerusalem bureau chief for WND, uncovered another State Department scheme. Another State Department grantee organized four Arab parties to combine. Their “Joint List” has the third highest vote total in current returns. But The Times of Israel suggests Arabs did not turn out as strongly as this grantee had hoped.

The United States Senate wants to know how the State Department spent U.S. taxpayers’ money.

Perhaps for this reason, Netanyahu, before polls opened in the Israeli elections, made one last speech to his people. He said: no “Palestinian state” would form on his watch. In so saying, he slapped Arab faces. But he also embarrassed his opposition. What could they say? That they supported a Palestinian state? The Times of Israel flatly called that “national suicide.”

At last report, Obama lamely said he could work either with Netanyahu or Herzog.

If Likud wins more seats than the Associated Press first guessed, Netanyahu might be able to form a government without Moshe Kahlon and his We all party. Or he could persuade Kahlon to join him. He has no pressing reason to refuse.

Either way, Obama tried to jinx the Israeli elections. Everyone in the region knows that by now. And he will likely fail. That can only make his prestige fall further than it already has.

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