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ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu has scored a landslide victory in a primary race for leadership of the ruling Likud party, giving the embattled leader a boost ahead of the country’s third election in less than a year.
The strong showing by Israel’s longest-serving leader could give him another opportunity to form a government following the March election, after falling short in two previous attempts this year.
By easily fending off Likud legislator Gideon Saar, he also kept alive his hopes of winning immunity from prosecution after being indicted last month on a series of corruption charges.
“A giant victory,” Netanyahu tweeted this morning, just over an hour after polls closed.
“Thanks to the members of Likud for the trust, support and love,” he added. “God willing, I will lead Likud to a big victory in the coming elections.”
In a tweet, Saar congratulated him and said he would support the prime minister in the national election.
“I am absolutely comfortable with my decision to run,” he added. “Whoever isn’t ready to take a risk for the path he believes in will never win.”
Official results released by Likud showed Netanyahu capturing 41,792 votes, or 72%, compared with 15,885 votes, or 28%, for Saar.
While removing any doubts about Netanyahu’s standing in the ruling party, the primary is likely to prolong Israel’s political uncertainty. He will remain at the helm of Likud until the March elections, and his lingering legal troubles could again scuttle efforts to form a government after that.
In September’s election, Likud and its main rival, the centrist Blue and White party, were unable to secure a parliamentary majority and form a government on their own.
The two parties together captured a solid majority of parliamentary seats, leaving a national unity government as the best way out of the crisis, but Blue and White has refused to sit in a partnership with Netanyahu when he is under indictment.
Opinion polls predict a similar outcome in the March election, raising the possibility of months of continued paralysis. The country already has been run by a caretaker government for the past year.
Netanyahu, who has led the country for the past decade, maintained his position on the political right by cultivating an image as a veteran statesman with close ties to US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders.
His refusal to make any concessions to the Palestinians was rewarded after Trump took office, as the US began openly siding with Israel on several key issues.
His hardline approach to Iran has also proved popular. He was a staunch opponent of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which has unravelled since Trump withdrew from the agreement.
A wave of Israeli strikes on Iran-linked targets in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq has burnished Netanyahu’s claims to have protected Israel from its enemies.
His fortunes have nevertheless waned over the past year, after he was unable to form a government following the unprecedented back-to-back elections in March and September. His party came in second place in September, leading many observers to view the vote as the beginning of the end.
In November, he was indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes, the culmination of three long-running corruption investigations. He vowed to remain in office, dismissing the indictment as an “attempted coup” by hostile media and law enforcement.
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I can’t think of anything worse than watching ‘I Feel Pretty’
@Stephen:
Being in a relationship with Amy Schumer?
@Stephen:
Removing a A 130-tonne ‘monster fatberg’ from London sewers with an ice pick?
@Scott Peterson: Aren’t they basically the same thing?
@Thought Criminal:
I’m taking the 5th on that :-)
@Scott Peterson: oh look at the funny men who cry when someone gives back. I’m sure Amy is crying into her millions.
@Deborah Behan: You should give comedy a go, Deborah. You’re as funny as Amy Schumer.
@Deborah Behan:
Poor Amy. A prisoner of a patriarchal body-image imposed by the worlds of media and fashion.
@Thought Criminal:
Maybe Deborah could steal a few Dave Attell jokes to get her career started.
@Stephen: I just can’t warm to Amy Schumer, there’s something very off putting about her for me, I think she tries too hard or something, can’t quite put my finger on it
@Scott Peterson: id say she likes to fart in the 69 position.
@Scott Peterson: fairly obvious Scott and Thought Criminal are the same person setting up naff jokes for the other to reply to, to make it look they’re “bantering”..thats a bit sad tbh!
@Austin hickey: sure doesn’t everyone?
@Del Bear: Definitely. There’s no possible way two people could be having the craic.
@Deborah Behan: I agree. However, having seen the movie…it is absolute tosh. Well done to get got getting rich of little talent. She is not the first and won t be the last.
Rumour has it Amy Schumer bumped her head and woke up the next morning thinking she was funny.
@Scott Peterson: Her sketch on birth control is brillant http://www.comedycentral.co.uk/inside-amy-schumer/videos/birth-control
@Pale Blue Dot: You’re easily impressed.
I wouldn’t go see an Amy Schumer movie if I was paid to go. Cannot understand how she is so popular. Theres hope for anyone “making it if she can
@thomas patrick: Take the money and don’t go. Tell them that there was an ethnic minority family sitting in your reserved seats.
@thomas patrick: go on then. I’ll wait.
Avenger infinity war again.
@Eddie Mc Keown: my son went today…he didn’t like the end.
@Jackie Carvill Caruana: No one did.
I said “Are you F%^^ing kidding me” at the end.
But I’m going again this weekend! :)
@Tricia G: More fool you
@I’m not wavy gravy: Avengers movies are like McDonald’s. You look forward to them as a treat more than you should, and then invariably feel you’ve let yourself down by the time you’ve consumed one, and have been left entirely unsatisfied.
Worst selection of movies ever? Who pitches these movies and gets funding for them??
The Young Karl Marx:
“Somehow the spectacle of fiercely angry people talking about ideas becomes absorbing and even gripping.”
I’m predicting this one will be a big hit with the Journal commentariat.
@Scott Peterson: Ah you’d miss Wally all the same.
@Jane:
A good dose of Marxism is what this country needs right now.
@Scott Peterson: He seen the unfairness in the workplace and how people lives are controlled by the moneymen to keep them in debt. some things never change.
I couldn’t sit through an amy schumer movie will pass on that !
The avengers again!
have your say