Voters have blocked the xenophobic Netanyahu — for now

He has led Israel for 13 years, but his desperation to be re-elected was not just about continuing his project of hardcore religious nationalism, but about securing immunity from indictment on charges of fraud. It remains to be seen whether the prime minister really will be politically sidelined, writes Shlomo Ben-Ami

At long last, Israel has taken a step back from the religious, nationalist abyss into which its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had been leading it.