Netanyahu appears to edge towards Israel election victory

Benjamin Netanyahu (Maya Alleruzzo/AP)

Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be heading towards victory in national elections, with more than two-thirds of ballots showing that voters gave him and his far-right allies what looks like a stable majority in the country’s parliament.

Votes were still being counted and results were not final. But if preliminary indications were correct, Israel is potentially heading to one of its most right-wing governments, bolstered by a strong showing from the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, whose members use inflammatory anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.