Exit polls point to Netanyahu win in Israeli election

JERUSALEM (AP) — Exit polls in Israel indicated Tuesday that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies may have won enough seats to return to power in a nationalist religious government after 3 1/2 years of political gridlock.

The polls are preliminary, and final results could change as votes are tallied. Israeli media reported that a small Arab nationalist party was approaching the electoral threshold, which would give it four seats and erase Netanyahu’s narrow projected margin.

It was the fifth election in less than four years in Israel, and all of them turned largely on Netanyahu’s fitness to govern. Polls by three major Israeli TV stations indicated that Netanyahu and his allies would capture the 61-seat majority in parliament required to form a new government.

The polls also showed far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Religious Zionism as the third-largest party. Ben-Gvir is a disciple of a racist rabbi who was assassinated in the 1990s and has promised a hard line against the Palestinians.

“It can flip, we don’t know,” Netanyahu told supporters after the exit polls came out. “We’re not dead. We’re alive and kicking, possibly before a great victory, but we have to wait until the morning.”

Perhaps fearing that Arab voters would deny him victory, Netanyahu tweeted allegations of violence and vote tampering at Arab polling stations, without providing evidence.

The Central Elections Committee said in a statement that it was “not aware of any unusual incidents in the Arab community” and dismissed “baseless rumors about alleged ‘forgeries.’”

Arabs make up some 20% of Israel’s population and have been a key factor in blocking Netanyahu in recent elections, but this time around their vote was split among three different factions, each of which was at risk of falling below the threshold, which would mean those votes were wasted.

Ben-Gvir is expected to seek a Cabinet position as head of the ministry that oversees police. Just last month he brandished a handgun in a tense Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem and called on the police to shoot Palestinian stone-throwers. He has also called for deportation of Arab lawmakers.

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Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, would be able to battle the charges as prime minister, improving his chances of avoiding conviction or jail time. His opponents view him as a grave threat to Israel’s democratic institutions and the rule of law.

“While the exit polls may indicate a…