Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to remain in power after his right-wing Likud party posted a stronger-than-predicted showing in yesterday's national elections.
The latest tallies indicate that Likud will claim 29 or 30 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, against just 24 for the center-left Zionist Union alliance; pre-election polls had suggested that the Zionist Union was on track to win more seats than Likud. Combining with smaller rightist and Orthodox parties, Netanyahu is well-positioned to form a right-wing coalition in the coming days.
The polarizing prime minister's victory followed a campaign in which he vowed that there would be no Palestinian state if he remained in power, and came just hours after he warned right-wing voters that "Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls." Moreover, Netanyahu badly damaged relations with the Obama administration after he delivered a bombastic congressional address on March 3 denouncing the international negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.
Netanyahu undoubtedly outperformed expectations, but his path to a fourth term in power came at a heavy price. That didn't much bother conservative Twitter, however, which gloated in the hours after it became clear that Netanyahu would remain premier. Here's a sampling of the right's crowing, which ranged from the crude and crass to the simply snarky.
Breitbart's Ben Shapiro:
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Town Hall columnist John Hawkins:
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Breitbart's John Nolte:
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Islamophobic activist Pamela Geller, linking to a post in which she wrote that Netanyahu's victory was evidence the almighty exists:
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Former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer:
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Conservative CNN pundit S.E. Cupp:
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And where would we be without the wisdom of Bill Kristol?
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