GO JEWS GO! PUT THE HEREDI BACK IN THEIR "gimme, gimme," PANDORA'S BOX. THe ultras have dug Israel into an internationally shunned hell hole....finally now, here is a chance to drive the constrictor snakes back into their sanctity proclaimed holes. The lock the heredi had on the Israeli democracy has been finally broken...The crazies are out of gov't... now Jews can regulate themselves instead of being chastized for not being the "God's granted middlemen/interpreters and go-betweens, as they, the blacksuits and their disdain (spitting on) for "The NOT as holy as they" believers. GO secular JEWS GO! Throw off the leashes, the hand cuffs, the mouth gags, and put the EXTREMISTS Jews back in the temples and get them the hell out of government -where they don't belong! Never should have been given such powers. Send the ultras to the army, get rid of the FREE heredi RIDE on the shoulders of the real Jewish people...get them back into the temples and the yeshivas and off the buses and streets...put their lazy souls to real work for a change and study in their SPARE TIME AFTER A GOOD DAYS LABOR at a real contributing job.

Bibi has now failed to get a coalition in the time allotted he now is going to apply for a 2 week extension but if he can't get a coalition by then Peres will call for a second election. Lapid has been campaigning on popularist policies using the hared as a scapegoat to make up for the fact he has no real policy. If there is another election he will say its taking place because Bibi refused to ditch he haredi whilst I being the man or moral standing did everything possible to avoid this election nobody wants and people will fall for it. Populist policies only work once because once in government even the most loved politician makes enemies reducing your chance of doing as well next time. Whilst he is on a high Lapid may like to try use this opportunity to try win the election and become the next PM. If he sells the idea of the idea of having a second expensive election because of Bibi & the haredi he may well increase his lead enough to win especially if Bibi drops in support. Right now Bibi needs Labor, Lapid can't be trusted, Bennet has joined forces with Lapid and without the religious party Bibi will have no allies in government which will put all the real power in Lapids hands because more parties would be willing to join a coalition with him than they would Bibi and Lapid would have the power to bring down the government any time he chose to. Why should Lapid join a coalition when he has a very good chance of winning an election now rather than just being there to help Bibi form a government?

If it's true that he was offered an opportunity to advance the peace process and evacuate outposts, and he turned it down because of his alliance with Bennet, then it just shows that all he cares about is punishing the Haredim. All those claims that he would moderate Netanyahu on the Palestinian question were just garbage.

Bibi made a lousy deal with livni awarding her powers that the people did not give her and for which she was not qualified. Then he plays hardball with bennett, a fresh new star. His vanity and insecurity prevented him from takiing on lapid who deserves based on the elections some significant role. I don't agree with him but the writing is on the wall. In the meantime, bbibi runs around crying about iran. he has had 2 terms, it is close to the end. he is a very good speaker but clearly insecure and worried in his own skin. Has he been better than olmert, livni, barak and peres? yes and by a lot. But he is not a leader . He is too afraid. He leaned on barak for every security decision, remember the marmora!!?? If bibi was truly a leader, he would say, OK, no deals , lets go to new elections and flesh out the issues that yesh atid is made of m eretz and expose lapid's enabling of olmert's disastroud government.

Haredim leaders behave as whores and accept to be treated as whores. Shame on them and shame on those who dance with them- Likud leaders in the present case. Israel does not want these men in the coalision.Period! Move forward! Lapid has already said that his problem are not the haredim and so Bennett has said. What both rightfully are saying and want is to put an and in the prostitution house haredim seem to make out of anything they touch. Haredim must go to the army because that´s what all Israel want, except them. Put them in the army and move forward with what is really important to Israel. Haredim are not important;they are a waste of money and time! As for Netanyahu,indeed,eyes must be widely open about him and the president Peres. Watch out what these two can plan in order to push down Israel´s throats what Israel does not wish even in the worst nightmare! Livni,Peres darling ,has already gained a step forward! Watch out ,Israel!!!Watch out for what could come especially in the next fortnight, because Peres can put another person of his(dangerous) like instead of Netanyahu to form the coalision in order to please Obama. WATCH OUT!

You are representing your voters well, over half a million Israelis who chose you. Also half a million of us, expatriates overseas, are watching with delight as you are holding up the principles for which you were elected. Hazek v'ametz, the victory is near. Thank you.

Had i known that they would be so hateful to their own supporters, i would never had voted for them!! In fact, i know that they received many Hareidi votes. We voted for them because we hoped they would try to bridge the gap between religious and non religious, but all i see is them giving in to all the whims and cruel stands of the lefties. This will be the party's undoing!!

So why is not the judicial system in an uproar. Call a spade a spade-Lapid is a racialist.

seat. I have lost total respect for the wimpy Hellenist. Just go to new elections. He doesn't deserve to be the Prime Minister.

Netanyahu was planning a dirty trick like in 1992. He would get Left/Haredi support to get the Zionists (including Beitar Illit), and then later get the Haredim. So far, both Bennet and Lapid turn out to be honest men who keep their word to their voters. Netanyahu must be going crazy, negotiating with men of principle. The only question is what will Likud do now that Netanyahu destroyed them electorally. Enjoy your shabbat

Intransigent Good guys waiting for new elections. Lapid waiting for Peres to call them in to set up a coalition. BB these inexperienced men are aware, if they play hard to get they will strengthen their voter appeal to increase voter support. They dont have cvs showing ability and experience. They just carry on smiling and being so nice stand firm and the fickle votes polarise in their direction. Votes moving from labour and even the not so loyal Likud. This trend can be the end of Jewish Israel as we know it. They want to dominate the Hareidim and in so doing re-brand our Eretz Hakodesh. BB you and Hareidim need to find a way to reverse this trend. BB you have shown utmost loyalty to the Hareidim. Perhaps you have to recognise transition or you may be left out as well. A holding strategy with a easier connection to Haredim perhaps is needed unfortunately. Am Yisroel Chai.

Watching this from the US I got to say it is high time ISrael makes some kind of change to it's electoral system. The system of horse trading like this is a joke. Not that US elections are perfect but there is a separation of powers between the executive and congress. A president can govern without his party in power in congress.

Jason, you have to understand that Israeli politics has not advanced beyond the normal standards of the shtetl

alexi Bibi invited Livni because he needed the numbers even with Bennet Bibi would have still needed Livni to get the minimum 61 seats. Blame it on the coalition system which is based around backroom deals. Bibi is a good leader but he can't satisfy everybody. Lapid is a lousy leader but he is fashionable. Keren What is the obsession with haredi the seriousness which people take them and the army is nuts. If we force the haredi to go into the army which of the countries will it solve? The IDF doesn't want them because it wants to slim down anyway and they certainly don't want to spend a huge percentage of their limited budget to draft people they dont want or need. Bibi originally wanted Lapid but then he started showing his true colours by giving speeches about him being PM within 18 months so Bibi decided he couldn't trust him so didn't want him. He could have formed a coalition without him if Bennet didn't betray his voters & become Lapid 2 and forming a pact. Bibi won't be able to get anything done without the religious and a coalition without the religious. A coalition that included Bennet & Lapid but no religious will be lucky to last a year. What the public do not want is another election which cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of shekels

My sympathies are totally with you and all the other expats who wish to return and make and live in a better Israel. I hope, like you, that they will stick to their guns and earn the respect of everybody, unfortunately I believe that in the end political prostituition will win the day. I hope I am wrong, I really do.

The shtetl and the desert combined.

Yitzak Rabin coined the word Go’alitzia - a combination of the words in Hebrew for "coalition" & "disgust". Describing our process of forming the Knesset...

You guys got that so right! It's scary that such a thoughtful people can remain politically so backwards. These elections have made it even more clear what a terribly corrupt system we have.

Haredim can solve this by following Torah: stop stealing from the people. One of the very most basic commandments. They must work for their own living. The desire to preserve the character of Israel back in the 40's and 50's has become twisted. It now is far from the intent. Israel can support a very limited number of scholars. But studying don't pay the bills... the free ride will become a moot point, as the money is going to run out. Think of a conveyor belt: work goes onto the belt; along the line, work is changed into money; that money is exchanged for millions of goods and services--which allows for MORE work going onto the conveyor belt. But what if all that work is put into a hole, a cavern, a bottomless pit? The value of work vanishes. It's like throwing all ones food, clothing, vehicles, books, toys, furniture, housing, into a giant bottomless pit. When you support a people group who does not put work back onto the conveyor belt, THAT is exactly what you are doing. The Haredim will bankrupt the country if they live off the work of someone else. Work equals money equals livelihood. But it's a circle, not a dead end. Ask yourself: where would they live, how would they eat, what would they wear--if other people weren't flat out giving it to them? The solution? It can be positive if they can be brought to see that they have unwittingly become thieves--which is against Torah. The second part of the solution is to help them find what they're good at outside of studying. Most of them will be good at jobs with a realistic or conventional focus. Others will be good at investigative pursuits. Others will be good at social, artistic, or enterprise. All will be good at a combination of the above. Once they can find meaning in accordance with their true individual nature, and once they stop, in effect, stealing, they will find contentment and their study of Torah will have meaning. Pushing them off into the army as a whole will never work. The IDF can't be responsible for rehabilitating a people group created by the society at large. The IDF isn't a social services entity. Some Haredim will be really good at military service, but starting them there when they can't even think outside the box is a grave error. My concern is that Lapid might be taking HH for a bit of a ride. Netanyahu and Bennett are closer politically in terms of Zionism. I wish Bibi had been quick to welcome HH. What a mistake.

Bennett and Lapid are shining stars and show no sign of relenting. Please be optimistic and give them as much support as you can. Political prostitution must fail, unlike in the past. Let's see Netanyahu and Sara going home very soon.

Shamefull behaviour!!!! From Lapid, being the son of the father it's no surprice but from Bennet & his party members it is!

Their wives are not carrying the Alicia name, but we can call them together Alicia Lapinnett. Once we have the name for Sara's successors, the next Israeli government is half way there.

it is well known that lapid is olmert's poodle. it is well known that lapid is favoured by obama and the american jewish establishment. it is well known that lapid has zero experience in any aspect of military, leadership, diplomacy, and is totally unfit to be prime minister. yet bennet is risking new elections that could make lapid prime minister and thereby endanger the very existence of the country. habayit yehudi should oust bennet and get a new, more responsible leader.

The main issue in this election was unfair distribution of the country's resources. The electorate voted overwhelmingly to correct the imbalance, empowering Lapid and Bennett to implement this. Likud and the Haredim have been used to feathering their own nests for many years, and are now struggling to keep their fingers on the purse strings. It is refreshing to see Lapid and Bennett has not forgotten the electorate and seem genuinely serious about representing the wishes of the majority of the Israeli people. Congratulations - honest politicians at long last.

The position of Livni could be the end of the conflict between Israel and the International Community. The colapse of a Zionist State and a new constitution where the religion and politic powers will be separated.

People love Lapid. Goodness with logic = Unbreakable

I think the Reuters' picture of Benjamin Netanyahu shown alongside this article is most appropriate - he looks real sneaky, doesn't he?