TEL AVIV // It was a political slap in the face for Benjamin Netanyahu.
The right-wing Israeli prime minister may have gained a third term as prime minister in Tuesday's election after his Likud party and its ultranationalist electoral ticket partner won the highest number of seats - 31 - in Israel's 120-member parliament.
However, the Israeli leader has emerged politically weakened because yesterday's near-final tally showed that Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu together lost a quarter of the seats that the two parties hold in Israel's outgoing parliament. The result was also significantly lower than the 45 seats they had expected when announcing their union last year.
The outcome was worse for Mr Netanyahu because - contrary to predictions that Israeli politics were swinging irrevocably rightward - the camp of the right, and the combined one of the centre and left, seemed to unexpectedly win an equal number of seats.
That could place Mr Netanyahu in a quagmire, experts said. Namely, he may have to moderate his hard-line stance on issues like settlements and the Palestinians to draw centrist parties to his government and form a large coalition, while risking the ire of his pro-settler political and financial backers, analysts said.
At the same time, the conflict with the Palestinians is likely to be low on the next government's agenda as many voters' surprisingly high support for centrist parties reflected a discontent more about economic issues and the power of the ultra-Orthodox than about the deadlocked peace process, according to experts.
Israeli media was flooded with condemnation of Mr Netanyahu yesterday, with the liberal Haaretz newspaper labelling him a "man of the past", and a columnist for the right-leaning NRG news website predicting he'll become "the weakest premier in the country's history".
Gabriel Weimann, a professor of political science at Haifa University, said: "It was a huge loss for Netanyahu. He not only lost much of his support base, but he lost the possibility of creating a stable coalition from a strengthened position."
The premier's mistakes, analysts said, ranged from underestimating growing dissatisfaction over the high cost of living in the country to losing some of the Likud's more moderate voters by joining forces with the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party of Avigdor Lieberman in November.
Mr Netanyahu is likely to begin intensive negotiations with potential political partners within a week, when he is expected to be tapped by the Israeli president to form a coalition. He will then have up to six weeks to cobble together a government.
Analysts said his next coalition will probably include the unexpected political star of the elections, Yair Lapid, the 49-year-old head of the centrist There is a Future party and a popular ex-television news anchor and newspaper columnist. The movement of Mr Lapid, the son of a prominent former justice minister with a fiercely anti-religious agenda, garnered 19 parliamentary seats and became the second-biggest party after Likud.
Experts said Mr Lapid, who campaigned on ending army draft exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox and on mitigating economic hardships, is likely to play a key role in the upcoming coalition negotiations, possibly forcing Mr Netanyahu to abandon his traditional right-wing and ultrareligious political allies in favour of a more moderate government. Yesterday, Mr Lapid called for "as broad a government as possible" that would include "moderate forces from the left and right".
Despite being considered a centrist who favours negotiations with the Palestinians, Mr Lapid's debut in the political arena is not expected to help reignite deadlocked peace talks.
After all, the upstart politician has mostly ignored Israeli-Palestinian ties during his campaign. In a rare statement on the issue, he said in October that Israel's aim with the peace talks should be "a divorce agreement we can live with." However, he pointedly made that statement during a campaign speech at the contentious Jewish settlement of Ariel, located deep inside the West Bank, suggesting his possible support for Israel retaining that community in a peace pact.
Israel insists Ariel is one of five so-called major settlement blocs it plans to keep under any peace pact, but the Palestinians have indicated they would oppose the Israeli annexation of Ariel.
The likelihood that Mr Netanyahu may also add the far-right Jewish Home party to his next government would also make a settlement with the Palestinians even less probable.
Jewish Home's leader, Naftali Bennett, considered an election winner as well by grabbing votes from disgruntled Likud supporters and garnering 11 seats for his party, rejects Palestinian statehood and advocates for an Israeli annexation of most of the West Bank.
Palestinian officials yesterday expressed pessimism about a possible restart of peace negotiations with the next Israeli government despite the better-than-expected results of the centre and left.
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah: "I don't see a peace coalition or a peace camp emerging now and revitalising itself."
vbekker@thenational.ae
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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'Brazen'
Director: Monika Mitchell
Starring: Alyssa Milano, Sam Page, Colleen Wheeler
Rating: 3/5
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last 16, second leg
Liverpool (0) v Atletico Madrid (1)
Venue: Anfield
Kick-off: Thursday, March 12, midnight
Live: On beIN Sports HD
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The%20specs%3A%202024%20Mercedes%20E200
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet
Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
The%20stats%20and%20facts
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.