Benjamin Netanyahu has won reelection as prime minister of Israel, putting him on course to be the country’s longest-serving chief executive in the Jewish state’s history. The Netanyahu right-wing coalition gives the incumbent leader a majority in Israel’s multi-party parliament, the Knesset, which is necessary to form a government. Under a parliamentary system, the “government” is essentially equivalent to our executive branch, with key member of parliament simultaneously serving in the leader’s cabinet. Although it won the same number of seats as Netanyahu’s Likud Party, the opposition “centrist” Blue and White coalition has formally conceded. Israel is the only functioning, multi-ethnic democracy in the Middle East. read more