‘King Bibi’ is back (again), but what next for Netanyahu’s latest attempt at government?

Israeli politics has been shifting rightwards for decades, but this new coalition could go further than any before

An hour after the election exit polls predicted a comeback for former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday night, Israel's Channel 13 switched from vote count drama to its satirical late-night current affairs show, Wonderful Country.

The host was immediately joined by a comedian sporting round glasses, a yellow tie, knitted kippah and bulging fake belly, made up to look like the country's new political kingmaker, the extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir. Brandishing a pistol - as Ben-Gvir did recently in a Palestinian neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem - he danced his way across the set before taking a seat.