Sen. Bob Corker Reacts to Israeli Election Results

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today made the following statement about the results of the national election in Israel.

“The oldest and most stable democracy in the Middle East has once again gone through a hotly contested election and will peacefully form a new government. We congratulate Mr. Netanyahu on his victory and Mr. Herzog on his competitive run, and we look forward to continuing to build on our mutual interests,” said Corker.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Israel’s opposition leader has conceded defeat in the country’s election.

Isaac Herzog who heads the left-center Zionist Union says Wednesday that he called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to offer congratulations for his election victory. Netanyahu’s Likud appeared to have earned 30 out of parliament’s 120 seats and was in a position to be able to build with relative ease a coalition government with its nationalist, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies.

The Zionist Union won 24 seats. Herzog, who just days ago appeared poised to win, signaled that he would be heading the opposition. Speaking to reporters outside his Tel Aviv home, Herzog said that Israel now needed "another voice, a voice that offers an alternative and a voice that tells it the truth."