Israel faces a deadlock after the 4th election in two years

"Whoever receives the invitation (to form a government) is expected to struggle to form a coalition. If Mr Netanyahu persuades Raam to join his coalition, he could lose the support of a far-right alliance already in his bloc. That alliance, Religious Zionism, said Thursday that it would refuse to serve in a government-supported by Raam. Similarly, Lapid may struggle to persuade two right-wing parties within his alliance to sit not just with Raam, but with another Arab group called the Joint List."

The coming weeks will be full of suspense as intensive negotiations among the various parties of the two coalitions will continue and Netanyahu will remain Acting Prime Minister while being on trial for criminal offenses. The paralysis of the Israeli government will continue for some weeks at least and for this Netanyahu is clearly responsible.

As Amos Harel wrote in Israeli newspaper Haaretz "it is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who over the past two years has stalled the Israeli political system like the Egyptian ship that for several days now has been blocking busy international ship traffic through the Suez Canal."

( With inputs from ANI )