Netanyahu Congratulates UK’s Cameron on Election Victory
by JNS.org
JNS.org – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his congratulations to newly re-elected British Prime Minister David Cameron.
“Congrats to @David_Cameron on impressive victory & renewed mandate. I look forward to working with you on shared goals of peace & prosperity,” Netanyahu, who just finished forming his own government on Wednesday, tweeted on Friday.
Despite poll predictions of a close election, Friday’s results indicate that Cameron’s Conservative Party won a slim majority in the British Parliament—331 of 650 seats in the latest tallies.
The strong showing for the Tories—as they are called in the U.K.—likely enables Cameron to govern without any coalition partners. After the 2010 election, the Tories had to partner with the Liberal Democrats.
Following the results, Ed Miliband—the Jewish leader of the Labour Party, which came in second with 232 seats—resigned his position. Labour suffered widespread losses in its former strongholds in Scotland due to the impressive showing by the Scottish National Party, which won 56 seats.
Leading up to the election, Miliband was heavily criticized by his own religious community due to Labour’s stances on Israel, including introducing legislation last year that called on the U.K. to recognize Palestinian statehood.