The Israeli election was a no-confidence vote in the rule of law and the judicial system. Half of Israel’s citizens (and a decisive majority of Jewish voters) gave their votes to parties that stood behind a man accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. In this election, which took place after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was indicted and on the eve of his trial set for March 17, Netanyahu's Likud received a whopping 36 mandates after 90% of the votes were counted.

Netanyahu should send the White House flowers. The serial temporary prime minister owes his achievement to no one more than US President Donald Trump. The Jan. 28 ceremony unveiling Trump's “deal of the century” was the Likud's most important campaign event in 2020.

But as we know, Trump doesn’t usually give free gifts, especially during a presidential campaign. The US administration expressed support for the UN Security Council's Feb. 24 call to pursue a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The council emphasized the need for a common effort to begin credible negotiations on permanent status issues.

Under the thunder of the election, the United States joined the rest of the 14 members of the Security Council in calling for the parties to refrain from damaging the possibility of realizing the two-state solution and to uphold the chance for a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace. The last bit threw ice water on those celebrating Israel's annexation and sovereignty over the West Bank, from Yamina to the Likud. It should be read as a response to Netanyahu's declaration a day earlier that he would advance a plan to build 3,500 new housing units in the West Bank Area of E1, east of Jerusalem, in addition to 3,000 homes in a new Jewish neighborhood in Givat Hamatos in East Jerusalem and 2,000 new housing units for Jews in the adjoining Har Homa neighborhood.