Israel votes for third time in effort to break deadlock
Israelis are voting in their third election in less than 12 months. The polls are aimed at breaking the political deadlock, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unable to shake off the challenge of armed services chief Benny Ganz of the Blue and White party.
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“It was a déjà vu for many Israelis,” says Ephraim Inbar, President of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.
“We had the third elections within the span of a year. It seems that this time it was a bit dirty, and personal. Although I wouldn’t say that this is exceptional or unusual in Israeli politics."
The elections took place under the shadow of the worldwide coronavirus outbreak. Currently, Israeli health authorities have registered ten people who are affected by the disease. But it didn’t deter voters from going to the polls.
“The voting went as usual. It must be said that the health services have exerted tremendous efforts to make sure that those infected by the virus or who are carrying the virus were able to vote.”
No big difference
Opposition leader Benny Ganz of the Blue and White party has presented himself primarily as an anti-Netanyahu candidate.
“The truth is that there is no big difference between the parties headed by Netanyahu, Likud, and the party Blue and White that is headed by Benny Ganz,” says Inbar.
“There are hardly any differences in many policy issues like Iran, or the Palestinians. Both parties see Iran as an existential threat, both parties think that everything should be done to prevent Iran from becoming nuclear.
"On the Palestinian issue, both parties are supporting the Trump peace plan – the Deal of the Century – that Palestinians unanimously reject."
Anti-Bibi Blue and White
Inbar doesn’t see big differences between the two rivals' social and economic policies either. “Both believe that Israel needs to continue to be a good capitalist economy, and to develop. We don’t have any Bernie Sanders around in Israel,” he muses.
“The main issue is Netanyahu. The main campaign of Blue and White is basically anti-Bibi,” says Inbar, using the popular abbreviation for the name of the PM.
On 28 January, Netanyahu became the first-ever sitting Prime Minister to be indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
“The issue which is at stake is whether a Prime Minister who has been accused of bribery and misconduct can continue to serve as Prime Minister. It is basically a referendum on Netanyahu,” he says.
But in the week preceding the elections, Netanyahu’s Likud party performed well in the opinion polls.
“In the last couple of days, Likud seems to have had the momentum,” but it is not likely either party will win the 61 seats necessary to form a majority in the 120 seat Knesset.
“The bad news is that we may face again a deadlock, with none of the large parties being able to form a coalition without the other,” says Inbar.
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