Israeli Elections
He will be “throwing a series of ‘Hail Mary’ passes at every opportunity on every issue, including diplomacy, security, social welfare, religion and economy,” said adviser Mitchel Barak, CEO of Keevoon Research, Strategy and Communications Ltd.
While many in Israel bemoan the financial burden of the new elections this fall, the major cost to the country will likely lie in other realms.
While the majority of Palestinians who work in Israel are not eligible to vote, they nevertheless enjoy paid time off on election day. As one Palestinian in Ramallah put it, “as far as we are concerned, Israel can hold elections every month.”
Benjamin Netanyahu’s embattled party has only 70 days to win back the supporters responsible for its April 9 victory.
Former Labor MK Eitan Cabel: “It’s a party where the decisions are made by one man” • Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein: “Ehud, democracy begins with democratic procedure within the party.”
A new Israel Hayom poll conducted this week shows the Likud and Blue and White almost neck and neck, with 31 and 30 seats, respectively.
Amir Peretz, who led Labor from 2005-06 and served as defense minister under Ehud Olmert, will now begin preparing the once-powerful party for Israel’s September election.
In the April 9 general elections, Labor won just six Knesset seats, the worst electoral showing in the party’s history.
Barak, the most decorated soldier in Israel Defense Forces history, served as IDF chief of staff from 1991 to 1995, and then as prime minister from 1999 to 2001, defeating a young Netanyahu after his first term as prime minister.
Likud Knesset member Miki Zohar said Barak’s return to politics was “good for the right, but very bad for the left, and has disastrous potential for the State of Israel.”
“These are dark days the likes of which we have never known,” he said at a press conference announcing his decision.
If the parties fail to form meaningful partnerships that combine forces to pass the electoral threshold, the right is at risk of seeing seven or more mandates go to waste, thereby preventing Netanyahu from being able to form a right-wing, nationalist government.
