JERUSALEM – On Tuesday, Israelis voted in national elections for the fifth time since 2019, in hopes of breaking the political gridlock that has incapacitated the nation for the last three and a half years.
Even though the cost of living is rising, Israeli-Palestinian unrests are escalating, and Iran continues to be a key threat, the primary issue in the vote is former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suitability to serve amid corruption allegations. His biggest rival is the centrist caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who helped to depose him last year.
“These polls are a choice between the past as well as the future.” So go out and vote in this election for our children’s future, for the future of this country,” Lapid said after casting his ballot in the upscale Tel Aviv neighborhood in which he resides.
Polls suggested a similar outcome: a tie. However, a new powerful player is challenging to upend the status quo. Itamar Ben-Gvir, a top far-right politician, has lately surged in opinion polls and will seek a tougher stance against Palestinians if he helps Netanyahu win.
After casting his ballot in the West Bank establishment where he lives, Ben-Gvir pledged that a vote for his party will indeed result in a “fully right-wing government” led by Netanyahu.
With former comrades and protégés unwilling to serve under him as he stands trial, Netanyahu hasn’t been able to form a feasible majority government in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament. His adversaries, an ideologically diverse cohort of parties, are bent of gaining the 61 seats required to rule.
This deadlock has engulfed Israel in an unparalleled political crisis, undermining Israelis’ confidence in their democracy, institutions, as well as political leaders.
“People are fed up of insecurity, of the government failing to deliver,” stated “ Yohanan Plesner, a former lawmaker who now heads the Israel Democracy Institute, a consulting firm in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu, 73, has rejected a request to resign from his adversaries, who argue that someone who is trial for fraud, breach of trust, as well as accepting bribes cannot be a leader. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing, but humiliating details from his ongoing lawsuit make front-page stories on a regular basis.
No single political party has ever won a majority in parliament in Israel’s fractured politics, and alliance is required to govern.
Netanyahu’s most likely route to the prime-minister ship will necessitate a coalition with extremist ultranationalists as well as religious ultra-Orthodox parties.
Those very same parties would necessitate key portfolios in a Netanyahu administration, and some of them pledged to enact reforms that would alleviate Netanyahu’s legal problems.
The extreme nationalist Religious Zionism party, whose provoking top candidate Ben-Gvir seeks to expel Arab lawmakers and is a protégé of a racist rabbi assassinated in 1990, has promised to back legislation that would change the legal code, impair the judiciary, as well as potentially help Netanyahu avoid prosecution. Ben-Gvir declared this week that he would run for Cabinet to oversee the police force, pledging a tougher stance against Palestinian aggressors.
Critics have raised concerns about what they see as a hurtful threat to Israel’s democracy.
“If Netanyahu wins,” Yediot Ahronot columnist Sima Kadmon wrote, “these will be the final moments of the Israeli state as we’ve known it for 75 years.”
Netanyahu’s Likud party has attempted to calm fears by claiming that any modifications to the code of law will not apply to Netanyahu’s case and that the extremist elements of his prospective alliance will be curbed in.
Netanyahu, the prevailing leader of the opposition, portrays himself as the consummate national leader and the only leader capable of navigating the country’s multiple difficulties. According to polls, the race is too close to call.
After 12 years in power, Netanyahu was deposed last year by a broad consortium led by Lapid, Netanyahu’s primary contender.
The alliance, comprised of nationalists who oppose Palestinian sovereignty, dovish parties seeking a peace agreement, and, for the first time in the nations history, a small Arab Islamist party, came together to oppose Netanyahu but disintegrated this spring because of infighting.
Lapid, a centrist former author as well as broadcaster who became prime minister as a component of a power-sharing deal, has depicted himself as a truthful as well as scandal-free alternative to the controversial Netanyahu.
During his brief tenure as caretaker leader, Lapid welcomed President Joe Biden on a fruitful visit to Israel, led the nation in a brief military campaign against Gaza insurgents, as well as signed a diplomatic accord with Lebanon establishing a maritime border between the adversaries.
Nevertheless, Lapid’s chances of resuming leadership are bleak. He is counting on support from Israel’s Palestinian minority, which accounts for one-fifth of the populace. Their turnout is expected to be at a historic low, but if they surprisingly vote, it could cut the Netanyahu camp’s numbers.
The parties will have close to three months to form a government following the voter count. If they are unable to do so, Israel will hold its 6th election.
