Israelis head to the polls
JERUSALEM — Israelis were voting in parliament elections today after a heated three-month campaign that focused on economic issues but ended with a dramatic last-minute pledge by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu’s comments marked a reversal of long-standing promises to the United States and were seen as a last-ditch effort to appeal to hard-line voters as he fights for his political survival in a tight race.
Polls have indicated Netanyahu’s Likud Party is trailing slightly behind his centrist challenger, Isaac Herzog of the Zionist Union, who supports peace efforts with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu told Israel TV’s Channel 10 that if a Palestinian state is established alongside Israel it would be controlled by Islamic extremists who “will attack us with rockets.”
“Who wants such a thing?” Netanyahu said in the phone interview after casting his ballot early today. He has repeatedly voiced his opposition to a Palestinian state in recent days.
Herzog has promised to revive peace efforts with the Palestinians, repair ties with the U.S. and reduce the growing gaps between rich and poor.
“Whoever wants to follow (Netanyahu’s) path of despair and disappointment will vote for him,” Herzog said after casting his vote. “But whoever wants change, hope, and really a better future for Israel, will vote the Zionist Union led by me.”
Elections day is a public holiday in Israel. Most people don’t go to work, beaches and restaurants fill up, and stores advertise election-day sales.
Facebook has featured a special “I voted” button in Hebrew, as it has during elections in other countries, in an effort to get out the vote.
Meanwhile, police said they arrested an Israeli soldier on suspicion of incitement of violence.
The soldier wrote on Facebook that if a leftist were to rise to power, the soldier would follow in the footsteps of Israeli extremist Yigal Amir, who assassinated dovish Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.
In today’s election, Israelis vote for a 120-member parliament, casting ballots for a party list, rather than individual candidates. No party has ever won a majority, and so after an election, it typically takes weeks of negotiation to form a governing coalition of parties.
Several smaller centrist and religious parties that have not pledged support for either Netanyahu or Herzog will likely tip the scales to determine who will become prime minister.
Netanyahu has governed for the past six years and has long been the most dominant personality in Israeli politics.
He has swung further to the right in the final stages of the campaign, complaining of an international conspiracy funded by wealthy foreigners to oust him, and warning of a “left-wing government supported by the Arabs,” referring to a list of mostly Israeli Arab politicians that according to polls could emerge as the third biggest party in Israel.
This election season has amplified the bitter divide between hard-liners and moderates in Israel.
