Israel Goes To The Polls

Candidates from 34 Israeli political parties who are contending for 120 seats in Israel’s Knesset scrambled yesterday from location to location, from photo-op to photo-op in a last-minute attempt to win over another few voters.

The front-runner, Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, a 1967 graduate of Cheltenham High School, toured northern Israel and planted an olive tree on the Golan Heights. He used his appearance there to insist a government under his leadership would not withdraw from the Golan Heights. The strategic piece of land, also claimed by Syria, was taken by Israel in 1967 to protect Israel’s northern Galilee from shelling by Syrian gunners.

Mr. Netanyahu also used the occasion to proclaim that he would not compromise Israeli control of Jerusalem’s sovereignty.

Yet the surprise of this year’s Israeli political campaign is Russian-born Avigdor Lieberman, who will undoubtedly perform a leading role in any coalition formed by Mr. Netanyahu following the election.

Assuming the polls published up until now are correct, Mr. Netanyahu will likely form the next government. Senior Likud officials have gone even farther to state should Mr. Lieberman demand leadership of the Defense Ministry in the course of future coalition negotiations, Mr. Netanyahu would not be able to turn him down.

As of mid-December, Mr. Netanyahu was expected to win this election hands down, following Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s fall from power. The current prime minister’s predicament came amid revelations he was caught taking bribes from an American businessman and after he was caught embezzling funds from American philanthropies.

Mr. Lieberman’s party had been expected to be relegated to the role of a yet another minor party partner in any future Israeli government.

Yet Mr. Lieberman did what no other Israeli politician did: He played on the strong emotions that emerged during Israel’s incursion into Gaza.

During that time, while Israeli military forces were fighting Hamas terrorists who were firing rockets at one million Israeli residents, Israeli Arab Members of the Knesset led mass demonstrations of Israeli Arabs against the Israeli army.

The strident support given by Israeli Arabs for Hamas resulted in a Jewish backlash against Israeli Arabs, who number 1.4 million, in a country of 7.5 million citizens.

Mr. Lieberman became the one Israeli politician to immediately integrate Israeli popular anger against Israeli Arab support of Israel’s enemy into his political campaign, and his popularity has blossomed.

Mr. Lieberman’s slogan was simple: No Israeli citizen should vote or serve in Israel’s Knesset if he demonstrates disloyalty to the country, and his call has resounded in every corner of Israeli society.

Other major Israeli political parties such as Kadima, lead by Foreign Minister Livni and Labor, lead by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, have announced that their parties would sit in a government with Mr. Lieberman should either party form a future Israeli government.

The Arab world is closely following the elections in Israel and there is a clear concern in the Arab media due to the rise in the polls of Mr. Lieberman.

The Arab media also closely followed the publication of the last election polls in the weekend Israeli newspapers.

“Lieberman may pass the 20-seat mark, according to the polls of the
Israeli newspapers,” reported the popular Arab newspaper al-Quds. “This is only three seats less than Kadima is expected to get, and six less than the number of seats that the Likud is expected to receive in the elections.”


Other Arab commentators are quoted as saying that “in the coming elections, Lieberman may even be Israel’s prime minister.”

Another expression of the Arab media’s fear of Mr. Lieberman can be found in the following quote, which appeared in “al-Quds” in Jerusalem: “Lieberman will ultimately decide who Israel’s next prime minister will be, because his support for a particular candidate will resolve almost 
conclusively the issue of forming the government”

Their conclusion is correct. Mr. Lieberman’s warning about the disloyalty of Israel’s Arab population now represent the most popular position on the Israeli political horizon.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com