As Israeli election looms, leading candidates aim to win enough seats to form government

By Burak Dag

ANKARA (AA) – With just short of a week to go before Israel’s fifth parliamentary elections in less than four years, leaders are wooing around 6.7 million voters to emerge out of political gridlock in their favor.

Mainly split into “Bibi” and anti-“Bibi” camps, a reference to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname, the Israeli political arena does not pledge anything but a coalition government.

- Benjamin Netanyahu

Now heading Israel’s main opposition in the Knesset, or parliament, Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, is preparing to make a comeback in the coming polls.

However, the political experts and polls indicate that Israeli voters will not hand Netanyahu a clear electoral victory, as his Likud party and its right-wing religious alliance are expected to receive just enough votes to form a coalition government or fall one or two seats short of winning a majority.

The 73-year-old seasoned politician and former diplomat entered politics from the right-wing Likud party in 1984, after serving as the country’s ambassador to the UN for four years.

The upcoming election seems to be the biggest challenge in Bibi’s political life since he was formally indicted in 2019 over allegations of breach of trust, bribery and fraud, which triggered a political crisis leading to five consecutive elections in less than four years.

Known for his conservative and security-oriented policies, Netanyahu frequently accuses his political opponents of collaborating with “Islamists,” citing United Arab List leader Mansour Abbas’ joining the coalition government.

He recently called the outgoing government’s latest move of giving a green light to a maritime deal with Lebanon a “complete surrender,” accusing Prime Minister Yair Lapid of retreating over Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s threats.

- Yair Lapid

Lapid, the leader of Israel’s centrist Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, took over as the 14th prime minister – interim – in Israel’s history on July 1 after Naftali Bennett stepped down.

The former journalist and talk show host entered politics when he founded Yesh Atid in 2012.

Lapid’s political party mainly focuses on improving the economic conditions of the Israeli middle class and advocates a two-state solution for the Palestinian issue.

His decision to forge an alliance with Benny Gantz’s Israel Resilience Party in 2019 under the newly formed Kahol Lavan (Blue and White) party was a turning point that brought him to the forefront of the Israeli political arena.

Along with his partner Gantz, Lapid turned into Netanyahu’s main challenger and tied Bibi’s hands following three snap legislative elections in 2019 and 2020 on the formation of a government.

With Lapid’s major efforts following polls held on March 23, which Yesh Atid ran for independently and received 17 seats, the opposition managed to create a rotation government to end Bibi’s rule.

Although his secularist worldview does not seem to be reflected in the current government’s policies, his remarks in support of Ukraine have received backlash from particularly now-opposition leader Netanyahu.

Polls in Israel project the Lapid-led Yesh Atid to receive 23 or 24 seats as the second largest party.

- Benny Gantz - Gideon Sa’ar

Gantz, a former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief and the current defense minister, entered politics in 2018 and formed his Israel Resilience Party to run in the March 2019 elections.

The same year, Gantz allied with Lapid to form the Blue and White party ahead of the elections. Although he pledged not to form a coalition government with Netanyahu, Gantz agreed to form a "national emergency government" with Bibi, which led to the breakup of Blue and White.

Having served as defense minister of the emergency government, Gantz could not avert the need for another election, which resulted in the formation of the 36th Bennett-Lapid government.

Current Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar, meanwhile, entered politics with the right-wing Likud party in 2003 and served as the Likud parliamentary group chairman.

Considered by many to be Bibi’s most loyal supporter, Sa’ar emerged as his top challenger in Likud primaries held in December 2019. A year after his defeat to Netanyahu, Sa’ar announced his decision to form a political party, New Hope.

Gantz and Sa’ar, leaders of these two political parties of the outgoing government, agreed to run in a joint slate in the upcoming election.

While Sa’ar’s New Hope will receive one-third of the joint slate, two-thirds of the slate will be filled by Blue and White.

As Gantz and Sa’ar aim for a “responsible, realistic, secure and liberal” government, polls project that the newly formed centrist political alliance, the National Unity party, is highly likely to receive 12-13 seats as the third largest political party.

Ex-IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot took the plunge into politics with the National Unity Party and will run for the Knesset on the party’s slate.

- Mansour Abbas

Abbas, an Israeli-Arab politician, went down in the history of Israeli politics as being the leader of the first independent Arab party with four seats in parliament, which became part of a governing coalition in Israel.

Known as a pragmatic Islamist politician, Abbas supported the coalition on the condition of "improving the living conditions of Arabs of Israel (and) ending the injustice and marginalization inflicted on them."

Around 1 million Arab-Israelis, which make up 17% of all voters, will cast their votes in the upcoming elections, according to experts.

- Merav Michaeli - Zehava Gal-On

Merav Michaeli joined the social democratic and Zionist Israeli Labor Party in 2012 and was elected a Knesset member of parliament for four terms. In the outgoing government, she serves as the transport and road safety minister.

Gal-On, the head of Israel’s left-wing social democratic Meretz party, was recently re-elected its leader after her retirement from political life. Like the current prime minister, Gal-On advocates a two-state solution for the Palestinian issue, focusing on social justice, human rights, religious freedom and environmentalism.

According to experts, in the event of either of these political parties facing the risk of falling below the 3.25% threshold, the Netanyahu-led bloc will be highly likely to secure enough seats to form a coalition government.

- Itamar Ben-Gvir

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right Knesset member and leader of the Otzma Yehudit party, is known for his regular storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and campaigns against the Palestinian Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

He is believed to have gained popularity among ultra-Orthodox youth with his recent moves and remarks and it might make him a kingmaker in the coming election if the voter bases of other ultra-Orthodox parties decide to go with him.