Israelis vote with Netanyahu's record reign at stake

Critics warn of "Bibi fatigue", argue that parliamentary election should bring fresh faces to high office.
Voters consider "King Bibi" versus "Bibi fatigue"
Novice ex-general Gantz could stop fifth term for Netanyahu
Victory will require parliamentary bloc-building

JERUSALEM - Israelis began voting in an election on Tuesday that could hand conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a record fifth term or see him dethroned by an ex-general who has pledged clean government and social cohesion.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) across the country and close at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT). But the victor may not be decided immediately. No party has ever won an outright majority in the 120-seat parliament, meaning days or even weeks of coalition negotiations lie ahead.

Dubbed "King Bibi," Netanyahu has rallied a rightist camp hardened against the Palestinians and played up Israeli foreign policy boons that are the fruit of his ties with the Trump administration.

But the 69-year-old Likud party leader's hope of overtaking Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion, as longest-serving premier in July has been dented by a looming graft indictment. He denies any wrongdoing.

Critics warn of "Bibi fatigue" and argue that the parliamentary election should bring fresh faces to high office.

Stalking Netanyahu in the opinion polls has been Benny Gantz, a former chief of the armed forces and centrist political novice. Buttressed by two other former generals at the top of his Blue and White party, Gantz, 59, has sought to push back against Netanyahu's self-styled image as unrivalled in national security.

With broadcast and traditional media outlets off-limits for campaigning on election day, Netanyahu posted a link on Twitter and Facebook and called for voters to get in touch.

"This morning I am asking to speak with you, personally, through messenger. All it takes is one click on the link. I'm waiting," he said.

Gantz, taking a different approach, shared a video of himself at the voting station set to music, without any direct comments. His party co-leader, Yair Lapid, posted a video of himself kickboxing with a note saying he was "fighting for every vote".

After the election Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, will consult the leaders of every party represented in the Knesset and select the person he believes has the best chance of forming a government.

Opinion divided

Voting at a polling station in Rosh Ha’ayin near Tel Aviv, gynaecologist Yaron Zalel, 64, said he supported Netanyahu’s chief opponent, the centrist former general Benny Gantz.

"Netanyahu did a lot of great things for Israel, really, a lot of great things. But he is 13 years in power and enough is enough," he said.

"He has had enough, he did enough. Now when he feels his earth, the political earth, is shaking, he is destroying everything. This has to be stopped. I am here for my kids and the next generations. There is no one who can’t be replaced."

Backing Netanyahu was another voter at the same polling station, Avi Gur, 65, a lecturer at Ariel University in a settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

"Very excited, very excited. I hope that rightism will win," he said, adding that the Likud leader was "the best prime minister there has ever been" in Israel.

"We are leading in high tech, we are leading in security, we are leading in the economy now. That’s good."

In Jerusalem, Ronza Barakat, a librarian belonging to Israel's Arab minority, said she backed the left-wing Meretz party.

"I voted for them hoping for change, a change in the racism that exists here," she said. "We live together in a place of peace, why should hate exist between people?"

With little policy daylight between the two main candidates on issues such as Iran and relations with the Palestinians, much of the voting will be guided by judgements on character and personality.

In the build up to the vote the parties waged a vitriolic online battle, accusing each other of corruption, fostering bigotry and even of conspiring with Israel's adversaries.

Campaign rhetoric

The increase in divisive rhetoric saw Netanyahu face election day criticism as Likud activists brought cameras into polling stations in Arab-majority neighbourhoods.

The main Arab party filed an urgent complaint to the elections committee after videos emerged appearing to show Likud observers being caught with small cameras while working in polling stations.

The party alleged it was illegal to have cameras in the polling stations and was an attempt to intimidate and reduce turnout among voters from Israel's Arabs minority.

A spokesman for the elections committee said it was looking into the allegations, including whether such practices were legal.

One of the Arab alliance's leaders, Ahmed Tibi, said Likud was resorting to covert means to try to influence the polling day outcome.

"Netanyahu wants to lower the percentage of Arabs arriving at the polls," he said.

Netanyahu brushed off the criticism, saying it "ensures clean voting."

"There should be non-overt cameras everywhere," he told journalists at a polling station in Jerusalem.

Kobi Massar, Likud representative to the Central Elections Committee, told public radio there was "suspicion of widespread voter fraud in the Arab sector."

"The cameras are meant to keep the elections clean."

Israeli Arabs, who make up around 17.5 percent of the population, are Palestinians who remained on their land after the 1948 creation of Israel. They are largely supportive of the Palestinian cause.

In the last election in 2015, Netanyahu was heavily criticised for saying on polling day that Israeli Arabs were voting in "droves", a comment he later apologised for.

Netanyahu usually responds to criticism by casting himself as the victim of media bias and judicial overreach. 

Gantz, meanwhile, has portrayed himself as a salve for Israel's religiously and ethnically riven society and its ties with liberal Jews abroad, while steering clear of discussing Israeli-Palestinian relations.

The distinctions between the leading parties in Israel were not as clear as they had been in past decades, said Nabil Shaath, a veteran adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

"There were times when elections were important," he said on Monday. "But now, what are you talking about? It's the right, and then further to the right and then the extreme right and then further to the extreme right. There is really no left left in Israel."

Both Netanyahu and Gantz have publicly ruled out a future alliance in a "national unity" coalition, but some analysts predict a rethink, especially if the candidates agree to tackle together a widely expected US plan for Middle East peace.

That plan's sponsor, US President Donald Trump, told Republican Jewish supporters on Saturday: "I think it's going to be close ... Two good people."