Analysis: With rap songs, bikers and foot slapping, the Israeli election campaign reaches its final stretch
An Israeli settler walks past posters bearing the portrait of Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Machane Yehuda market in Jerusalem on April 8, 2019, a day ahead of elections.
But Gantz, 59, who stands an imposing 6-foot-5, has kept his cool. His response to scathing attacks from Netanyahu has been simple. “Thank you for the last 10 years; we’ll take it from here,” Gantz has said throughout his campaign. But polls have been wrong before, and according to Tamar Hermann, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, they are getting worse. She is not a fan of Israeli polls, to put it mildly, saying they rely heavily on online sampling and small groups of respondents.
To be asked to form a coalition, either Gantz or Netanyahu will need the support of a majority of Knesset members — or at least 61 lawmakers. Netanyahu’s partnership with Kahanists, as Israelis refer to them, has been a strong campaign point for Gantz. His party has warned that Netanyahu would give key ministries, such as the Education Ministry, to the far right in a bid to secure their support.
One well-known Israeli Arab rapper even made a song about it, calling on the community to exercise its democratic rights. In addition, the sector’s political leaders have worked hard to encourage turnout. But it will become clear only on Tuesday if efforts to get Arab voters to the polls have been effective.
Feiglin, whose Zehut, or Identity, party, is now the biggest surprise of the election cycle, appeared Saturday night in what was supposed to be a hilarious interview with a local comedian. The two, for some unexplained reason, ended up slapping each other’s bare feet. The short clip even found its way onto fetish websites and sparked a host of copycat videos.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, is escorted by bodyguards during a visit to a market on the eve of Israel's general elections in Jerusalem, Monday, April 8, 2019. Over the past few days, Netanyahu’s messaging has echoed this. On Monday, a worn-looking Netanyahu appeared in a clip warning his voters that they should not fall for media reports that Likud will be big enough to form a government.
In the final throes of the election, Netanyahu has moved markedly to the right, making a last-minute attempt to appeal to the settler community and please the hard right. Most notable was a television interview on Saturday night in which he vowed to extend Israeli sovereignty over controversial West Bank settlements if he is reelected.
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