By Harleen Kaur
Israeli elections took place March 17th this year, which ended in Benjamin Netanyahu keeping his title as Prime Minister. Weeks before the election, the Likud Party had been falling on the polls, yet due to Netanyahu’s last minute appeal to right-wing voters, the party was able to hold 29 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament. These numbers appeared from 99% of the votes according to unofficial numbers from the Israeli election committee.
Previously in Israeli elections, in order to become Prime Minister, the party must win at least 61 seats in the Knesset. But this year every party must receive at least a 3.25 percent vote to achieve any seats compared to the previous 2 percent. This means that because there were 26 parties those that do not receive enough votes will be removed, thus decreasing the number of votes that are calculated. And not only do votes get dropped, but this will also shift the left and right leaning blocs in the Knesset.
Once the Likud Party was falling behind on the polls, the Zionist Union had seemed as the party to collect the most seats. Although, after Netanyahu, the party was able to grab 24 of the seats, falling right behind the Likud Party. The Zionist Union had previously stated that Netanyahu was unable to take up the task of improving the lives of the Israelis. Yet, this was before Netanyahu appealed to the right by concerning to Israeli security.
He had stated that so long as he was Prime Minister, no Palestinian state would be allowed to exist, which was in response to his controversial speech warning the US Congress against making any deals with Iran concerning their nuclear program. His response concerning the Israeli Palestine conflict put him at odds against Obama’s two state solution. He had also released a video on Facebook claiming that massive amounts of Arabs were going to be brought in by leftist voters to vote against the Likud. Netanyahu claimed that right wing voters were in danger, thus broadcasting all to, “Bring your friends, bring your family, vote for Likud.”
It has been said that a new government has begun to form, yet many state that it will leave Israel in the same state as before the elections especially with Netanyahu still sitting as Prime Minister. Using this, Issac Herzog, who leads to the Zionist Union and was Netanyahu’s chief challenger, called for Netanyahu to relent to defeat stating that “nothing has changed.” And many argue that in his fourth term, he is doubtful to change after being in office for so long.
