Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to journalists after an interview at a conference organised by the TV channel 20 in Jerusalem
Credit: AFP/AFP
In Israel’s 2015 election, Benjamin Netanyahu sent a video message to Right-wing supporters warning that Arab Israelis were “voting in droves”. It was a ruthless — but ultimately successful — manoeuvre to scare wavering voters to keep him in power.
Now, with another crucial election on Tuesday, one of the world’s most shrewd political operators is shamelessly wooing the very people he demonised in the hope of winning one or two crucial extra seats to extend his extraordinary premiership further still.
In the Arab city of Nazareth, a large billboard greets visitors with a photograph of Mr Netanyahu staring mystically into the distance — and a highly unusual slogan.
“We’re all with Abu Yair,” it states, using an intimate Arabic nickname which literally means “the father of Yair,” referring to Mr Netanyahu’s 29-year-old son.
It is a significant turning point in Mr Netanyahu’s pugnacious career, in which he has regularly shown disdain for Arabs, even branding them as terrorist sympathisers — when it suits him.
In this election, Israel’s fourth in two years, he has travelled from north to south, promising a crackdown on rising crime in Arab cities and more normalisation treaties with Arab neighbours, such as Saudi Arabia.
He has also added the first Arab Muslim to his Likud party’s candidate list and hopes that his major success on securing Covid vaccines will boost Arab support.
Supporters of Israel's Likud party lift a banner depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the elections campaign at Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem
Credit: AFP/AFP
However, in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph on the campaign trail, one leading Arab politician claimed that “Abu Yair,” was a cynical alter ego, and that Mr Netanyahu was not to be trusted. “In this election, he is speaking nicely, playing soccer with Arabs, and the purpose is to say, you are not at risk from me,” said Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List, an Arab political alliance.
“Abu Yair drinks coffee with the Arabs, while Netanyahu advances the nation state law,” he added, referring to the divisive law which proclaimed that only Jews have the right to national self-determination in Israel. He also joked that Mr Netanyahu seemed to be spending more time in Arab communities than in Jewish areas during the campaign.
“He has surprised everybody by courting the Arab vote,” said Tamir Sheafer, a professor of political science at Hebrew University. “The way he presented Arabs throughout his career was sometimes appalling, I would say, and so this was a really big tactical turn.”
However, even if thousands of Arabs forgive Mr Netanyahu for his past comments and back his Likud party, the path to victory is littered with obstacles.
Recent polls suggest that Likud will only gain around 30 seats and will need support from ultra-orthodox and rival right-wing parties to form a 61-seat coalition in the Knesset.
Israel elections
In addition to courting the Arab vote, Mr Netanyahu has controversially flirted with the far-Right Kahanist movement, which regards Arabs as enemies of the state. This prompted Yair Lapid, the centrist leader projected to win some 20 seats, to warn that Israel was on the brink of electing an “extortionist and extremist” government. The Arab Joint list, meanwhile, is projected to secure around eight seats.
Mr Netanyahu is also facing a new challenger in Gideon Sa’ar, a former Likudnik whose breakaway party New Hope claims to be the only viable right-wing alternative to Mr Netanyahu.
“New Hope has established a political home for the many Israelis on the right of centre who feel that Likud no longer represents their values,” candidate Michal Shir told the Sunday Telegraph.
Though the polls say Mr Sa’ar may end up with fewer than 10 seats, this could theoretically be enough to scupper Likud’s hopes of finding the elusive majority of 61 in Israel’s famously fragmented political sphere.
As the polls suggest there will be no clear winner on Tuesday night, many tense weeks of coalition talks may well follow. Vaccines have been a key pillar of Mr Netanyahu’s re-election campaign, which presents him as the saviour-statesman who led the world’s fastest inoculations drive.
Likud also hopes that peace treaties struck with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain will burnish their credentials with Arab voters, though many of them regard those accords as a betrayal of the Palestinians. This is because the Palestinian leadership has long argued that Israel should only be embraced by Arab nations after the creation of a Palestinian state
air Lapid, Yesh Atid party leader greets a supporter during a campaign event on March 19, 2021 in Hod HaSharon, Israel.
Credit: Amir Levy/Amir Levy
Whoever emerges as the victor will need to carefully manage Israel’s new relationship with the United States under Joe Biden, who has adopted a tougher stance on Israeli settlements and other Palestinian issues compared to his predecessor. The next prime minister will also need to urgently pass a state budget and rebuild Israel’s economy in the wake of the pandemic; unemployment briefly reached a peak of around 20 per cent last year.
And should Mr Netanyahu emerge as the loser, he will be facing a high-profile corruption trial, without the protection of high office, which could see him jailed for a decade. He strongly denies all the charges.
Back in Nazareth, Joint List activists played down concerns that Mr Netanyahu could steal some of their seats, as well as claims that many Arabs are privately tempted to vote Likud.
But some acknowledged that he may succeed in splitting the Arab vote, which would weaken Israel’s array of opposition parties even further.
“He is a big liar,” claimed Ramiz Jaraisy, the former mayor of Nazareth, in a sign that Mr Netanyahu’s frenetic campaigning in Arab towns has not won over everybody.
“The main issue to be concerned about in this election is Netanyahu himself — he is ready to do anything to stay in power.”
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