Netanyahu Losing Strength as Election Nears; Function of Internecine Right-wing Spats

Israeli incumbent Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s strength at the polls continues to slide based on new polling, but the decline in the number of parliamentary seats his party is predicted to win is attributable to internecine squabbling among right-wing parties rather than to projected gains by the center-left bloc that seeks to unseat him. With the election only 24-days away, the march of right-leaning Israelis away from Netanyahu and toward political newcomer Naftali Bennett continues. Bennett, a young, wealthy hi-tech entrepreneur who once served as Netanyahu’s chief-of-staff, took a thrashing from the PM at his Likud party gathering, a move many now believe backfired and sent more Likudniks to Bennett’s “The Jewish Home” party. The only center-left or left-winger to show resilience is the Labor party’s Shelly Yachimovich, who has positioned her party farther to the right than many had expected. Combined with the Bennett phenomenon, the election, which was originally seen as a lackluster extension of Netanyahu’s reign, has become a horse race with domestic and international repercussions.