Israel: Signs of panic in Netanyahu’s campaign as polls show he is facing defeat

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Tzipi Livni (L)  Isaac Herzog
Tzipi Livni (L) Isaac Herzog

Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election prospects were looking increasingly grim on Wednesday amid fresh polls showing a strong lead for a buoyant Left-wing opposition and signs of panic in the Israeli prime minister’s own campaign.

Less than a week before a general election on March 17, the Zionist Union – an alliance of Isaac Herzog’s Labour party and Hatnua, led by Tzipi Livni, a former foreign minister – had a lead of three to four seats over Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party, according to two separate surveys.

One poll conducted for Channel 2 News suggested that Zionist Union would win 25 seats compared with 21 for Likud. The Impression of upward momentum for the opposition was reinforced at a boisterous rally in the southern town of Beesheba on Tuesday evening, where activists and ordinary voters said they detected the air of political change.

“We have been building momentum and it looks like change is coming,” said Erel Margalit, a Labour MP. “It makes me more optimistic than I was a few weeks ago. The sense of victory and change is in the air.”

The optimism was palpable as Mr Herzog and Ms Livni arrived at the rally at Beersheba’s Leonardo Hotel, greeted by loudly cheering groups of youth workers wearing blue T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan: “We are the revolution.”

“We are here because of an understanding that we cannot leave this country in the hands of Netanyahu,” said Ms Livni, whom the prime minister sacked three months ago as justice minister.

The Zionist Union’s positive outlook has been mirrored by evidence of a rising fear of defeat within Likud ranks.

That was crystallised by a text message sent to the party’s supporters, reading: โ€œWe are really in danger of losing! We must save the day and make sure that every single one of our friends/acquaintances/family makes it to the polls on election day and votes for the Likud. Otherwise we will suffer a left-wing government made up of Meretz [a Left-wing party] and the Arabs. Wake up!”

While Likud has trailed the Zionist Union in several polls in recent weeks, it has been widely assumed that Mr Netanyahu stands the best chance of forming a stable coalition because of his ability to win over Right-wing and religious parties.

However, his coalition options narrowed on Wednesday when Yair Lapid, his former finance minister and leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, declared for the first time that he would not support a new government led by him.

“There is no possibility that we will recommend Netanyahu,” Mr Lapid said. “Everyone understands that because I think that he should not be the next prime minister. He needs to understand that things have changed. There is no longer a Left and Right. There is a Right-wing, a centre and there is a Left-wing.”

Israel’s proportional representational voting system all but precludes one party winning an outright majority, making coalition governments inevitable.

The pessimistic aura surrounding Mr Netanyahu’s campaign seemed manifest this week when the media was barred from accompanying him on a campaign visit to Jerusalem’s historic Mehane Yehuda market – normally a bedrock of Likud support – apparently out of fear that he would be accosted by dissatisfied voters.

Mr Netanyahu spoke on Tuesday of “an attempt to overthrow the government”, a venture he claimed had international financial support.

Writing in Maariv newspaper, Ben Caspit, a seasoned Israeli commentator, said Mr Netanyahu’s conduct was reminiscent of a previous election when he was deposed as prime minister. “These days are reminiscent, almost exactly, of the 1999 campaign,” he wrote. “The same unraveling campaign, the same hollow messages, the same hackneyed claim about a โ€˜plot to topple me.โ€™ As if the very thought of replacing him as prime minister were heresy.”

Telegraph

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107 responses to “Israel: Signs of panic in Netanyahu’s campaign as polls show he is facing defeat”

  1. arzatna1 Avatar

    It seems that BIBI’s days are numbered .
    Many nations will be thrilled to see him go
    and I think he has nothing more to offer
    Time for change

  2. Hannibal Avatar

    ByeBye BiBi

  3. man-o-war Avatar
    man-o-war

    “Otherwise we will suffer a left-wing government made up of Meretz [a Left-wing party] and the Arabs”, lol

    1. cook2half Avatar
      cook2half

      JPost – Report: Israel treating al-Qaida fighters wounded in Syria civil war

      Lets see what doron says about this lol

      1. man-o-war Avatar
        man-o-war

        I imagine any sane Israeli citizens would see this as a problem. Provides fire to people who believe Israel and the US had a hand in igniting the Syrian civil war.

        1. cook2half Avatar
          cook2half

          Al Nusra is not a terrorist group

          1. man-o-war Avatar
            man-o-war

            haha, really?

          2. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Nope. Natanyahu has good ties with them. I really want him to win.

          3. man-o-war Avatar
            man-o-war

            Great, have fun with each other. Watch your back…ummm I mean head.

            Just remember that 93% of suicide attacks are committed by Sunni terrorist. Not saying that all suicide bombers are Sunni, but 9 out of 10 times they are.

            -2011 US counterterrorism center report

          4. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Probably most of them prior to the Syrian civil war were done by Palestinians.

          5. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Whats your career btw?

          6. man-o-war Avatar
            man-o-war

            Career student

          7. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            ๐Ÿ™‚

          8. Remind me who bombed the US barracks in Beirut?
            Your Virgin Sunni mum must be a fraud

          9. Anti ISIS Avatar
            Anti ISIS

            I’ll remind you, it was HA. They sent the yanks running with their tales between their legs.

          10. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            The Yanks just decided not to do the ‘Middle-East Thing’ at that time, and retaliate … I’d say you were lucky. It was more rational. They didn’t realize it just made them look forever ‘weak’ in Muddled-East Minds … the ones which want the USA$$ but not the words. Words like ‘Democracy’ … ‘Free Speech’ … ‘Love’. Too rational.
            Didn’t .. and still don’t … understand that ‘Tribal Mentality’.

          11. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            That was one … much earlier list. ๐Ÿ˜‰

          12. Btw we are in 2015

          13. man-o-war Avatar
            man-o-war

            You think the numbers have changed much in the last four years? Go ahead and post some new stats. I’ll make it easier for you, list the last 10 Shi’ite suicide bombers.

          14. Anti ISIS Avatar
            Anti ISIS

            Didn’t know that isis are are shiites playing under cover Sunnis. If you don’t believe me, just ask our resident idiot.

          15. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            It’s a ‘benevolent society’ of kidnappers?

          16. Hannibal Avatar

            LOL LOL LOL

        2. Did Israel treat some of the wounded from gaza during the last war?
          Yes!
          The point being that Israel is doing the humanitarian thing and not just letting wounded persons who sought help at her border just die. Unlike daft mare’s lover boy, assaad, who would have tortured those injured, AND their families, before killing all of them and their families.

          Israel doesn’t stop to ask someone bleeding to death, what affiliation they may have. It is a decent humanitarian act and Israel should be applauded for such honorouble behaviour.

          Anyone who disagrees is either a cold hearted SOB or too stupid to understand.

          1. Yes they treated them to more bullets, missiles, bombs, & enough propaganda bullshit to fertilize all the fields isreali terrorist have destroyed since 1948

          2. Yes they treated them to more bullets, missiles, bombs, & enough propaganda bullshit to fertilize all the fields isreali terrorist have destroyed since 1948

            But it’s ok if they r yellow Iranian shite terrorists doing all the above.

        3. A HAND?!? You mean arming rebels and training them to take down their president and begin an “Arab Spring” as was planned out and executed by the U.S. and its allys is EXACTLY what happened you fucking clown. We had disscussed it at length here in the states with our zionist terrorist allys for years. GET EDUCATED OR GET LOST!

          1. man-o-war Avatar
            man-o-war

            Hey numb nuts,
            If you want people to take you serious you may want to avoid calling people “fucking clown”. If you think thats what happened back it up with evidence, not just hot air. Why don’t you educate us you dipshit. In your warped mind you think that ASSad was not hated in his country, he was loved by everyone there, and winning elections with 99% of the votes was real…lol. If any of that was true it would have been pretty damn difficult to stir up an uprising against the beloved dictator. Get lost you POS

          2. “Hey numb nuts,
            If you want people to take you serious you may want to avoid calling people “fucking clown”

            Hey funny clown,
            If you want people to take you serious you may want to avoid calling people “numb nuts”

            You know the H word

          3. Hannibal Avatar

            If it isn’t the parrot rising…

          4. Hannibal Avatar

            It’s OK… Look for that growth between your legs anytime soon. Make sure to often check your teeny weeny sized balls because they will have a tumor the size of your ego… Then and only then you’ll beg for forgiveness from YHWH.

      2. Really?!?!…. now the hasbara trolls are spreading proganganda that they are treating alQaida in syria. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

        1. Hannibal Avatar

          Yes we treat them very well…
          We feed them ham. ๐Ÿ˜›

  4. cook2half Avatar
    cook2half

    Natanyahu should win.

    1. MekensehParty Avatar
      MekensehParty

      don’t forget to vote for him

      1. cook2half Avatar
        cook2half

        I don’t have Israeli citizenship :-)) But I would have voted for Likud

        1. Hannibal Avatar

          Ah yes we keep forgetting that you’re still a spy in training. When will they send you back to Iran to spy on the mullahs?

          1. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Nope I’m actually a day trader in training :-)))

          2. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            Oh no … another gambler with other people’s money … !!!! ๐Ÿ˜‰

          3. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            I love roulette ๐Ÿ˜€

          4. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            But as you’ve seen … ‘The House’ wins in the end. ๐Ÿ˜‰

          5. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            It feels weird lol. I use the best mathematical strategy and intuition. Three visits in a row I won, seemed too easy. Suddenly, the next two times I went I lost what I had won.

          6. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            Well, they can’t take back the ‘snackies’, at least. :-))))

          7. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            haha lol exactly. I told you I enjoy going there with friends on a night out, and enjoy good music and free food. But going there for the sake of it, and losing.. pfft lol.

          8. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            ‘Life In The Fast Lane’ … ๐Ÿ˜‰

          9. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            :-)) I try to make the best of life, dyou agree? lol

          10. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            I said ‘Try everything once’. The key word is ‘once’. ๐Ÿ™‚
            ‘You gotta know when to hold ’em … know when to fold ’em’ … no matter what skin colour. :-))))

          11. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            I wanna try blackjack now lol

          12. A zionist jew hasbara troll using intuition…that sounds like terrorism to me. Why dont you go spin your draddle somewhere else you lowlife bucket of feces.

  5. MekensehParty Avatar
    MekensehParty

    Crossing fingers that the majority of Israelis know what is at stake.
    Peace can be achieved, guaranteed not only by the West but also the Arab Countries.

    1. cook2half Avatar
      cook2half

      Right cause peace was achieved when the lefties signed the Oslo Accords, or when Likud withdrew from Gaza.

      1. MekensehParty Avatar
        MekensehParty

        following your logic, peace can NEVER be achieved, unless it’s the total surrender of the enemy.
        Your bet, the total surrender of the Palestinians is NOT going to happen, not in this day and age. 200 years ago you could have moved the Palestinians to the Atlantic Ocean and no one would have peeped a word. Today in the First True Millennium of Justice and Human Rights you can keep dreaming. The Palestinians will end up having their deserved rights and annihilating them just like you see it in your wet dreams is not going to happen, start acknowledging this reality and consider other alternatives to achieve peace.
        Justifying future failures with past failures is not only illogical but pretty naรฏve. Agreements are closely linked to timing and conditions change, what was impossible to accept in the 90s can be possible today… More importantly peace breaks this cycle of failures, and needs to be achieved only once if the intentions are true on both sides. Today, if bibi is replaced by a PM more inclined for Peace there is a partner on the other side who has true intentions towards a long lasting peace. Abbas is also supported by a big majority of Arab leaders. With Hamas almost or soon to be eliminated from the equation, and the Arabs drowning in reforming themselves while also facing a greater foreign danger which is Iran, there probably won’t be a better timing for snatching a deal.
        This is what this election is about…
        If Bibi is back, this year or next year or in two… there will be one new futile war where nothing will be achieved besides muscles flexing and illusionary victories on both sides. His wife will collect the money for recyclable bottles and the Israelis and Palestinians or Lebanese will not live better or safer…
        Pick a new PM that will enter seriously into peace talks and achieve a peace guaranteed by the West and Arabs. Cut the grass under the feet of the Iranians and watch them fighting against the Turks and Arabs.

        1. cook2half Avatar
          cook2half

          I stand by what I said. Withdrawing from southern Lebanon didn’t bring peace, nor did withdrawing from Gaza and nor did destroying some settlements north of the West Bank. All of that led to Hezbollah or Hamas takeovers. Why.on.earth. should any rational person think that withdrawing from any other territory will bring peace? Its so stupid that you feel that Israel should withdraw to the 1949 armistice lines, which by the way are impossible to defend against modern weaponry, simply because the enemy claims that “peace will occur”.

          Also bear in mind that the PA wants to flood Israel with 5 million descendants of refugees, divine Jerusalem, and refuses to even acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state. What they want is a Palestinian state, with a binational state next to it. Its not a secret, go on Palestinian media and read the things they publish to their people. Its all there. Even Abbas himself refuses to acknowledge that a deal will end the conflict. The leftists in Israel are fools who go by their emotions and not common sense.

          1. MekensehParty Avatar
            MekensehParty

            Just like it is impossible for the Israelis to dictate peace, the same applies to the Palestinians. They can write whatever wet dreams they’re having, not gona happen either.
            Please spare us the undefendable lines invented by bibi, there is no such thing as undefendable lines especially when you have colonies in the heart of Arab lands. How do you defend those from “modern weaponry”???? Or are they excluded from your defense strategy?
            You can stand by what you believe but be ready to face the consequences: NO PEACE
            And don’t go complaining or throwing blame on the other camp, no peace means a life interrupted by unending violence and when you so vehemently “stand by what you said” prepare not to have a life in Israel. It’s that simple.

          2. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Um you clearly have no knowledge of the topography of the area. The West Bank is hundreds of meters above sea level, you can see Tel Aviv and all the Israeli coast from there (google some pictures if you don’t believe me). You can’t compare the Israeli coast where 80% of the population, the airport, the power plant etc are located, with a bunch of isolated settlements that are on the same altitude as Palestinian cities.

          3. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            Making a bunch of ‘circle cities’ all over the ‘west bank’ makes it difficult to draw a line up the middle … where Israel can look at the Med, and Palestinians at a river, and some Blue Berets can ride on a straight road dividing the two – until they can agree to say ‘Hi Neighbour’ to each other.

          4. MekensehParty Avatar
            MekensehParty

            Thanks for the geography lesson, here’s a military one: rockets will fly by and low and can hit any corner of Israel.
            Here’s a terrorism lesson, one lone wolf can blow a whole bus…
            The best defense for Israel is peace the rest is all legends.

          5. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Has it ever occurred to you that rockets are never shot at the settlements now.. wait for it… because Israel has control over the West Bank? My point though was that its even easier to shoot rockets at Tel Aviv, you can see it with the naked eye from the Judean hills. Anyone can shoot from there if Israel withdraws, they don’t even need modern weaponry.

            I ask you again: how can you know peace will occur if Israel withdraws? just take the PLO’s word for granted?

          6. hey cook4half…This isnt a chatroom for you a HASBARA TROLL to try and start discussions based on bullshit and fairytales as is common with lowlife israeli terrorists. Go find some redneck american website to try to spread your bullshit.

          7. MekensehParty Avatar
            MekensehParty

            Cook, the Palestinians are nothing without the Arabs, and the Arabs want peace. When peace is declared there will be Palestinians who will refuse it AND Jewish people too, but now the fight will move to control those. On the Palestinian side as soon as Abbas marks a peace victory Gaza will fall in the hands of the PLO. If it won’t, the siege (sponsored by the Arabs this time) will continue until it falls.
            Without the Arab money and now the Iranian money, Hamas cannot survive.
            Worst case scenario, you get a year of peace, it doesn’t work and you can go back hunting Palis if that’s what you want…

          8. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Why cant Israel just work on a regional peace treaty, rather than a narrow Palestinian one? I don’t know why Saudi Arabia for example refuses to make peace without a withdrawal from the West Bank. Those territories are none of the Saudis’ business.

          9. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            They don’t need to ‘win over’ voters … just make sure a bunch of ‘Prince’s have Lambough-hinies.

          10. Anti ISIS Avatar
            Anti ISIS

            Yet you are happy with Saudi Arabia sticking it’s nose in Syria and Iraq. The game changes when it hits home, hey cookie.

          11. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Yes unfortunately

          12. Hannibal Avatar

            By your logic one must win to have peace… Number wise Israelis are a minority… Either by war or breeding you out the end result is annihilation… Tried the number game recently with ISIS? The more you kill the more they sprout out like a fucking mushroom.

          13. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Yup.

            Btw remember that “Bye bye Bibi” comment that you made? haha lol

          14. Hannibal Avatar

            Crap he’s back… Well then, he will attack Iran solo and the whole region will flare up. Let the shit hit the fan. Pitty the commoners.

          15. well said Kekensehparty, however cook2half is a hasbara troll. You can’t reason with someone who doesnt use logic(for facts).

          16. hey cook2half…Go away you callous hasbara troll.

          17. man-o-war Avatar
            man-o-war

            Sorry, but withdrawing from Gaza was not in good faith. You withdrew and immediately blockaded the whole strip, including cutting off their access to the sea. This is not an act of peace, but an act of war.

          18. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            The withdrawal happened in 2005, while the blockade happened in 2007 after Hamas took over. Get your facts right.

          19. man-o-war Avatar
            man-o-war

            The withdrawal happened in 2005, and from that day the Palestinians were not allowed to control their borders, airspace, or territorial waters.

          20. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            The withdrawal should never have happened. Likud should be ashamed of themselves for giving away parts of the Land of Israel.

          21. Hannibal Avatar

            Giving back what they stole you mean right? It is a totally different equation… ๐Ÿ˜›

          22. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Stolen from Egypt, and the West Bank taken from Jordan. Both countries renounced claims over those territories decades ago ๐Ÿ˜›

          23. There was never a full withdrawal. Only to the outshirts of town with tanks still positioned and aimed at the strip. WHY DONT YOU GET YOUR FACT STRAIGHT cook2half you fucking propaganda spreading zionist lowlife.

          24. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            Not that Israel exactly ‘withdrew’ from all of Lebanon’s south after 30 years occupying, or that the Blue Line was back on the original border. Neither ‘side’ recognizes ‘Blue’ anyway.
            But we know the Iranian ‘line’ … which is the same as Hamas wants … it’s been repeated often enough by those idiots too. I doubt that what you call ‘leftists’ will just give it away – but like Obama, I’m sure they want an ‘agreement’ which means something, rather than constant war – which has seemingly been the only option in the past.
            And true … ‘Deals’ don’t end the religious zealots rantings … but the ranting ends nothing.

          25. TheUSequalsTheIS Avatar
            TheUSequalsTheIS

            this is the iranian line

          26. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            Nothing to show for itself, since even WWI, even. How sad.

          27. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            I agree … but ‘rightists’ are equally emotional … everyone is always emotional, and rarely able, it seems, to separate the logical from it all anyway. The basis of it is illogical to start with. Old habits of the Tribes die hard.
            And what people are dealing with, is the ‘now’ … a mess.

          28. TheUSequalsTheIS Avatar
            TheUSequalsTheIS

            this brings peace

      2. 5thDrawer Avatar
        5thDrawer

        Couple hours to go, Cookie ,,, start biting the nails. :-)))

        1. cook2half Avatar
          cook2half

          Looks like a victory for Likud. A miracle considering all the foreign money supporting the left.

          1. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            Please Cookie … no more miracles …OK???

          2. cook2half Avatar
            cook2half

            Fine, ill save it for Roulette, pffft

  6. Next up for the war criminal Nuttyhayud… a date with the I.C.C. and then God willing the gallows. I hope his neck doesnt break immediately and he is left to suffer a slow painful death!

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