NOVANEWS
Benjamin Netanyahu heads into Tuesday’s elections trailing in the polls
UPDATE: The Israeli prime minister said if he were re-elected a Palestinian state would not be created, disavowing his 2009 speech.
The embattled prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyhau, said Monday that if he were to be re-elected in Tuesday’s vote, a Palestinian state would not be created, contradicting his 2009 speech, when he had voiced support for the principle of two states between Israel and Palestine.
The prime minister’s made his remarks in an interview with the NRG website was seen as a last-minute attempt to draw right-wing voters away from the oppostion.
“I think that anyone who moves to establish a Palestinian state and evacuate territory gives territory away to radical Islamist attacks against Israel,” Netanyahu said. “The left has buried its head in the sand time and after time and ignores this, but we are realistic and understand.”
Israelis go to the polls Tuesday in an early parliamentary election, where the opposition center-left Zionist Union holds a lead against Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party.
Netanyahu, who is seeking a record fourth term, has stepped up his nationalist and anti-Arab rhetoric in the final days of the campaign. However, many voters have expressed more concern over the economy than security issues, making them more inclined to a party that is willing to negotiate a peace settlement with Palestine.
In a desperate attempt to garner last minute votes, Netanyahu suggested that an international conspiracy was organizing support to see him lose.
“There is a huge international effort, with major money, that is partnering up with leftist organizations here and in order to bring down the Likud government that I head,” he said
Meanwhile, rival presidential candidate Isaac Herzog from the the Zionist Union party has been gaining in opinion polls on a campaign that promises to repair ties with the Palestinians and the international community, and also deal with middle class issues such as the rising cost of living.
“I believe in a certain type of leadership that is not always customary in this region. I’m not a general. I don’t give orders. I know how to work together,” Herzog stated.
The Zionist Union, an alliance between Isaac Herzog’s Labor Party and Tzipi Livni’s Hatuna Party, is projected to win 24 or 25 seats, with Likud expected to win 21 seats.
The prime minister’s made his remarks in an interview with the NRG website was seen as a last-minute attempt to draw right-wing voters away from the oppostion.
“I think that anyone who moves to establish a Palestinian state and evacuate territory gives territory away to radical Islamist attacks against Israel,” Netanyahu said. “The left has buried its head in the sand time and after time and ignores this, but we are realistic and understand.”
Israelis go to the polls Tuesday in an early parliamentary election, where the opposition center-left Zionist Union holds a lead against Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party.
Netanyahu, who is seeking a record fourth term, has stepped up his nationalist and anti-Arab rhetoric in the final days of the campaign. However, many voters have expressed more concern over the economy than security issues, making them more inclined to a party that is willing to negotiate a peace settlement with Palestine.
In a desperate attempt to garner last minute votes, Netanyahu suggested that an international conspiracy was organizing support to see him lose.
“There is a huge international effort, with major money, that is partnering up with leftist organizations here and in order to bring down the Likud government that I head,” he said
Meanwhile, rival presidential candidate Isaac Herzog from the the Zionist Union party has been gaining in opinion polls on a campaign that promises to repair ties with the Palestinians and the international community, and also deal with middle class issues such as the rising cost of living.
“I believe in a certain type of leadership that is not always customary in this region. I’m not a general. I don’t give orders. I know how to work together,” Herzog stated.
The Zionist Union, an alliance between Isaac Herzog’s Labor Party and Tzipi Livni’s Hatuna Party, is projected to win 24 or 25 seats, with Likud expected to win 21 seats.
