Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making a comeback bid as Israeli voters head to the polls Tuesday for the fifth time in just over three years.
Netanyahu, 73, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, was in office from 2009 to 2021 until his conservative Likud party was ousted by a coalition of smaller parties, including left-wing and Arab parties. That coalition fell apart earlier this year, and Netanyahu’s Likud is on track to become the single biggest party again — although polls suggest that his bloc of right-wing parties may fall short of a majority.
The last several years have been unusually unstable in Israeli politics, whose parliamentary system was already subject to frequent disruption. Netanyahu is on trial for several corruption charges that his supporters consider flimsy and abusive; indeed, prosecutors have struggled to prove their case in court, and have sparked public alarm over their tactics.
But the allegations have haunted him for years, and have made it more difficult for him to form lasting political alliances, amid defections and the emergence of new rivals.
The Israeli left has traditionally stood for the interests of labor unions, and the idea of trading territory for peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors, including the Palestinian Authority. That policy was discredited by the second intifada, which Palestinians launched in 2000.
Netanyahu has shown that Israel can pursue its own national security interests while also forging ties with Arab countries from a position of strength. He also has a track record of strong economic performance, including a stint as Israel’s finance minister.
But there are other issues haunting Israeli politics, including tensions between Jews and Arab citizens, who form 20% of the nation; and long-simmering disputes over the role of religion in the state, including the exemption of religious students from compulsory military service.
In addition to Likud on the right, major parties include the Yesh Atid party of interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid on the center left, among several other parties. Two small far-right parties, the Otzma Yehudit party of Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Religious Zionist Party of Bezalel Smotrich, have also been in the news lately, as pundits and diplomats have warned that their possible inclusion in a new government could legitimize extremism and complicate relations with Israel’s Arab neighbors.
Tuesday’s vote will take place in person, with voter ID and without vote-by-mail or absentee voting, except in rare circumstances. The result Tuesday night will likely kick off weeks of coalition negotiations; if they fail, another vote will be held.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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