Yehuda Shlezinger
Israel Hayom, Oct. 31, 2022
“Those who won’t participate will be carrying out chilul hashem (profaning the name of God), they will be disrespectful toward the Almighty.”
Israeli voters will once again head to the polls on Tuesday, but if there is one thing already clear it is that no major shakeup is expected. Both political camps are roughly equally divided, with the only possible wildcard is turnout, which could determine who ultimately has the upper hand when all the votes are tallied.
Parties have been zeroing in on key population centers where they believe there is still electoral potential to be unleashed. Likud, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wants to cement its position as the largest party – and even grow further. Yesh Atid, led by incumbent Prime Minister Yair Lapid, wants to dethrone Likud as the largest faction in the Knesset and thereby get almost automatic legitimacy to form a new government.
Likud is focusing its efforts on Beit She’an, Tiberias, Dimona, Tirat Hacarmel, Kiryat Gat, Afula and Ariel, as these are considered bastions of the Likud, which one some 50% of the valid vote in the 2021 Knesset election. Campaign officials believe that if they get more people out to vote there, the right-wing party could potentially see major gains in its Knesset representation, and hence this could be the difference between defeat and victory.
Yesh Atid is putting its energy elsewhere: Haifa, Rehovot, Ramat Hasharon, Tel Aviv, Petach Tikva, Ra’anana, and other cities. The party, not unlike Likud, believes there is untapped potential here that could drive turnout even higher for the center-left list led by Lapid, which wants to avoid having a government that would lack the clear backing of a majority of the parliament. … source