How Israel’s opposition fell short against Benjamin Netanyahu

{"text":[[{"start":7.734,"text":"In the early hours of Wednesday, Gadi Eisenkot strode onstage at his election night headquarters in north Tel Aviv and declared victory over Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government."}],[{"start":19.36,"text":"The Yashar party members arrayed behind him were all smiles as they waved to supporters; activists in the crowd, based on exit polling, chanted: “Here he comes, the next prime minister!”"}],[{"start":34.08,"text":"Eisenkot joined a long line of political rivals that declared Netanyahu to be vanquished, his era finished and a new dawn for liberal Israel. Yet, as it turned out, eulogies for the country’s longest-serving prime minister were once again premature."}],[{"start":47.504,"text":"By Wednesday afternoon, with 86 per cent of votes counted, the partial results showed Netanyahu’s Likud party and his ruling coalition with 53 seats in the 120-seat parliament, compared with 48 for the Jewish opposition bloc led by Yashar."}],[{"start":62.72,"text":"The two Arab parties, who are also opposed to Netanyahu, were predicted to hold the remaining 19 seats on the back of record turnout by Palestinians with Israeli citizenship."}],[{"start":73.84,"text":"If the Jewish bloc aligned with the Arab parties, the opposition would have about 67 seats and a pathway to government. But during campaigning, some leaders in the Zionist camp ruled out any such moves."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":84.96,"text":"The tallies could still change as the remaining votes are counted, yet the path for either Netanyahu or Eisenkot to form a working coalition is uncertain and will depend on consultations with the country’s president next week."}],[{"start":97.64,"text":"But for those long opposed to Netanyahu, who went into the polls expecting a historic opportunity to oust the veteran premier, the result was a devastating blow."}],[{"start":106.649,"text":"“It’s frankly crazy that after [Hamas’s] October 7 2023 attack this is what happened,” said one person with visibility into the Jewish opposition’s thinking, referring to the worst security failure in the country’s history that took place under Netanyahu’s watch. “I’m very angry with” the opposition."}],[{"start":124.272,"text":"“The opposition had the best set-up and conditions this time” to win, said Shira Efron, an Israel-based fellow for the Rand Corporation."}],[{"start":132.48,"text":"She cited not just popular anger towards Netanyahu over the failings surrounding the Hamas assault, but an energised electoral base — which included tens of thousands of émigrés who came back to vote — as well as an opposition that, unlike past election cycles, organised to consolidate its vote share."}],[{"start":149.795,"text":"Yet it was not enough. There are now recriminations inside the Jewish opposition camp as to what went wrong and who is to blame, combined with uncertainty about the way forward. Complicating matters is that Netanyahu’s coalition lost an estimated 10 seats from the last election in 2022 and is, based on the current count, well short of an absolute majority itself."}],[{"start":173.65,"text":"“Netanyahu lost and took a beating from the public, but not enough for anyone to really form a government,” said one senior opposition official."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":181.76,"text":"There are growing suspicions that some rightwing figures inside the opposition camp — say, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman or even elements from inside Eisenkot’s own party — could defect to Netanyahu’s bloc and help him secure a majority."}],[{"start":199.531,"text":"Alternatively, the leftwing flank of the opposition, led by former general Yair Golan’s Democrats party, had by early Wednesday made it clear that its preference was to ally with the Arab-Israeli parties."}],[{"start":211.659,"text":"Netanyahu during the campaign had systematically sought to delegitimise such a move, and some Jewish opposition leaders — in particular Lieberman — have also ruled out doing so."}],[{"start":222.443,"text":"“We have no future here if we don’t stop being afraid,” Golan wrote on X. “And if we don’t stop with the racism. We must no longer accept Netanyahu’s racist division between Jewish votes and Arab votes.”"}],[{"start":235.23,"text":"The divisions in the opposition camp were part of the problem, said the person with visibility into its thinking."}],[{"start":240.08,"text":"“In order to beat Bibi you need a bloc that works together, that has one leader, and that has a clear platform and vision,” they said."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":248.32,"text":"All of those were lacking, they added, with none of the opposition leaders fully endorsing Eisenkot as their candidate for prime minister and with the main message of the campaign “scattered”, save for one core idea: “Just Not Bibi.”"}],[{"start":261.354,"text":"“This doesn’t work, it never works, and it only helps” Netanyahu, the person added, contrasting it with the premier’s consistent messaging on security, anti-Arab invective and Iran."}],[{"start":274.044,"text":"The opposition was unable to sway enough disaffected Netanyahu supporters to its side, with particular anger directed from within the bloc at Eisenkot’s campaign, according to the senior opposition official."}],[{"start":286.56,"text":"The opposition “just doesn’t know how to speak to [Netanyahu’s] voters”, added the person with visibility into their thinking."}],[{"start":294.08,"text":"Demographics also played a role in the outcome, said Roni Rimon, a political strategist and owner of a PR firm who ran Netanyahu’s 2009 election campaign."}],[{"start":304.865,"text":"He pointed to the growing share of ultra-Orthodox and religious-nationalist Jews in the population in recent decades, which has increased the right’s overall base relative to the country’s secular, liberal public."}],[{"start":316.4,"text":"While a blow to the opposition, however, the election result was not a convincing endorsement of the veteran prime minister either, he added. Instead, Netanyahu apparently succeeded in bringing some erstwhile supporters back into the fold."}],[{"start":330.96,"text":"“He did just enough to avoid defeat,” Rimon said. “And it may be just enough for him to stay as prime minister for some time.”"}],[{"start":337.92,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793252472_9130.mp3"}