BIBI SPEECH May Cost Him Election – Opposition Building Against ‘REPUBLICAN SENATOR FROM ISRAEL’ [View all]

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"...Mr. Netanyahu parading himself before a foreign government in order to incite another war? The Israeli people have simply had enough, according to the polls..."

Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned speech before the US Congress may cost him his position as Prime Minister, it turns out. For the opposition Labor-Hatnuah alliance, called the “Zionist Camp,” the speech could not have been better timed. The coalition, running in opposition to Netanyahu’s Lukid Party, has jumped on the plan as another example of the embattled Israeli leader being, as some now call him, “the Republican Senator from the great State of Israel.” In the latest polls, we find Netanyahu’s Lukid party coming in solidly behind Zionist Camp, with the other parties all gathering small pieces of the seats left over for Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. Of note, the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Lukid’s current partner in the ruling coalition, has lost so many seats in polling that it only barely qualified to even run a ticket, meaning that even if Lukid holds on to each seat it currently has, it still will lose power in the next Knesset. It is a major uphill battle for Netanyahu at this point.


But, despite this obvious position of strength, the Zionist Camp seems unable to fully capitalize on the situation. Instead of pushing, they seem to be holding back. They could be angling for an alliance, or waiting to pounce on Netanyahu closer to election time. In an attempt to pander to voters, Lukid added two women to their ticket in the hopes of getting more female voters to turn out. Even the usual tactic of starting a conflict with its neighbors is now backfiring, as Israeli citizens now find Lukid more likely to cause conflict than to defend themselves. Instead he is now being viewed as causing strife with Israel’s international partners. As Eytan Gilboa, a professor at Bar Ilan University who specializes in political communication and Israeli-American relations puts it:

"..It’s a huge miscalculation. People are now questioning his judgment. If the opposition would not just focus on economic and social issues, but also argue against his claims on security and foreign policy, I think this exercise might backfire...”

The perception that the Prime Minister would cause diplomatic tensions in order to pander to a base in politics is not bolstering his position as hoped. Instead, Netanyahu is finding support waning, and he is now under strong pressure to postpone, or even cancel his speech entirely. But at this point, the damage may have already become impossible for him to repair. Add to this situation, Mr. Netanyahu parading himself before a foreign government in order to incite another war? The Israeli people have simply had enough, according to the polls. A Zionist Camp coalition with the Arab List, Meretz, Kulanu and Yesh Atid, based on current polling, would be incredibly close to controlling the Knesset. The next few weeks are critical now, to see if they can indeed remove Prime Minister Netanyahu from office.





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http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/29/netanyahu-campaign/