Maybe it’s the unconscious effect of the Sabbath, but here in Tel Aviv a soporific atmosphere hangs over next week’s Israeli elections. Among the Israelis I have spoken to (mostly secular Tel Avivians), apathy prevails. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to win whatever happens, it seems, and he is going to have to come to some agreement with the hard right-winger Naftali Bennett. ‘The television wants to make it exciting,’ an old Labor voter told me earlier today. ‘But it is not. Everybody knows.’ His wife nodded from behind her sunglasses, and smiled. Another elderly fellow told me that he would only vote for the ‘least bad one – it’s always that way.’
The political story of this election is of a hardening Right and a paralysed Left. The rise of Bennett and his Habayit Hayehudi party – expected to win 14 Knesset seats – is an intriguing phenomenon that has been covered in America and Britain.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in