Israelis are voting in their 3rd election in 1 year. Polls predict more deadlock.

(Image credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)

published 2 March 2020

Israelis go to the polls Monday for their third national election in nearly a year, and polls suggest this election, too, may end in political deadlock between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival, former armed services chief Benny Gantz. Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader, has led a caretaker for more than a year. He faces trial on criminal corruption charges in two weeks.

The campaign has been ugly. Gantz has focused on Netanyahu's pending bribery, fraud, and breach of trust trial, and Netanyahu and his allies have spread baseless accusations that Gantz is susceptible to Iranian blackmail. On Sunday night, Israel's Channel 12 played audio of Netanyahu discussing one plot to smear Gantz, contradicting Netanyahu's on-air denial. Netanyahu is also hoping for a boost from President Trump's unilateral peace plan.

If neither right-wing Netanyahu's Likud party nor Gantz's centrist Blue and White party gets a governing majority, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin will ask of them to try to form a minority government. If he fails, the other one will get a shot, and if that doesn't work, Israel will head to the polls for a fourth election. Gantz says he would support a unity government with Likud if it ousts Netanyahu. With voter fatigue fears of coronavirus infection high, voter turnout could be crucial for both leaders.

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"This is usually a holiday, but to be honest I have no festivity in me just a sense of deep shame before you, the citizens of Israel," Rivlin said Monday as he cast his ballot. "We don't deserve this. We don't deserve another horrible and filthy campaign like the one that ends today and we don't deserve this endless instability. We deserve a government that will work for us."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.