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.
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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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