Between the right right or the soft right | In Israel, fight …

Israeli citizens are voting today in controversial parliamentary elections in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to fight head-to-head with General Benny Gantz. Polls, however, indicate that none of the platforms of the candidates will have enough seats in Parliament to be able to impose itself.

Netanyahu – who will seek a fourth consecutive term – and Gantz – freshly entered politics – cut his last campaign hours. The current prime minister was seen yesterday in the popular Mahane Yehudá market in central Jerusalem, and the day before yesterday he had stressed his message that "the right-wing government is in danger". Still at the last minute, he took an ace from his sleeve declaring that he was willing to annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied for more than 50 years by Israel. These settlements in the Palestinian territories occupied by the Israelis since 1967 are illegal under international law and a large part of the international community considers them to be a major obstacle to peace.

In this last stage of the campaign, Netanyahu, accused of corruption, seeks to mobilize the right-wing voters to vote for his party, the Likud. "In the next term, if I win, I will enforce Israeli law, I hope that by agreement, I want to do it gradually to reach an agreement with the Americans on this," Netanyahu said in an interview granted to the 13th news channel quoted by the Times of Israel. This would imply the de facto annexation of part of the West Bank. In Sunday's interview, he said that he was not only talking about big blocks of settlements. "All the settlements, the whole settlement area," he said. The president explained that during the term of former US President Barack Obama, it was not possible to take this step, but that now, with Donald Trump at the White House, the situation has changed. Washington has not made a statement yet.

Many secular or left-wing Israelis fear that a new Netanyahu government will become the most right-wing and most militaristic in history, especially given relations between the prime minister and the party. far right, Jewish power.

Benny Gantz, his main rival of the center-right coalition, Blue and White, said yesterday on military radio that Israel had to choose between a direction of union and hope or a leadership of Extremism under the current Prime Minister. "There is a need for change and a possibility of change," said the former chief of staff on military radio.

The 59-year-old general also emphasizes his reconciling image, after the divisions that appeared, according to him, during the Netanyahu years. "People are well aware that it is not the right that is in danger, it is Netanyahu who is in danger," he said.

The latest polls have put the Likud and the blue and white alliance side by side. But the 30 possible seats that everyone could get would leave them far from the absolute majority (61 out of 120) and they would have to combine with other formations. The voting projections for the other parties are rather favorable to a block of rights, led by Netanyahu.

When asked if he could join forces with other parties in a future coalition to form a government, Gantz said, "Basically, I do not want to go out. excluded person, but they must support Zionist ideology, be democratic and not be racist ", quoted by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. . At an event with Anglo-Portuguese peoples last week, the candidate refused to answer if he supported the creation of a Palestinian state. "We must keep the Jordan Valley as a security frontier, we can not go back to the 1967 line and Jerusalem will still be our capital," he said, adding, "But we do not want to rule the Palestinians" . The general further stressed the need for new leadership on both sides of the conflict. It is important that we have someone we can talk to, "he said. "Currently, this is not the case, and I think Netanyahu and Mahmud Abbas are stuck in earlier statements, only new leadership on both sides will try to move forward and reach another place" , did he declare.

According to Netanyahu, a future right-wing government is not in danger, estimates badyst Yuval Karni, according to local newspaper Yediot Ahronot, who points out that the majority of the right-wing group in the polls says that "no one is in danger". it will maintain an advantage of 63, 64 or more seats in the Israeli parliament (with a total of 120 seats) on all centrist, left and Arab forces. In the last election, the historic Labor Party would be in third place but only win 10 seats.

With the participation of forty parties in the elections, it is expected that political fragmentation will continue to be the dominant logic. Some are struggling to reach the minimum threshold of 3.25% to obtain parliamentary representation. Those who overcome it will automatically get at least four seats. Among the groups struggling for survival, there are groups with a long history.