No one had done this yet, and I figure a bunch of us interested in I/P probably want a place to chat, so here goes.
If you want background on the elections, it’s worth reading Assaf’s five part diary series on the cast of characters.
Israeli elections are underway, and as always we must remember that millions of Palestinians who live under Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza do not have the right to vote in these elections. Meanwhile, settlers who live next to them do.
This election cycle also saw Netanyahu openly proclaim that he would annex the West Bank (presumably formalizing the system of apartheid that currently exists there). Most observers saw this as a desperate ploy to cannibalize votes from far-right parties and juice the right wing vote.
It was also noteworthy for the open alliance between Trump and Netanyahu. Netanyahu has made no bones about supporting Trump and encouraging others to do the same. Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly made policy changes in favor of Netanyahu’s government which previous administrations refused to do. Last month, Trump signed an order declaring the Golan Heights Israeli territory. This was widely seen as a pre-election gift to Netanyahu. No word on whether the US’s general policy of not recognizing territorial conquest through war was being permanently shelved.
Democrats view Netanyahu with more skepticism, with Bernie Sanders probably making the clearest statement:
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also criticized Netanyahu for his annexation proposal, telling NBC News that he "hopes he loses his election."
"When election time comes in Israel, he always tries going even further to the right by appealing to racism within Israel, I think it's unfortunate," Sanders said following his own town hall in Malcom, Iowa. "I'm not a great fan of his, and, frankly, I hope he loses his election." — www.nbcnews.com/...
A boycott movement and general disillusionment seems to have reduced turnout among other Arab-Israeli voters. Netanyahu’s Likud also seems to have deployed some old-school intimidation tactics, including sending “activists” with cameras into Arab Muslim/Christian communities.
The Likud party spent hundreds of thousands of shekels to provide its observers in polling stations in Arab communities 1,200 hidden cameras. The police confiscated Tuesday dozens of these cameras, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there should be cameras everywhere in order to ensure a "kosher" voting process. — www.haaretz.com/...
One can understand why left-wing and Arab voters might be disillusioned. Arab parties have never, in Israel’s history been invited into a ruling coalition, which means that in practice they are completely shut out of power. This cycle again, the “center left” parties refused to consider the possibility of a coalition with Arab parties.
Likud also filed a petition seeking to stop an Israeli rights organization from arranging transportation for Bedouin voters, who often live in remote areas far from their polling locations:
Throughout the day on Tuesday, some 50 minibuses plied the roads of southern Israel’s Negev desert — part of an NGO campaign attempting to realize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s infamous 2015 Election Day threat that Israel’s Arabs were voting in droves, bused to the polls by left-wing organizations. [...]
Atiya al-Assam, head of the council of unrecognized villages, says that without the campaign, “most of our people just can’t vote.”
Bedouin are registered to vote according to their tribe, not according to where they live, Assam explains. The entire Al-Assam tribe, numbering some 6,000 people, is registered to vote in Abu Talul. But at least a third of the approximately 2,000 registered voters do not actually live there; the rest live in five villages scattered throughout the Negev. — www.haaretz.com/...
Anyway, exit results are trickling in, and we can discuss in the comments. NYT seems to have live results, other sources:
— @subirgrewal