JERUSALEM – After a lackluster campaign that failed to generate much passion on the streets, Israelis went to the polls Tuesday to vote in parliamentary elections that are widely expected to give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu another term in office.
Turnout was reported to be higher than the last election, in 2009, but there seemed to be little anticipation that the outcome would produce significant change. Opinion polls indicate that Netanyahu’s ticket and allied rightist and religious parties will emerge with a majority in the 120-member parliament.
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Israel is holding parliamentary elections on Tuesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted in Jerusalem Tuesday morning. He's widely expected to win re-election.
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At one polling station in Jerusalem, pocketbook issues rather than weighty questions of war and peace seemed to be at the forefront of voters’ minds.
Miriam Engel, a 29-year-old dance teacher, said that she had debated up to the last minute among several centrist parties before casting her ballot.
“It’s all shades of gray,” she said after voting. “No one is talking about peace. Social issues are more prominent, but there’s a feeling that nothing will change.”
While Netanyahu focused his campaign on foreign affairs and security, his main challengers concentrated on economic concerns of ordinary Israelis, such as rising housing and food prices and more affordable health care and education. The issues were thrust to the top of the national agenda during a wave of social justice protests that swept Israel in the summer of 2011.
Avinoam Rosenbaum, a 27-year-old student, said he had voted for the opposition Labor Party, which campaigned for socioeconomic reform and could emerge as the second largest faction in parliament, according to final pre-election polls. Echoing the general disillusionment with prospects for a peace deal with the Palestinians, Rosenbaum said the time had come to look inward and correct the economic disparities in Israeli society.
“Peace with whom?,” he said. “There’s no partner. As long as things are frozen we should take advantage of it and do good things internally. With all the talk about security, soon there won’t be anything left to defend because we’re disintegrating as a society.”
Rosenbaum said he was most concerned about growing gaps between rich and poor and exemptions from compulsory military service granted to tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews so they can pursue religious studies with government stipends. The demand for universal national service has become a battle cry of several candidates in the campaign, and could figure prominently in negotiations to form the next governing coalition.
The protracted impasse in efforts to reach an agreement with the Palestinians made it a virtual non-issue in the campaign and helped boost the popularity of Jewish Home, a religious nationalist party whose dynamic new leader, Naftali Bennett, opposes a Palestinian state and calls for annexing most of the West Bank to Israel. Opinion polls show that the party, which has reached out to young secular Israelis, could emerge as the third largest faction in parliament.
Reut Frenkel, a 31-year-old events coordinator who voted for Jewish Home, characterized herself as a skeptic about peace prospects and said she was attracted to the party because it brought in “new blood” and stands for “values I was brought up on.”
Neta Shami, 35, a dance therapist, said she was planning to vote for a left-leaning party in the hopes of improving living conditions for Israel’s struggling middle class. She listed “the economy, health and education” as her chief concerns, and did not even mention the festering conflict with the Palestinians.
“I’m tired of it already,” she said.
Turnout was reported to be higher than the last election, in 2009, but there seemed to be little anticipation that the outcome would produce significant change. Opinion polls indicate that Netanyahu’s ticket and allied rightist and religious parties will emerge with a majority in the 120-member parliament.
Video
Israel is holding parliamentary elections on Tuesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted in Jerusalem Tuesday morning. He's widely expected to win re-election.
WorldViews
Max Fisher The record of al-Qaeda's North Africa franchise looks, in some ways, more like that of the Taliban.
Max Fisher The president reiterated a diplomatic approach to Iran but otherwise suggested that he will focus domestically.
Max Fisher The new $20 designation carries a leaf that critics say is Norwegian, a reminder of Canada's quiet tug-of-war between identities.
Max Fisher More Irish are moving away, taking pressure off the economy and the politics. But is it just creating another problem?
At one polling station in Jerusalem, pocketbook issues rather than weighty questions of war and peace seemed to be at the forefront of voters’ minds.
Miriam Engel, a 29-year-old dance teacher, said that she had debated up to the last minute among several centrist parties before casting her ballot.
“It’s all shades of gray,” she said after voting. “No one is talking about peace. Social issues are more prominent, but there’s a feeling that nothing will change.”
While Netanyahu focused his campaign on foreign affairs and security, his main challengers concentrated on economic concerns of ordinary Israelis, such as rising housing and food prices and more affordable health care and education. The issues were thrust to the top of the national agenda during a wave of social justice protests that swept Israel in the summer of 2011.
Avinoam Rosenbaum, a 27-year-old student, said he had voted for the opposition Labor Party, which campaigned for socioeconomic reform and could emerge as the second largest faction in parliament, according to final pre-election polls. Echoing the general disillusionment with prospects for a peace deal with the Palestinians, Rosenbaum said the time had come to look inward and correct the economic disparities in Israeli society.
“Peace with whom?,” he said. “There’s no partner. As long as things are frozen we should take advantage of it and do good things internally. With all the talk about security, soon there won’t be anything left to defend because we’re disintegrating as a society.”
Rosenbaum said he was most concerned about growing gaps between rich and poor and exemptions from compulsory military service granted to tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews so they can pursue religious studies with government stipends. The demand for universal national service has become a battle cry of several candidates in the campaign, and could figure prominently in negotiations to form the next governing coalition.
The protracted impasse in efforts to reach an agreement with the Palestinians made it a virtual non-issue in the campaign and helped boost the popularity of Jewish Home, a religious nationalist party whose dynamic new leader, Naftali Bennett, opposes a Palestinian state and calls for annexing most of the West Bank to Israel. Opinion polls show that the party, which has reached out to young secular Israelis, could emerge as the third largest faction in parliament.
Reut Frenkel, a 31-year-old events coordinator who voted for Jewish Home, characterized herself as a skeptic about peace prospects and said she was attracted to the party because it brought in “new blood” and stands for “values I was brought up on.”
Neta Shami, 35, a dance therapist, said she was planning to vote for a left-leaning party in the hopes of improving living conditions for Israel’s struggling middle class. She listed “the economy, health and education” as her chief concerns, and did not even mention the festering conflict with the Palestinians.
“I’m tired of it already,” she said.