Why Israel’s Third Election in Less Than a Year Is Still a Referendum on Netanyahu

Why Israel’s Third Election in Less Than a Year Is Still a Referendum on Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Jan. 5, 2020 (Reuters pool photo by Ronen Zvulun via AP Images).

It’s déjà vu all over again for voters in Israel, who will go to the polls for the third time in less than a year on March 2. Previous elections in April and September 2019 were inconclusive, as no party was able to form a majority coalition in the Knesset, Israel’s legislature.

Will Israeli voters, fed up with all the political wrangling, produce a different result next month? And how might recent developments, like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s indictment on corruption charges and the unveiling of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Israel-Palestine peace plan, affect the outcome? For this week’s interview on Trend Lines, WPR’s Elliot Waldman discusses the outlook for the upcoming vote in Israel with Michael Koplow, policy director at the Israel Policy Forum in New York.

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Relevant Articles on WPR:
Why There Are No Winners From Trump’s Israel-Palestine Peace Plan
Netanyahu’s Bet on Trump Is Starting to Look Like a Costly Mistake in Israel
An Election Rerun Shows Why Nothing Is Normal in Israeli Politics Anymore
Netanyahu Keeps Winning Because His Opponents Lack a Vision for Israel

Trend Lines is produced and edited by Peter Dörrie, a freelance journalist and analyst focusing on security and resource politics in Africa. You can follow him on Twitter at @peterdoerrie.

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