Netanyahu's final throw of the dice
Analysis: In a last-ditch effort to win back disillusioned Likud voters, Netanyahu was even willing to admit his mistakes; meanwhile, Herzog is playing his cards close to his chest.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had good reason to launch a blitz of interviews on Thursday. According to a Yedioth Ahronoth opinion poll conducted on Thursday night, the gap between the leading Zionist Union and his Likud party has grown to four seats, with Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni's party projected to win 26 seats, and Netanyahu's just 22. And Friday was the last day that the Israeli media was allowed to publish polls.
As the previous election proved, however, four days are a long time. Yair Lapid gained 4-5 seats in the four days running up to the last election. The same could happen with Moshe Kahlon. And the downward slope is even more slippery; a party with negative momentum could find itself on Tuesday night with fewer seats than the last polls predicted.
Netanyahu began his round of interviews on Thursday on Channel 1 and Channel 2. He conditioned his appearance on Channel 10 on a commitment that Raviv Druker would not be the host.
The only surprising thing about that is that we are still surprised: The prime minister is engaged in a very tough election campaign and the only interviews he has given so far have been to a children's television presenter and an interior designer. So it's little wonder that he would refuse to be interviewed by Druker, a journalist with a track record of giving him a hard time. The reason is clear: He's afraid.
That's the story in a nutshell. Our strong prime minister, who is fighting ISIS and Hamas and isn't afraid to take on the president of the United States, simply finds it hard to deal with tough questions. He said as much when he was interviewed by Yonit Levy on Channel 2: He wanted a "more reasonable" interviewer, he said.
To Channel 10's credit, it did not fold to Netanyahu's demand and chose to forgo the interview. To Yonit Levy's credit, it should be pointed out that she wasn't a "more reasonable" interviewer; she asked all of the right questions and managed to present the viewers with an impression of a prime minister who is suffering from an acute persecution complex and whose mind is filled with delusions that the entire world has joined forces to overthrow him – and this also includes governments he is unable to name.
And why does he think this? Because, he says, they know that if Herzog and Livni win the election, they'll give away everything, they'll withdraw to the 1967 borders and partition Jerusalem. Yes, yes, they will divide Jerusalem, Netanyahu says. It's on the agenda and they will do it, he insists.
His tactics are so transparent that they barely deserve mention. The prime minister made one last-gasp effort yesterday to turn the tide of the polls and to prevent a further slide in support for his party. In the interviews that he gave to the two channels with the "more reasonable" interviewers, he tried to get disillusioned Likud voters to come back home. To do so, he was even willing to get down on his knees and admit that he has made mistakes.
The man who just two months ago told the very same interviewer that the Olmert government was to blame for the high housing costs took responsibility on Thursday. We certainly need to rectify the situation, he said, and he indeed plans to "flood the country with new apartments."
Netanyahu appears to have a disparaging attitude towards the very people he is trying to convince: For six years, he did nothing; and now he plans to flood the country with affordable housing within a year? Does anybody – disappointed with Netanyahu or not – really believe him anymore?
In the hope of halting the trickle of votes from the Likud to Moshe Kahlon, Netanyahu even adopted the talking points of the Kulanu chairman – the high cost of living and the prohibitive housing costs. But as the saying goes – too little, too late. And if that doesn't work, he can always go back to the campaign of fear mongering, by telling us that ISIS is surrounding us on all fronts and that Iran is on the verge of building a nuclear bomb to wipe us off the face of the earth.
At the same time, we also learned nothing new from Herzog's interviews. The joint leader of the Zionist Union looks like one of those clockwork dolls that you wind up and they dance frantically in all directions. He has learned over the past few weeks to be more relaxed, to forgo hand gestures that aren't in sync with his words. He's become cautious. Partly so as not to ruin all that he has already achieved, and partly so as not to ruin what may yet be.
Unlike Netanyahu, who has explicitly ruled out a rotation deal with the Zionist Union, Herzog is not willing to commit to anything at this stage. The difference between them is that Netanyahu has no qualms about breaking his promises, about saying something today and doing the exact opposite two days later. Herzog simply hasn't learned to do so just yet.
