Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party says its activists were attacked in Netanya by individuals wearing shirts bearing the name of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party.
“They destroyed the party’s campaign stand, scattered its campaign materials and replaced them with Otzma Yehudit flyers,” the party says in a statement, adding that the assailants fled the scene.
“We strongly condemn the violence and demand that police identify the attackers and bring them to justice,” the party says, adding that the activists intend to file a police complaint.
Source: Times of Israel
More than 4.8 million votes cast as of 6 pm., with voter turnout at 66.7% as of 6 pm., according to the Central Elections Committee, which is the highest turnout at this hour in recorded history.
As of 17:00 local time in Israel, the voter turnout among soldiers stood at 68% of all serving personnel. In the 25th Knesset elections at this hour, the turnout rates stood at 65%.
Source: N12 News Israel
The committee’s leadership decided on Tuesday evening that polling stations would close as scheduled.
However, voters who join the queue before 10pm will still be allowed to cast their ballots after the official closing time.
Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party firmly opposesd Likud’s request to extend voting hours at polling stations.
According the party, “no exceptional incident has occurred that would justify granting this request, which is intended to lay the groundwork for allegations challenging the integrity of the election, continuing the lies Netanyahu has been spreading since this morning”.
Former Israeli ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev, a Benjamin Netanyahu advisor, spoke to the Jewish News at the Israel Press Club election night event in Tel Aviv and said he had never known Anglo-Israeli relations to be so bad.
“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say it’s awful,’ he says. “Traditionally the Middle East policy in Britain has always somewhere between Washington and Europe.
“Depending on who was the prime minister in Britain, it was sometimes closer to Washington, and sometimes closer to Europe. Yeah. Always, they were sort of pushing America a bit towards Europe, and pushing Europe towards America. That was their role historically. Now that has changed. When Andy Burnham was selected leader of the Labour Party but before he became Prime Minister, he was very respectful of Kier Starmer.
What was his one and only strong criticism?
“The Starmer government wasn’t strong enough on Gaza. That was the only thing he said, publicly on foreign policy. And he and Miliband have decided that as a policy position. And they want to be tough on Israel, more than the others. And one cannot help but think that is for internal reasons.”
Regev highlights he was always a civil servant, but he defends the rhetoric of the Likud Party against the Arab partisans. “If the opposition makes a deal with the Arab parties to get a majority what is being said may, to British ears, can sound like Arab racism. But when one says Arabs we are talking about one party which is Islamist and you want to be nice so you say Islam light.
And the other party is a combination of three parties: One is communist, one is Baathist and one ice Palestinian nationalist. This is to get the vote out, I don’t think it’s fair to call it racist.”
The former ambassador also says he doesn’t have much faith that a new government will have any more success with the Labour government.
“I believe the reason we’ve got a bad relationship today is because of decisions taken in the UK for their own reasons. So if we get a new Israeli government, maybe they’ll have a short honeymoon. The Prime Minister of Britain will say congratulations matter to new partners. But ultimately, Miliband says the Israeli occupation of the West Bank is illegal. Not that the settlements are illegal, but the presence of Israel is the West Bank. Now is this government about to pull out of the West Bank? No.”
Regev also blames the huge growth in antisemitism to the success of the October 7 attack.
“I know there is this artificial narrative that Britain’s Jews are suffering because of what Israel is doing in Gaza. That narrative is counterfactual. First of all, we saw all these demonstrations against Israel on October 8, 2023, before we did anything, right? The second thing is, historically, when Hitler comes to power in Germany in 1933, it caused a wave of antisemitism across the world. It goes up France, in Britain, in America. Why? Because when anti Semitism succeeds, all these anti Semites come out of the closet and they feel empowered. And when an important part of the country in Europe becomes anti Semitic, so all the antisemites come out: it’s a function of any Semitism succeeding.
On October 7th, they killed Jews, like Jews haven’t been killed before, since the Holocaust. That empowered antisemitism.”
Former Arab-Israeli Knesset member Hanna Swaid says anger towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition is driving high voter turnout among Arab citizens.
Swaid, an Arab-Israeli Christian from the Galilee, told the Associated Press that voters were seeking to remove far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich from power.
“Palestinian citizens want to change things and kick out the extremist ministers,” he said.
“The only way to do that in a democratic state – as far as you can still call Israel that – is elections.”
His comments come as Netanyahu continues to warn supporters about high turnout in Arab communities, urging right-wing voters to head to the polls.
Voters in southern Israel’s Arava region say they are unable to reach polling stations after heavy rainfall caused flooding and road closures.
Route 90 has been closed in both directions following storms across the region, leaving some residents concerned they will be unable to cast their ballots.
Polling stations in smaller communities close at 8pm, two hours earlier than most polling stations nationwide.
One resident told Ynet that the Central Elections Committee had yet to respond to concerns about voters being unable to reach the polls before they close.
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