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Netanyahu Faces Tough Re-Election Fight Against Rival Gantz

Ken Bredemeier

   Israelis are voting Tuesday in general elections as Prime Minister
   Benjamin Netanyahu faces a challenge from former military chief Benny
   Gantz.

   Polls show Tuesday's contest too close to call, with Netanyahu's
   right-wing Likud party tied with Gantz's centrist Blue and White party,
   with neither predicted to win a majority of seats in the 120-member
   Knesset, Israel's parliament. Ten parties could win seats in the
   legislature.

   That could possibly leave Avigdor Lieberman, a former defense minister
   and one-time Netanyahu ally but now a rival, as the kingmaker to form a
   coalition government. Lieberman, the head of the Israel Beitenu party,
   could double his seats in parliament from five to 10. His campaign
   slogan is to "make Israel normal again," a motto aimed at combating
   what he says is the undue influence of Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties
   on political life in the country.

   Netanyahu made a last-day nationalist campaign pitch Monday saying if
   he wins re-election, he would annex all the Jewish settlements in the
   West Bank over the protests of Palestinian leaders.

   He told Israeli Army Radio, "I intend to extend sovereignty on all the
   settlements and the (settlement) blocs," including "sites that have
   security importance or are important to Israel's heritage."

   Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader, is facing his toughest
   political fight to win a record fifth term to stay in power even as he
   is confronting possible corruption charges. Israel is staging its
   second national vote in less than six months, with Netanyahu unable to
   cobble together a parliamentary majority to form a government after the
   April vote.

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