Likud and Yamina battle for right-wing votes in videos.
By LAHAV HARKOVYamina leader Ayelet Shaked(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Yamina and Likud released competing videos Thursday telling the public that only a vote for them will bring about a right-wing government.“The prime minister is cannibalizing the Right,” Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked warned. “Prime Minister, I understand that you are spreading propaganda against Yamina, but this time it won’t work.”Shaked’s party hopes to counter an expected “gevalt” campaign from the Likud, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is close to losing the election and all right-wing voters must choose Likud if they don’t want a left-wing government. He focused on those messages especially after the Friday before Election Day, which is the last day polls can be published in the media.Netanyahu’s tactic was successful for him in 2015 and 2019, as the video explains.“Thinking about who to vote for?” the video asks, before pointing out that in March 2015, polls predicted 22 seats for Likud and they got 30, while the forecast for Bayit Yehudi was 12 seats and they got eight.In April, the video recounts, the New Right received an average of five seats in major polls and did not pass the 3.25% electoral threshold, while the Union of Right-Wing parties netted five Knesset seats, one less than polls predicted. Likud was projected to get 28 seats and ended up with 35.“It’s simple math,” Yamina said. “Likud is weak in polls and strong at the voting booth. Yamina is strong in polls and weak at the voting booth. To strengthen the Right, only vote Yamina,” the video states.A party insider said that Yamina is planning an additional “Election Day surprise” to fight the Likud’s “gevalt” campaign.Meanwhile, Likud seems to be repeating its last weekend “gevalt” with new videos featuring voters who say they are changing their vote to Likud in the current election. Each video features a different party – Yamina, Otzma Yehudit, Blue and White and two for Yisrael Beytenu.“In the last election, I voted for [Yamina candidate Naftali] Bennett and Shaked,” a bearded man said in one video, “but because I see the race between the larger parties is very tight, I’m afraid that a left-wing government will be formed… I’m looking at the big picture, and no matter what, Likud needs to be the largest party in Israel. I prefer not to vote Bennett and Shaked and have them in the coalition than to vote for them and have them sit in the opposition.
“If [Blue and White leaders Benny] Gantz and [Yair] Lapid are prime ministers, settlements will be uprooted,” the man warned, targeting a key issue for Yamina voters.Shaked said she saw the video, and the opposite is true.“Today the Likud leads in all the polls and in every election, the Likud gets more seats than in the polls,” she said. “Conversely, Yamina is in decline, because the prime minister started sucking up our votes… Whoever wants a right-wing government must vote Yamina. That is the only way we can ensure the Right’s values. Last time he did this and we didn’t pass the threshold, and a right-wing government wasn’t established.”
