Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu traveled the country on Election Day, in what has become known as the “gevalt” campaign.
“Gevalt” is a Yiddish expression of alarm, that has, in recent years, been the name for Netanyahu’s warnings to his supporters in the final days of a campaign that the election is not going their way.
In a series of videos released on social media and to the press, Netanyahu made sure to give off a sense of panic about low turnout, in hopes to get out the vote for his Likud Party.
Netanyahu works to get out the vote
Netanyahu began on Monday, before regular voting even began, with a video on Twitter declaring an “emergency.” The polls were at a tie between the right-wing and center-left blocs, and now, he said, at a time when actual polls cannot be published, the numbers on his side are going down.
“Right-wing voters are staying home while left-wing voters are going out” to vote, he said, 17 hours before anyone in Israel could actually go out to vote.
אנחנו כרגע בתיקו 60-60. הקול שלכם מכריע. שימו מחל בקלפי. pic.twitter.com/pHpkDeO2Xh
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) November 1, 2022
The opposition began his day voting in Jerusalem, and then visited the home of someone named Oren, an 18-year-old who would be voting for the first time.
Oren was asleep, but that was no problem for Netanyahu, who woke turned on the light and said, laughing: “Hello Oren!”
Netanyahu told the shocked teen “this isn’t a dream” and that he should vote Likud.
“This wasn’t staged!” Netanyahu said as he left the room.
From there, Netanyahu went to the Malha Mall, where people shouted to him as he ascended an escalator and mobbed him as he and his wife Sara walked around.
The get-out-the-vote roadshow continued, from Beit Shemesh to Ashkelon and then Ashdod, and Rishon Lezion, where he stopped by a sushi restaurant to encourage diners to vote.
Then, he continued to Bat Yam, where, his spokesman said, the voter turnout was lower than it is nationally.