Netanyahu warns Likud will lose election, Left will take over Israel

Netanyahu urged everyone at home and at the beach to vote for the Likud using the slip that reads "Mahal," which represents Netanyahu's party.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voting at the elections (photo credit: HAIM ZACH/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voting at the elections
(photo credit: HAIM ZACH/GPO)
Warning of the rise of the Left, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a planned campaign event in Ashdod on Tuesday and returned to Jerusalem, where he said he was going to work to "save the Right" and ensure that a right-wing government comes to power following the elections.
"I received a dramatic update that there is low turnout in Likud strongholds but that there is high turnout in left-wing strongholds," Netanyahu said. "We have to save the Right. There are only a few more hours."
It is unclear if Netanyahu's warning is genuine or is part of his week-long campaign to get people to fear that he will lose in order to increase voter turnout among right-wing voters. 
 
It is referred to in Israel as the gevalt" campaign, a Yiddish expression of alarm.
Earlier in the day, Netanyahu, went to the Netanya beach and warned people there that if they do not vote, Likud will lose.
Netanyahu did not don his swimming suit and join the thousands who flocked the beaches of Israel, but rather came to meet them.

"I am here at the beach, and there are a lot of people here," Netanyahu said. "But if they stay at the beach and not go an vote, they will wake up tomorrow with Yair Lapid heading a left-wing government."
Netanyahu urged everyone at home and at the beach to vote for the Likud using the slip that reads "Mahal," which represents Netanyahu's party.
The Prime Minister also claimed that "supporters of the Blue and White mark the Mahal slips from behind, which makes the slip not count." Netanyahu then told the voters to "look at the slips carefully before voting."

Stay updated with the latest news!

Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter


In 2015, Netanyahu launched his gevalt in the final days of the campaign, and stirred controversy when, on election day, he warned that Arabs were coming out in droves to vote. Even though he later apologized for the racist remark, it had the desired effect – Netanyahu pulled ahead of the Zionist Union and won the election.