Intel: How the Israeli left’s implosion paves the way for Netanyahu’s re-election
By breaking up with his stunned political partner of four years on live television, Labor Party leader Avi Gabbay has left the Israeli opposition in shambles barely three months before the next elections. The split with Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua Party — and the brutal way it was carried out — leaves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ideological rivals more consumed with bitter infighting than trying to develop a palatable alternative to the right wing.
The optics aren’t lost on Netanyahu, who struck a statesman-like pose at President Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration in Brazil while his rivals self-destructed. "I don't intervene in how the left splits its votes,” he said dismissively.
Why it matters: The now defunct Zionist Camp was the second biggest faction in the Knesset after the Likud, although recent polls showed it losing quite a few seats in the next elections. As for Livni, she is the only senior politician on the left with any international experience or credibility at a time when voters crave leadership that’s strong on national security (she served as foreign affairs minister in 2013-15 and led the negotiations with the Palestinians).
More generally, a divided left gives Netanyahu better odds of winning at a time when he faces the very real possibility of being indicted on bribery charges. Current polling shows his Likud leading other parties by a wide margin.
