Israeli-Russian vote decisive for next elections

With three months to go until Israel heads to the polls to elect the 22nd Knesset on Sept. 17, the parties have barely started their campaigns. Still, the knives are already drawn. Three days before the Knesset dissolved itself on May 27, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded that Avigdor Liberman has no plans to join his next government, so he sent a message to the rest of his Likud faction: “It’s free-fire season on Liberman.”

In the last election campaign, the Likud kept a safe distance from Yisrael Beitenu’s territory. This time, the situation is very different. About a week ago, Netanyahu appointed Likud Central Committee member Attorney Ariel Bulshtein as his “special adviser on Russian immigrants.” Liberman derided the appointment, claiming that “Netanyahu is in a state of hysteria from all the pressure.” Liberman also noted that polls show his party growing to as many as 10 seats, compared with the five garnered at the April elections.

In response, the Likud released statements and posted on social media in the Russian language. The first person to launch this “Russian” trend was actually the prime minister’s son, Yair Netanyahu. On May 29, he tweeted in Russian: “My brothers from the Soviet Union, Liberman is spitting on you. The Likud is your home.” It now looks like this was just the beginning.

Coalition coordinator Miki Zohar of the Likud told Al-Monitor that the Likud’s election campaign in the Russian sector will start soon, and that it is quite possible a prominent Russian-speaking Israeli will join the party. “Immigrants who arrived from the former Soviet bloc countries make up a wise, intelligent community,” he said. “They know that what really matters is who becomes prime minister, and not some party or other. Liberman moved to the left while we are working to make sure that Benjamin Netanyahu will be prime minister. He is very popular among Russian speakers, so I am sure that they will make the right decision and come over to us. Our party already has quite a few representatives of this community, such as [Knesset speaker] Yuli Edelstein and [Minister] Ze’ev Elkin, and it is possible that one or even two more will join us.”