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Netanyahu bets everything on vaccination drive

As the March 23 elections approach, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has wagered everything on stopping the pandemic.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein (C) attend a ceremony for the arrival of a plane carrying a shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech anti-coronavirus vaccine, at Ben Gurion airport near the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on January 10, 2021. - Netanyahu announced earlier this week that he had signed a deal for enough doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for all Israelis over 16 to be innoculated. Israel, with a population of nine million, has recorded over 3,600 deaths from th
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Three normalization and peace agreements, three indictments, US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory and ultimately the fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu all rest on Israel's success against the coronavirus. He, his opponents and the Israeli public all know it.

Netanyahu is fighting on many fronts these days. His goal of winning a 61-seat Knesset majority, which has eluded him through three consecutive elections, appears further away than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic has reshuffled the political deck and the March 23 elections hinge on two races directly related to the pandemic. Will the achievements of the massive COVID-19 vaccination campaign, in which Israel leads the world, outshine the effects of the harsh economic downturn and the government’s many failures in handling other facets of the crisis?

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