JERUSALEM, Israel – On November 1st, Israelis will head to the polls for the fifth time in less than four years. CBN News visited one of the events leading up to the election – the primary elections for Likud – Israel’s largest political party.
Up to three dozen Israeli political parties like Likud either hold primary elections to determine the list of candidates, elect candidates through their institutions, or appoint them through the party leadership. When the list is chosen, those candidates will qualify for the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) based on the number of seats the party wins in the election. For example, if a party wins seven seats, the first seven people on its list get those seats.
CBN News talked with Jerusalem’s Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum about the importance of November’s election. She is a candidate vying for a spot on the Likud list.
“Unfortunately, we’re (Israel) getting attacked left and right. As you know, countries (are) adopting BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) legislation. Countries, you know, who are adopting a narrative that has got nothing to do with the reality here, against Israel,” said Hassan-Nahoum.
The stakes are enormous, including the Israeli-Palestinian issue, terrorism threats on each border, the future of the Abraham Accords, and at the top of the list, a nuclear Iran. Despite these pressing issues, Hassan-Nahoum explained her view of why Israel has had so many elections in the past several years and what caused the most recent coalition government to fail.
“We have a system which is all about pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu. People who should be in Netanyahu’s camp because they are right-wing…They have almost the same opinions about almost everything, but for personal reasons, they are anti-Netanyahu. So, in this past year, we had this crazy puzzle of a government where nobody could move, where nobody could say anything, nobody could do anything. Because everything would offend the other people they were sitting with,” she said.
Many hope Israel’s next election brings stability and although its politics can appear uniquely chaotic, Hassan-Nahoum says Israel and the US share a common political bond.
“If anybody has any doubt that Israel is a lively, dynamic democracy you just have to look at the images today and they will know that Israel is an island in the sea, a democratic island like America, same values in a very different sea over here.”
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