What to Know About Israel Elections 2022
TimeDec 23, 2022
The Facts
Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing bloc have won a solid majority in this week's Israeli elections, securing 64 seats in Israel’s 120-seat Knesset. Israelis headed to the polls on Tuesday to elect the 25th Knesset and decide the country's next leader amid continuing political deadlock, following the collapse of former PM Naftali Bennett's coalition over the summer.
Netanyahu's Likud party won 32 seats — more than any other party. The current, centrist caretaker PM Yair Lapid, and his political coalition, won 51 seats, while the remainder were secured by a small unaffiliated Arab party.
The Spin
Left narrative
Netanyahu's return to power is a sad day for Israel. Besides his open bigotry against the Arab community, he's a deeply corrupt politician that has constantly assaulted Israeli institutions and imperiled democracy while in office. Indeed the "government of change" had its problems, but allowing a far-right ultranationalist bloc to form Israel's new government would be far more dangerous.
Right narrative
Though elements of Netanyahu's potential coalition may be somewhat unsavory, his victory is a strong message to hostile actors that Israel will not roll over to terrorist demands. The corruption charges against him are, at best, substantially overstated and, at worst, a criminal endeavor against a former PM. He represents strength in the face of terror, while politicians such as Yair Lapid represent weakness, especially considering the terrible deal he recently made with Lebanon.
Pro-Palestine narrative
Israeli "democracy" is farcical considering the millions of Palestinians living under military occupation have no say in who will determine the level of oppression they face on a daily basis. How can Israel claim to be a democracy when it rules over 15M people between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, half of whom are not Jewish and most of whom can’t vote in Israel? Simply put, an apartheid state cannot be a democracy.
