Israel elections: Bibi makes final appeal to hard-line voters

Israelis have begun voting in elections following a campaign focused on economic issues such as the high cost of living, rather than fears of a nuclear Iran or the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to his hard-line base at the last minute, saying a Palestinian state would not be established if he is elected to a fourth term. His remarks could further sour ties with the United States.

Mr Netanyahu's main challenger is Isaac Herzog of the centre-left Zionist Union.

Voters will elect a 120-member parliament, casting ballots for a party list. It typically takes weeks of negotiations for a governing coalition to be formed.

Mr Herzog’s party has been polling slightly ahead of Mr Netanyahu’s Likud, but neither political camp has a clear majority.

Mr Netanyahu’s pledge to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state marked a reversal of long-standing promises to the United States and was seen as a last-ditch effort to appeal to hard-line voters as he fights for his political survival in a close race.

He claimed that any state established alongside Israel would be controlled by Islamic extremists who "will attack us with rockets".

“Who wants such a thing?” he said in a phone interview with Israel TV’s Channel 10 after casting his ballot.

Mr Herzog has said he would revive peace efforts with the Palestinians, repair ties with the US and reduce the growing gaps between rich and poor.

“Whoever wants to follow Bibi’s (Netanyahu’s) path of despair and disappointment will vote for him,” Mr Herzog said after casting his vote. “But whoever wants change, hope, and really a better future for Israel, will vote the Zionist Camp lead by me.”

Israelis vote for a 120-member parliament, casting ballots for a party list, rather than individual candidates. After an election, it typically takes weeks of negotiation to form a governing coalition and determine who will be prime minister.

Mr Netanyahu has governed for the past six years and has long been the most dominant personality in Israeli politics.

He has swung further to the right in the final stages of the campaign, appealing to his base.

In his interview with Channel 10, he ruled out a coalition with Mr Herzog and said he would seek an alliance with the ultra-national Jewish Home party, which also opposes Palestinian statehood.

He portrayed Mr Herzog as someone who would easily give up territory for a Palestinian state. The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

“We have a different approach,” Mr Netanyahu said. “They (the Zionist Union) want to withdraw. I don’t want to withdraw. If I put together the government, it will be a nationalist government.”

PA