Israel’s election sprint reveals a U.S. echo

Applicants hold significant events or limited personal gatherings as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Some have signed U.S. star advisers who were at odds with each other during the rivalry between Republican governor Donald Trump and the Democrat who defeated him, President Joe Biden.

As in the United States, the Israeli race is a referendum on the separatist at the top and the stewardship of a nation crushed by COVID-19.

Many Americans saw the choice as Trump – or almost anyone else. In Israel, the field is divided between those for or against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Where Trump, “Make America Great Again,” Netanyahu calls people to be, “Come back alive.”

The question of moral authority, too, is a common theme. As president, Trump has been accused of many crimes, including sexual misconduct against more than a dozen women (he denies all of them), questions about his taxes and serial problems tell the truth. Netanyahu pleaded guilty last week to charges of breach of trust, fraud and acceptance of bribes.

Both have thrown themselves as victims.

“It’s almost word for word,” said Alon Pinkas, Israel’s former consul general in New York. “They have both suffered from ‘witch hunting’, both running a campaign to get me out. “And if they’re out to get me, they’re out looking for you. ‘”

But there is a key difference. While Trump suffered a strong defeat in November, Netanyahu remains Israel’s most popular politician and has a strong chance of continuing his 12-year ruling.

That stems from the very different populations and government systems of the two countries. The USA is home to nearly 330 million people; Israel has just over 9 million. America is a democratic republic, where voters elect both president and members of Congress on Election Day. Israel holds national elections in which a series of political parties compete for proportionately conferred seats in the 120-member parliament, or Knesset.

As a separate party did not win a 61-seat majority on its own, that is generating a relentless coalition building to form a government.

Likud Netanyahu’s party is expected to appear in all opinion polls as the largest party in the March election. But his hopes of chewing government have been compounded by his legal sentiments, with several parties refusing to serve under a prime minister accused of serious crimes. In December, a fine governing coalition between Netanyahu and his rival collapsed after just seven months, taking the country to the fourth vote in two years.

Netanyahu – unlike his close ally Trump – has taken the virus seriously and put an Israeli vaccination campaign at the heart of his re-election bid.

Late last year, he personally negotiated the world’s fastest coronavirus vaccination campaign. On Tuesday, nearly half of the population had received their first dose of vaccine. Nearly a third of them have been admitted twice and the rate of serious diseases and deaths has begun to decline.

But other parts of Netanyahu’s control of the pandemic have been heavily criticized. Like Trump’s top friends, a block of Netanyahu’s main supporters, the ultra-Orthodox, are leading safety guidelines and attending major events despite the threat of the virus. Public outrage is expressed, with thousands of protesters gathering outside his residence each week or throwing black flags at bridges and crossings. They want Netanyahu to relinquish his legal shoes and the deep economic damage caused by a series of lockouts over the past year.

In a break from Israeli heritage, Netanyahu’s strongest opponents are not retired seniors but old journalists. Three party leaders are TV reporters and a fourth opponent, Gideon Saar, is married to one of the country’s most famous news anchors.

Those who are brutal in the media, with the support of American strategists in some cases, have won an impressive pandemic politics.

Lesson no. 1: Learn effective affiliate campaigning, email these events on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and weave them with non-stop social media campaigns.

Netanyahu, who was educated in the U.S. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was an expert in American politics, last month named Aaron Klein, Philadelphia ‘s native manager, Aaron Klein. Klein, 40, was a host of the U.S. radio show and deputy head of the Jerusalem bureau for Breitbart News. He was appointed by the site’s executive chairman at the time, Steven Bannon, who would then be a key strategist for Trump.

The prime minister has also reinstated American councilor John McLaughlin, and his banner photo at the top of his Twitter feed shows shoulder to shoulder with Trump. Netanyahu has used similar images in recent campaigns. But with Biden in office, he has played down Trump’s connection this time around.

Saar, who was once a friend of Netanyahu, is now challenging the prime minister from the right. Last month, he hired several founders of Project Lincoln – perhaps the most prominent anti-Trump group in the 2020 election – that drew Republican voters away from the president by attacking the president. his moral authority. The group is now embarking on allegations of its handling of allegations of sexual misconduct by one of its founder, John Weaver, who has retired. On Tuesday, the Saar campaign said it was reconsidering its affiliation with the group.

The moral questions raised against Trump are similar to the message of Saar as the leader of New Hope, the party he founded when he broke away from Likud Netanyahu.

Saar shares the national ideology of the prime minister’s hard line – he is strongly in favor of West Bank settlements and is ultimately biased. But he’s trying to create a contrast with Netanyahu, who he said turned Likud into a “personality culture,” astronomy familiar to anyone who listens to Trump’s various opponents.

Saar also puts civilization and manners at the heart of his campaign, reminding us of Biden’s anti-Trump approach. In an AP interview, Saar said he was “in a better position” than Netanyahu for having a positive relationship with Biden.

Another Netanyahu opponent, Yair Lapid, is teaming up with infamous Democrat corrupt Mark Mellman. The Israeli Times reported that Lapid traveled to the U.S. last month to meet in person with his longtime friend.

“The situation here in Israel is deceptive,” Lapid, a former anchor, said several times at a virtual city hall Feb. 9. “We can have a Prime Minister with integrity.”