It was a message that resonated with many voters.
“Bibi is the only leader in this country in my eyes,” said Elad Shnezik, a 24-year-old foreign exchange broker who voted for Likud in Tzur Hadassah, a suburb west of Jerusalem. “I never saw anything bad about your actions. Whatever he does, he does for the people. “
But participation was the lowest since 2013, at around 67 percent, as some voters seemed tired of the relentless electoral cycle.
“The only one excited to go out to vote today is our dog, who is taking an extra walk this morning,” said Gideon Zehavi, 54, a psychologist from Rehovot, in central Israel.
Participation was projected to be particularly low among the Arab minority, according to some Arab surveys. Some said they were deflated by a division within the main Arab political alliance, which has reduced the collective power of Arab lawmakers.
“My honest opinion is that it is not worth wasting my time voting for either party,” said Amir Younes, 32, a restaurant worker in Jaffa. “We have been through this show many times and the result is the same.”
Netanyahu’s attempts to position himself as a diplomatic pioneer were stifled in the final days of the campaign, after a planned photo opportunity in Abu Dhabi with the UAE leadership failed, amid the frustration of the Emirates for being used as an object of support in the Netanyahu re-election campaign.
And Netanyahu’s pandemic leadership has brought him as much criticism as praise. Although he chaired a successful vaccine launch, he was accused of doing politics with other aspects of the pandemic response. In January, he resisted giving significantly larger fines to people who broke anti-virus measures, a policy that would have disproportionately affected ultra-Orthodox Israelis. The ultra-orthodox parties make up about a quarter of Netanyahu’s right-wing alliance, and he needs their support to form a coalition.