BICOM

With just five days to go before Israel goes to the polls, parties and their candidates are making a final push for votes and positioning themselves in expectation of coalition talks after the election.

Speaking to the Jerusalem Post, Ofer Shelah, who is placed sixth on the Yesh Atid list of candidates, said that the adoption of his party’s plan for universal national service constitutes a “red line” for joining the government. Shelah’s remarks reinforce similar comments made last week by party leader Yair Lapid. The same publication cited sources in the Likud Party saying that Netanyahu favoured offering Yesh Atid a place in the government rather than the Hatnuah Party led by Tzipi Livni.  Livni has sharply attacked Netanyahu this week over his economic management and diplomatic policy and yesterday her party released a statement saying, “Netanyahu is destroying Israel’s international relations and is sacrificing national interests.”

Meanwhile, the Jewish Home party led by Naftali Bennett unveiled a new campaign slogan yesterday. Although much has been made of the increasing popularity of Bennett and his party at the apparent expense of Netanyahu’s Likud-Beitenu list, Jewish Home’s new slogan “Supporting Netanyahu, voting Bennett” appears to be a strong indication that Bennett’s party will feature in a Netanyahu-led government.