{"id":2432,"date":"2015-08-31T00:08:59","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T04:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thediplomaticenvoy.com\/?p=2432"},"modified":"2021-01-22T18:22:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-22T23:22:03","slug":"focus-israel-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/08\/31\/focus-israel-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus on Elections: High-Stakes Israeli Election Results in Netanyahu Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Areej Elahi-Siddiqui<\/a>
\nFormer Editor-in-Chief<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

With nearly all votes counted on March 20, it was clear by the end of election day that\u00a0Israeli\u00a0Prime Minister\u00a0Benjamin\u00a0Netanyahu\u2019s Likud Party had successfully won at least 29 seats in the 120-member\u00a0unicameral\u00a0Knesset, comfortably defeating the center-left Zionist Union party and a list of\u00a0other Israeli Arab parties, according to Yahoo News. Although Netanyahu\u00a0received\u00a0strong support during the elections, his victory comes with a price \u2013 towards the\u00a0end of the campaign trail, Netanyahu resorted to extremely\u00a0hardline\u00a0rhetoric\u00a0that alienated both allies\u00a0and enemies.<\/p>\n

Although the hardline\u00a0conservative promises he made in the crucial days prior to election day, such as vowing to increase settlement construction in East Jerusalem and rejecting the idea of a two-state solution, helped Netanyahu boost his numbers in the polls, he now faces the difficulty of having to prove to an\u00a0already skeptical world\u00a0that\u00a0he\u00a0hopes\u00a0to reach peace with his Arab neighbors.<\/p>\n

The United States, a\u00a0long-time ally of Israel, was\u00a0the first to comment on Netanyahu\u2019s divisive rhetoric after Netanyahu warned on his Facebook page that the Likud party was in danger as \u201cArab voters are coming out in droves to the polls,\u201d according to the Washington Post.<\/p>\n

In response to Netanyahu\u2019s\u00a0claims,\u00a0White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest\u00a0said, \u201cThe United States and this administration is deeply concerned about rhetoric that seeks to marginalize Arab-Israeli citizens. It undermines the values and democratic ideals that have been important to our democracy and an important part of what binds the United States and Israel together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earnest also added that the U.S. would have to rethink the best way to bring back a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after Netanyahu\u00a0publicly\u00a0rejected the idea.<\/p>\n

“Based on those comments, the U.S. will evaluate our position going forward,” said Earnest, according to the Huffington Post, though\u00a0stressing that Obama\u00a0still\u00a0sees\u00a0a two-state solution as the best way to\u00a0proceed.<\/p>\n

At home, Netanyahu risks backlash from Israel\u2019s Arab citizens who make up a sizeable\u00a0portion\u00a0of the population. Aida\u00a0Tuma-Suleiman, an Arab lawmaker, said that Israeli Arabs have a long history of facing discrimination in Israel\u00a0and would not forget Netanyahu\u2019s racist remarks so easily.<\/p>\n

“Yesterday Netanyahu divided the citizens of Israel. It is them and us, the Jews against the Arabs,” she told\u00a0Israel\u2019s\u00a0Channel 10 TV. “I won’t let that go quietly. It is dangerous. If someone in France or England or Belgium would say, ‘Go out and vote because the Jewish Belgians are voting,’ what would have happened?”<\/p>\n

Moreover, Israel\u00a0faces growing pressure from Europe, where a number of countries have recognized a Palestinian state.\u00a0According to the Huffington Post, German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schafer said his government took Netanyahu’s comments\u00a0against\u00a0Palestinian independence “very seriously.”<\/p>\n

“We assume and hope that the current Israeli\u00a0government’s\u00a0declared aim remains, which is to enter into talks with the Palestinians about a negotiated two-state solution at the end of which there will be a Palestinian state,”\u00a0said\u00a0Schafer.<\/p>\n

A European Union\u00a0diplomat in Brussels also said that\u00a0E.U.\u00a0officials\u00a0consider\u00a0Netanyahu\u2019s rhetoric a “fundamental breach of the two-state solution.” If Netanyahu sticks to this policy, he said, the E.U would have to use its \u201cleverage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although Netanyahu received strong support during the elections, his victory comes with a price \u2013 towards the end of the campaign trail, Netanyahu resorted to extremely hardline rhetoric that alienated both allies and enemies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1350,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1095],"tags":[402,403,907],"class_list":["post-2432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","category-1095","tag-israel","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-elections-focus"],"yoast_head":"\nFocus on Elections: High-Stakes Israeli Election Results in Netanyahu Victory - The Diplomatic Envoy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2015\/08\/31\/focus-israel-elections\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Focus on Elections: High-Stakes Israeli Election Results in Netanyahu Victory - 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