Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is appealing to the hard right of Israeli politics as he faces what could be an end to his six years in power. His Premiership has been a very troubled time, relations with the United States under President Obama have been strained, his continued building in the West Bank of Jewish settlements has been ridden with problems, his war against Gaza has seen him hated around the world and compared to Vladimir Putin and his actions in Ukraine.
Netanyahu represents the right wing of Israel that believes Israel should forever be a Jewish state and has been against a two state solution in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He has been accused of being a racist both towards Arabs and black Jews and other minorities in Israel.
Recently, Netanyahu flew to the United States to address American politicians, but did not meet President Obama. Netanyahu, in his appeals to get the right wing vote out, has been saying Arab and black voters will vote for the left wing parties which will put Israel's security and sovereignty under threat and has refused to share power with rival politician Isaac Herzog and his left of centre, Zionist Union party.
An Arab spokesperson in Nazareth has said Netanyahu is right to be scared of the Arab vote and that his six year rule will soon be over. In response, Netanyahu appears to be using scare tactics to get the Likud vote out by saying Arab voters will be turning out in their droves to vote for Herzog or other anti-Netanyahu parties.
As for the Palestinian response to Netanyahu, they will certainly be glad to see his back, because if he returns to power he will do all he can to destroy what is left of the Palestinian-Israeli peace accord (if anything at all).
Mr. Netanyahu has many supporters among many right-wing Republicans and evangelical Christians and also many right wing Jewish Americans, who, no doubt will be pouring funds into his campaign of re-election.
Mr. Netanyahu has forever warned about the dangers of Iran and its nuclear programme and the danger it purportedly poses to the region and Israel. While western powers certainly do have issues with Iran's nuclear programme, a recent leaked report by Mosad poured cold water on Netanyahu's rantings about the danger from Iran, saying that it appeared Iran's nuclear programme was for peaceful purposes of energy production.
Whatever the outcome of the Israeli general election, nothing will change significantly overnight in that region any time soon.
