Israel’s Spiritual Gangster Becomes a Political Kingmaker

T. Belman. During the campaign, I asked, why is Feiglin so strong while Bennett and Shaked are so weak. This article answers me in part. I wish him and Zehut well.

Seven clues to understand the mysterious appeal of Moshe Feiglin and Israel’s uniquely Jewish brand of libertarianism

By Liel Leibovitz, TABLET

What to make of Moshe Feiglin? Until a few months ago, the radical right-wing activist and former Likud backbencher was no one’s idea of a political contender, let alone kingmaker. Now, if polls are to be believed, Israelis casting their votes are slated to hand Feiglin’s party, Zehut—the word is Hebrew for identity—as many as seven Knesset seats, which might make it the most sought-after partner for anyone seeking to assemble the country’s next coalition. Much has already been writtenabout Zehut’s unorthodox platform, which advocates for a host of seemingly incompatible policies, such as the legalization of marijuana and the establishment of an independent halachic legal system side by side with the country’s secular courts. What’s behind the party’s rapid rise? Seven observations come to mind:

Feiglin Is a Spiritual Gangster: The Israeli pundits straining to explain Feiglin’s appeal were telling a simple, sour story: Duped by the candidate’s faux libertarian vibe and charmed by his emphasis on legalizing weed, scores of Israelis were too gullible or lazy to bother reading the other bits of his platform, and were cheering on a wolf who would, the moment he was elected, shed his sheep’s clothing and engage in extreme right-wing policies. But voters are rarely as dumb and deplorable as the media make them out to be. Most of Feiglin’s voters know precisely what he stands for, and they support him because, not in spite of it. Why? Because the left is decimated and out of ideas, and the right, a decade now in power, has done little but manage the status quo. Politics being every bit as much a game of emotional thrusts as it is of logical calculations, Israeli voters—just like voters in Ukraine, England, the United States and elsewhere—are yearning for someone who speaks not in the hushed tones of civil servants but in the passionate alto of a radical promising to reconnect the nation with its fundamental values. “The Zehut Party,” reads its  href=”https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/1577ba_4e03172d301b4abd9cfdc5a2741f72b3.pdf”>platform, “grew out of a recognition formed over decades that it is not possible to repair the seemingly simple and practical problems of the State of Israel without leadership that believes in the G-d of Israel and turns to Him.” Which, the platform clarifies, doesn’t mean that the leadership has to be religious; it can be secular, and it should concern itself with earthly affairs like decriminalizing weed, as long as it is powered not by the grays of parliamentary democracy but by the stark blues and whites of a sacred horizon. When it comes to religion, most Israelis consider themselves, at the very least, traditional, and many are growing increasingly observant. Glance at the Instagram accounts of the country’s most popular singers, actors, and athletes, and you’ll see a bevy of famous men in tefillin and celebrated women lighting Shabbat candles to the digital adoration of their like-minded fans. These displays of immediate, unequivocal, and uncomplicated pride in being Jewish is sorely lacking from the established political parties. To some, like Likud, Judaism is a strategic asset, to be protected against future attacks. To others, like Blue and White, it’s a liability, to be negotiated with bearded haredi zealots. To Zehut, it’s the cornerstone, and one that is compatible with most other aspects of modern life. This spiritual affirmation is one that voters appreciate, and it was perfectly delivered by the straight-talking Feiglin, unadorned by heated rhetoric or empty promises. Most Israelis, it turns out, are far from repulsed by the idea of theirs being a really Jewish state.

Everyday Life Matters: Israelis going to the ballot today know one thing: No matter who’s elected, the nation’s policies moving forward are likely to remain more or less unchanged. Maybe Netanyahu will follow through on his recent promise to annex the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Maybe Benny Gantz will come up with some new and creative way to revive the moribund Oslo Accords. But, most likely, whoever ends up being prime minister later this week will continue to tread lightly, avoiding major concessions and major conflagrations alike. This near-certainty frees Israeli voters to focus on their everyday lives, which, for the most part, are good. According to a 2017 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israel’s long-term unemployment was the lowest of all of the organization’s 36 member nations—which include Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Japan, and others—and work-life balance continues to improve, with the percentage of employees working 50 hours or more a week dropping from 19% in 2012 to 15% in 2016. Israelis live longer, eat healthier, and enjoy life more than their counterparts in the Western world. And while many still have economic gripes related to the high cost of living, none of these are sufficient to fuel a real political movement. The tent protest that excited the imagination of reporters and editors in 2011 fizzled and all but disappeared, its leaders now ordinary politicians without many followers. In this climate of overall contentment, it’s the little issues, like marijuana, that are likely to take off: Legalization isn’t as hard to achieve as, say, a drastic reduction in housing prices, and it’s likely to have a small but meaningful impact on many Israelis’ quality of life. All other parties and candidates being the same, this sort of small impact might just make a difference.

Voters Want Real Diversity: As is the case in America, the champions of diversity in Israel are playing a bit of a con game by insisting that differences matter while stacking the institutions they control with people who think exactly alike. Last week, Kobi Oz, one of Israel’s most beloved musicians and authors, sparked a minor scandal when he argued that Meretz, the left-wing party beloved by the intelligentsia, was made up of Ashkenazi progressives who fail to practice the diversity they preach. Instead of recruiting people who meet the criteria of diversity in name only but all think alike and share a privileged socio-economic background, Feiglin recruited a truly diverse team that includes a rabbi and former member of Shas; a social worker and men’s rights activist; an economist; a marijuana legalization activist; and a new immigrant from France. These men and women share few life experiences and even fewer convictions, save for the party’s core principles. And most Israelis were thrilled to see a list that wasn’t comprised of yet another torrent of former media stars, former generals, and former corporate hot shots.

The Party System Is Broken …: Once upon a time, Israel’s political system was governed by one large party, Labor, with smaller satellite parties orbiting it and vying for influence. Then came the Big Bang of Likud’s 1977 electoral victory, which led to years of a two-party system and to curiosities like the Rotation, a political agreement under which Likud and Labor, each unable to secure enough votes to govern unilaterally, agreed to share power and take turns occupying the prime minister’s office. More recently, however, Israel has been swamped by scores of parties, big and small, coming together and breaking apart in every election cycle and leading Israelis to think of parties not as ideological homes but as consumer products, here to meet a fleeting fancy. In this climate, Feiglin realized there was no better way than to double down on consumer choice: Save for himself and his No. 2, all other candidates were nominated, selected, and ranked by Israelis voting online. More than 17,000 people registered to vote in Feiglin’s survey and they ushered in a slew of candidates who look and think nothing like anyone recruited by the apparatchiks of the bigger parties.

 And So Is the State: Older Israelis, those who grew up with Ben-Gurion and Begin and Dayan and Sharon, tend to see the state as a sacred entity, the near-perfect embodiment of the collective will. That’s why they believe that the men and women in government must display an impeccable character and a sterling record, and that’s why they grow frustrated when a prime minister, say, turns out to be the subject of a criminal investigation or five. Zehut, on the other hand, believes that the state governs best when it governs least, or, more accurately, governs smartest. For example, while the party doesn’t advocate for the dissolution of the Chief Rabbinate, it does propose that the Rabbinate lose most of its current powers. Instead, then, of awarding kashrut certificates, Zehut believes the Rabbinate should define the criteria of what constitutes kashrut, and then allow each eatery to declare whether or not it meets these criteria. “The kashrut standard will not deal with the requirements of supervising the kashrut of the product, but with its ingredients and the manner in which it is prepared,” reads Zehut’s platform. “Fraud regarding kashrut certification will be grounds for action against the advertised business, and will result in severe penalties like any consumer fraud.” It’s the sort of middle-ground arrangement, neither coercive nor truly laissez faire, that appeals to many Israelis who appreciate efficiency but cherish Judaism’s communal values and have no appetite for hard-core libertarianism.

They’re Still Making Up Their Minds: In a nation where bold, declarative statements often turn to sad jokes—remember Avigdor Lieberman’s promise to assassinate the leader of Hamas within 48 hours?—Zehut’s members are appealing in part because they know what they don’t know. The party’s No. 3, for example, Gilad Alper, was recently asked by a reporter to elaborate on his views regarding just who should be counted as a Jew. “I’ve never given it any thought,” Alper admitted. “I was never occupied by trying to think about whether an Orthodox Jew is more Jewish than a Reform Jew or vice versa. I’m so secular that I really don’t know the differences between these groups.” But his ignorance, he added, didn’t matter: Zehut has as many religious candidates as it does nonreligious candidates, and the organic conversation between them is much more valuable—and thrilling—than some prefabricated platform that states its views dogmatically. Whenever a party’s member is confronted with someone else in the party thinking differently, he or she is likely to sound delighted rather than exasperated; one member, a life-long socialist, recently admitted that conversations with her fellow candidates convinced her to endorse capitalism instead. If nothing else, Israelis find this candor refreshing.

Feiglin Solves the Bibi Problem: As a member of Likud, Feiglin was Netanyahu’s scourge, challenging the prime minister at every turn. As an independent candidate, he has managed to solve the key issue many Israelis have this election cycle, the problem of simultaneously believing that Bibi is doing a good enough job keeping the country safe and prosperous and, at the same time, disliking Bibi for any number of reasons, some personal and some substantive. Rather than position himself as Bibi’s alternative, as Gantz and Yair Lapid and everyone else running for office had done, Feiglin cannily marketed himself both as Bibi’s potential partner and his inquisitor, a fierce outsider who shares enough of the prime minister’s right-wing beliefs but who would nonetheless hold Bibi accountable like never before. Because many Israelis assume that Bibi is likely to become the next prime minister, they welcome the opportunity to vote for a party that would help crown Bibi yet again and then immediately hold his feet to the fire.

April 9, 2019 | 37 Comments »

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  1. @ Edgar G.: Edgar, I am really sorry that your aliyah experience was such a bad one. I only made two brief visits to Israel, one of which was a pre-aliya tour. But I encountered even from these two visits, the longest one for six weeks, a “backsheesh” culture, where people wouldn’t do you even the simplest of favors without being given some sort of bribe, the currency black market, etc. Even more upseting to me,however, was the sheer incompetence of Israelis, their terrible rudeness, and their sure instinct for behaving obnoxiously towards foreigners. Also, their sure instinct for making themselves look a lot worse than they actually were-a sure instinct for bad public relations. I gradually realized that many Israelis weren’t really as bad as their atrocious manners and tendency to make offensive, provocative remarks would suggest. But the damage to Israel’s image in the eyes of foreign visitors was nevertheless immense.

  2. @ Bear Klein: I agree completely with everything you say, Bear. Dividing the Right when it desperately needed to unite was not only irresponsible–it was simply wrong. Another, perfhaps eve more disastrous “tactical” error was Shaked’s “fascist perfume” ad. She was obviously trying to cash in on her sex appeal. There was probably a strong backlash, however, from right-leaning voters, dos of whom don’t approve of the pervasiveness of sexuality in advertising and entertainment,, and who are not disposed to look favorably on women who try to use their sexuality to advance their careers. Her suggestion that she was a “fascist,” and that fascism “smelled like democracy” to her, couldn’t have one the New Right any votes, either.

    However, the evidence that there was widespread electoral fraud is an issue in itself, regardless of which parties benefited or lost from it. The reports of widespread fraud in such a hard-fought election are likely to turn Israelis a way from politics, diminish the prestige and authority of Parliament, and increase the powers of the already autocratic, unaccountable Seem Court.

  3. @ Adam Dalgliesh:
    In hindsight when one examines what Bennett & Shaked did in starting the New Right and breaking off from the Jewish Home was very ill advised.

    Many of the voters of the Jewish Home are very loyal to the Jewish Home as the home of Dati Leumi (Religious Nationalism). They were angered by Bennett & Shaked leaving the party that had embraced them plus made them the leaders of the party.

    Bennett left because some of the Rabbis in the party had as much clout as the party leader. The party was perceived as predominately Religious Zionists and agreed to let Bennett open to right wing secular’s who have the same nationalistic goals.

    There is ONLY ONE large party on the Right that has both religious and secular and that is the Likud. The Likud is a long time institution that has very many loyal voters in many areas of the country (South, Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria).

    Reflecting for the “New Right” to succeed it was going to have to cannibalize the Likud. If it could not do that it was not going to be successful.

    If the parties in the Jewish Home Block, had joined forces with Feiglin, Orly Levy and Bennett they might have been a medium sized party. However Bennett broke the Jewish Home up instead of building up it patiently in hindsight.

    The issue is not whether a 1000 votes were lost or stolen somewhere but about the strategic decision Bennett/Shaked made apparently in haste without adequate study. Hindsight is easy. I have started several businesses in my life and not all of them were successful. If one starts enterprises one risks failure. Starting a new political party is certainly a new venture and it is very clear that it is not easy to succeed.

  4. @ Adam Dalgliesh:

    Adam…I never had any confidence In anything in Israel…except the weather, the oranges and the IDF. Anything to do with people and power are suspect and generally crooked. My opinion.

    Many years ago an old girl friend came back from a year in Israel. She told me that it was “the sump hole of the Mediterranean”… that all the rubbish from around the world had gathered there, that I wouldn’t believe the filth that goes on there. …and more.

    The story of my own aliya could be made into a book. As it was, it was made into the whole double centrefold of L’Isha.. the large Israeli magazine. You can see my handsome visage portrayed there, for the females to swoon over. The article resulted in a legal case started against the magazine and also myself….. It fizzled because everything I alleged was 100% true.

  5. @ Bear Klein: As I am sure you know, Bear, the “final” report of the Election committee, after all of the votes were counted, is that the New Right didn’t make it into the Knesset. But the reports of questionable and even impossible returns from so many places, and so many “irregularities” of all sorts, such as large votes for Bald from Jewish settlements, returns from Bedouin settlements 3 or 4 times the number of registered voters, etc., makes it completely impossible to determine whether the vote count was correct. The Committee has reserved the right to make further changes in the vote when it makes its official report on April 17. As Yogi wisely noted, it ain’t over until its over. However, whatever they end up claiming are the final vote totals, my confidence in the integrity of the Israeli electoral system is completely shattered. I have no doubt that nearly all the parties, and probably many of the people involved in the vote-counting, did everything they could to rig the election.

  6. The New Right Party has demanded a recount of IDF soldiers’ votes after the party passed the electoral threshold as of Thursday morning’s count and then reportedly dropped just below it.

    The Central Elections Committee has not provided updated numbers since early Thursday morning and would not let members of the media or party representatives into the area where votes were being counted, such that the latest numbers available show Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked’s party passing with just 0.01% over the necessary 3.25% of the votes.

    However, reports leaked from inside indicated that the New Right dropped below the threshold by an equally narrow margin, leading the party to seek a recount of the “double envelopes,” which include soldiers, diplomats and others.

    At about 11 a.m., the Central Elections Committee announced that they finished counting the double envelopes and that they are starting a review of the figures entered into the computers, which they said they do in every election.

    “In light of the close results and the significance of every vote that can cause shifts in the division of the mandates, and in order to preserve the integrity of the elections, the Elections Committee is announcing that the review process is continuing. Another statement will be given when the review is completed,” the committee stated.

    Before counting the soldiers’ votes, the New reached 3.14% of the vote, or 127,504 votes.

    With the early morning results in which New Right received 3.26% of the vote, Channel 12’s Amit Segel presented the following scenario: Likud still stands at 35 Knesset seats; Blue and White with 33; Shas with eight; UTJ seven; Labor and Hadash-Ta’al both with six; Yisrael Beytenu with 5; and Kulanu, URP, New Right, Meretz and Ra’am-Balad with 4 each.

    That is a drop of two seats for Blue and White, and one each for UTJ and URP.

    The new scenario leaves the Right leading with a bloc of 67 seats, while the Center-Left bloc receives 53.

    https://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/New-Right-makes-it-into-Knesset-after-counting-soldiers-votes-586463

  7. The New Right has made credible allegations of vote-tampering with the absentee ballots, in order to deprive them of the four seats they have won. Other evidence is trickling in of massive vote tampering in various parts of the country, including Judea-Samaria. Plainly, Israel’s electoral process has lost its integrity, just as its judicial system lost its integrity years ago, and its judges have become mere political hacks, appointed by their “retired” predecessors.I’ve despaired of any reform of Israeli society that will make it able to defend itself. Maybe its time for Israel to be “phased out.” by a U.S. aid cutoff, accompanied by generous terms for admitting Israeli Jews to the United States as refugees from (Arab) racial and religious persecution. My “ideal” would be for all of the Israeli leftists, including the “Supremes,” public prosecutors, “legal advisors,” etc. to be banned from the United States, and only loyal Israeli citizens granted refugee status here. The leftists should be handed over to whatever Arab authority or group emerges to replace Israel to dispose of as they wish. But of course all of this is as much a fantasy as a reformed, viable Israel.

    I guess the most that can be hoped for for realistically will be an attempt to revive Torah-true Judaism in the United States and other diaspora countries. Of course, even that will prove a daunting task.

  8. New Right party asking for recount after election result confusion

    Now we are being told they have come up short.

  9. Bennett and Shaked pass electoral threshold

    Counting of soldiers’ votes finds that New Right has passed the 3.25% electoral threshold. Feiglin’s Zehut will not get in.

    The Arab party Ra’am-Balad, which apparently received votes from prisoners who also vote in double envelopes, receives 3.38 percent and it does not appear as though it will fall below the threshold.

    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/261694

  10. From today’s Times of Israel:

    Final 265,000 votes being counted, with fate of New Right in the balance
    Tallying ballots from soldiers, diplomats and prisoners likely to be completed Thursday morning, with Naftali Bennett’s party 4,300 votes short of entering Knesset

    By TOI staffToday, 12:44 am
    home page

    Officials count the remaining ballots from soldiers and absentees at the Knesset in Jerusalem, a day after the general elections, April 10, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
    Officials count the remaining ballots from soldiers and absentees at the Knesset in Jerusalem, a day after the general elections, April 10, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
    The Central Elections Committee was overnight Wednesday-Thursday counting the final 265,000 ballots that, while unlikely to change the overall picture of Tuesday’s general election, could make or break several parties hovering around the cusp of the election threshold.

    The count includes votes from soldiers, diplomats, medical staff and patients in hospitals, prisoners and disabled people (3,940 special stations were accessible to voters with disabilities), representing about six percent of the total number of ballots cast in the election.

    The count will likely continue through the night until Thursday morning, the committee said in a statement.

    The remaining votes have usually led to relatively minor changes in the distribution of Knesset seats, but could potentially have a more fateful role this time.

    In a shock development, Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked’s New Right party narrowly failed to enter the Knesset on the basis of the count thus far, garnering just 3.14% of the vote, some 4,300 votes under the electoral threshold. The final votes, the party was hoping, might lift it above the threshold — from no seats to four seats.

    Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett hold a press conference of the New Right Political party, in Tel Aviv on March 17, 2019. (Flash90)
    The tally of the last batch of votes could also theoretically imperil Arab party Ra’am-Balad, which has 3.45%, just 8,400 votes over the threshold, and isn’t likely to garner many of the soldiers’ and diplomats’ votes.

    Other parties projected to be not much further ahead when the extra votes are tallied were Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu (3.56%, 12,300 over the threshold), Meretz (3.64%, 15,700 votes over the threshold) and the Union of Right-Wing Parties (3.66%, 16,700 votes over the threshold).

    Additionally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party was ahead of its centrist rival, Benny Gantz’s Blue and White faction, by a mere 13,000 votes.

    The New Right said it was confident that it would pass the electoral threshold after the final votes were tallied.

    A party official told The Times of Israel that there was a “very positive initial overview” of votes being counted. The official claimed it appeared that at least five percent of the ballots had been cast for New Right, enough to give it approximately 15,000 additional votes, more than enough to enter the Knesset.

    Officials count the remaining ballots from soldiers and absentees at the Knesset in Jerusalem, a day after the general elections, April 10, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)
    Bennett himself said in a statement to reporters Wednesday morning: “All my life I gave everything I could for this good nation. I’ve always been a soldier of the state — in [elite IDF unit] Sayeret Matkal, as a high-tech entrepreneur, as education minister and in the security cabinet during Operation Protective Edge [in Gaza in 2014].

    “Now, the soldiers will decide where I will continue to fight for them.”

    Netanyahu clinch a clear electoral victory, with Likud tied with Blue and White at 35 in terms of Knesset seats, but the right-wing bloc with a handy lead and Netanyahu having a clear path to forming a governing coalition. Blue and White conceded defeat on Wednesday evening.

    Likud snagged 26.27% of the vote, the party’s best result since the 2003 election (when it won 38 seats under Ariel Sharon), and its best under Netanyahu.

  11. The “Soldiers” Votes (i.e. Soldiers, Prisoners, Diplomats) will be completely counted by the 11th mid-afternoon. This is 200K+ votes. It could change who gets most seats (Likud up only a little), Shas could get another seat, UTJ could lose a seat, Bennett could get in still.

  12. @ Adam Dalgliesh:
    The votes come in gradually but are not regularly posted or reported. I hear unofficially on Hadshot 13 that 99% of the vote was in. I would at this point be extremely surprised if “New Right” makes it in.

  13. Bear, have the soldiers votes come in yet? The reporting of the English language press is incredibly slow, and it doesn’t contain any reference to its having come in. But surely by this time it must have. Can you update me? A lot rides on whether the soldiers have pushed the New Right over the top.

  14. Sababa is the word of the day in Hebrew for the right as it looks 65 to 55 seats.

    One huge issue is that Lieberman has 5 Seats. He demands that Haredim must serve per the law that was set to be voted before. There are now 16 Haredi seats.
    Also he wants to raise pensions especially for immigrant retires and he insists on a stronger response to Hamas. I assume he will also insist of Defense Ministry with power to do what he wants verus Hamas.

    To emphasis his negotiating strength he now flew overseas.

    I still think it is possible that Bibi will try to get Gantz ( without Ya’alon and Lapid) into the coalition. Whether this happens, probably not.

    Bibi is praying Bennett still passes the thresh hold.

    Bolton says US will release Trump plan very soon. I have heard by June.

  15. @ Adam Dalgliesh:Vote sharing only applies if one passes the thresh hold, it does not apply if you do not get 3.25%

    New Right got around 3.15 of the vote of what has been counted. If it gets around 5% of the soldiers votes it will pass the thresh hold. Possible but a huge maybe. New Right has a vote sharing agreement with Yisrael Betenyu.

    I do not know how prisoners vote and how many bother.

    Unless you are a diplomat and you are not in Israel on election you do not get to vote. 60,000 Israelis were abroad. Israel has no mail in absentee ballots like many USA states do.

    Overall more Israeli’s in pure number voted than ever before even though the percentage was 67% or so as compared 71% last time. 6 Million were eligible to vote.

  16. @ Bear Klein: Thanks for keeping me updated , Bear.

    Could vote-sharing agreements change the results? Did the New Right have a vote-sharing agreement with someone? If so, how many seats could that give the right even if it doesn’t make it into the Knesset.

    How do the Israeli prisoners usually vote, and how many votes do they have?

    What about Israelis who live permanently in Israel, but were traveling abroad on election day? Do they get to vote? When will their votes be counted, if they do?

    Sorry to bombard you with all of these questions. But I have no one to turn to other than yourself for this vital information. Getting it on the web is virtually impossible; all of the Israeli sites are anti-Bibi and left except Arutz Sheva, which provides inadequate and late coverage, although they do their best with limited resources.

  17. Officials now counting votes of soldiers, diplomats

    With some 97% votes counted, the Central Election Committee has started counting the so-called double envelope ballots, cast by soldiers in their bases and diplomats overseas.

    The vast majority of these are the votes of soldiers, which traditionally skew to the right and could change the make up of the next government.

    The biggest influence will likely be over two parties hovering around the election threshold.

    New Right is currently not making it into the Knesset, polling at 3.14%, but is hoping soldiers’ votes will push it beyond 3.25%.

    The Arab Ra’am-Balad party is at 3.45%, but unlikely to garner many of the soldiers votes and could still fall out of the race.

    Counting the double envelopes is a slow task with officials having to make sure they did not vote on their bases and again at their homes and is expected to be completed by Wednesday afternoon.

  18. 2019 elections results: After about 97% of the votes have been counted, this is the distribution of seats:

    Likud – 35

    Blue and White – 35

    Shas – 8

    United Torah Judaism – 8

    Labor – 6

    Hadash-Ta’al – 6

    Union of Right-Wing Parties – 5

    Yisrael Beytenu – 5

    Kulanu – 4

    Meretz – 4

    Ra’am-Balad – 4

    New Right – 0

    Diplomatic votes are counted in Knesset and are the last votes counted.

  19. Although all the election results must be in by now, none of the Israeli or American websites are reporting it. All of them are dominated by Dewey Sweeps the Nation reports. A “severe setback” for Netanyahu. “Blue and White take the Lead,” “A tight race” (Israel Hayom). “Both sides claim victory,” “Netanyahu and Gantz neck and neck,” and similar blather. Even on Arutz Sheva, you have to look really hard for the latest actual vote-count–in small print. And only the 95% count, even though 100% must be available by now. i24 finally put up a 2-1/2 segment acknowledging a right wing victory. But all of the Twitter comments about the election crow about Gantz’s splendid victory and Bibi’s humiliating defeat. We live in a world of reality-denial.

  20. Latest UNOFFICIAL SEATS:

    Likud – 37

    Blue and White – 36

    Shas – 8

    United Torah Judaism – 8

    Labor – 6

    Hadash-Ta’al – 6

    Union of Right-Wing Parties – 5

    Yisrael Beytenu – 5

    Kulanu – 4

    Meretz – 4

    Ra’am-Balad – 0

    New Right – 0

    Balad-Ra’am – 0

    Zehut – 0

    Gesher – 0

  21. 2019 elections results: After about 95% of the votes have been counted, this is the distribution of seats: Per Artuz Sheva – Official votes certified 8 days after election

    Likud – 35

    Blue and White – 35

    United Torah Judaism – 8

    Shas – 8

    Labor – 6

    Hadash-Ta’al – 6

    Union of Right-Wing Parties – 5

    Yisrael Beytenu – 5

    Kulanu – 4

    Meretz – 4

    Ra’am-Balad – 4

    New Right – 0

  22. Thanks for the update, Bear. If these percentages hold up when the last 10 per cent of the votes are counted, if I count correctly, the right-wing block will end up with 68 seats to 52 for the left bloc-a solid victory.

    Have the army votes come in yet? The prisoners’ vote (why should they be allowed to vote?)

  23. According to Artuz Sheva with 90% counted:

    Likud – 37, Blue and White – 36

    90% of the votes counted. Shas will enjoy eight seats in the 21st Knesset, United Torah Judaism – seven and Liberman – six.

    Likud – 37

    Blue and White – 36

    Shas – 8

    United Torah Judaism – 7

    Yisrael Beytenu – 6

    Labor – 6

    Kulanu – 5

    Union of Right-Wing Parties – 5

    Meretz – 5

    Hadash-Ta’al – 5

    New Right – 0

    Balad-Ra’am – 0

    Zehut – 0

    Gesher – 0

  24. Update with 66% counted – 4:30am per Hadashot (news) 13
    Likud 38 –
    Blue White 33?
    Shas 8
    UTJ 7
    Lieberman 6
    Kahol 5
    Labor 6
    meretz 5
    Jewish Home Block 5
    Arabs ?

  25. Not all votes counted but with what has been counted plus exit polls News 13 presented above results. Soldiers & Diplomat votes not yet counted.

    New Right has NOT passed thresh hold are hoping to get enough votes from soldiers to get seated in Knesset.
    Lieberman has six seats and Shas 8, Kahol 4, Meretz 5, Labor 6, UTJ 7, Jewish Home Block 5. I think Arab party (Oded) has 7 and Balad 4
    Likud 35, Blue White34

    Zehut did not pass thresh hold.

  26. @ Bear Klein: Bear, I can’t get live election updates from Israel on my Safari program. Can you send them to me on this page? It is now 8.24pm EST where I am–I think that’s 3.24 am Israel time. Even Arutz Sheva refuses to give live updates. Please help. I am tired of polls and want to know the actual vote count in real time. Many thanks, Adam

  27. Lieberman looks like he will be the King Maker because as of now his party has six seats (Yisrael Betenyu).

    Which is ironic because the coalition broke up because he left it. Bibi is praying that Bennet/Shake pass the threshold so the Lieberman does not become the King Maker.

    Naturally he will demand Defense Minister. If Bennett/Shaked pass with just 4 seats could you really give them Defense and Justice while the Likud has 35 Seats?

  28. New Right very close to passing thresh hold but need a few more votes. Feiglin needs more also but are a little farther behind than the New Right.

  29. On Channel 13 (Hebrew) in actual vote counts until now (2:22 am Israeli time):
    Likud 35
    Blue/White 34-

    Right 65 –
    Left & Arabs 55

    Solider’s not yet counted typically 8%. They usually vote mostly right.

  30. @ Bear Klein: Even worse, in my opinion, exit polls are predicting that the Bennet-Shaked party, New Right, won’t make it into the Knesset either. We badly need Shaked as miister of justice.

    However, the exit polls proved wildly wrong in 2015, and that may happen again. As Bear points out, we haven’t got the votes of the army in yet.
    History buffs may remember that Abraham Lincoln won reelection with the votes of the Union Army soldiers.

  31. Based on Exit Polls (which do not include votes past 8:00pm or soldiers votes or the diplomats votes, Feiglin did not make it pass the threshold.

    Touted by many as the likely surprise of this year’s elections and a possible coalition kingmaker, Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut is set to miss out on reaching the Knesset altogether after not reaching the necessary electoral threshold, according to exit polls

  32. I am going to paste (some) of an article that is from a leftist view of Feiglin the article if one ignores the leftist slant has some good insight to why Feiglin APPEARS to be doing well in the election. (See if his voters turn out especially the young ones who may go to the beach today).

    Number four on the list is a 344-page political manifesto saying Israel should annex the entire West Bank, encourage Palestinians to leave the territories, move government facilities to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and curtail the authority of the Supreme Court and the attorney general.

    The protracted and radical platform may sound like fiction. But in two days’ time, it could be well on the way to becoming policy advocated by a party at the heart of the Israeli government.

    From the front cover of “To be a Free Jew” stares the bespectacled and pensive-looking Moshe Feiglin, a radical right-wing activist who, apart from a brief spell as a Likud Knesset member (2013-15), has languished on the fringes of Israeli politics for over two decades. The self-declared ultra-nationalist has finally found mainstream popularity with his new Zehut party — and, to the surprise of booksellers across the country, with its manifesto, which now sits prominently on their shelves, if it’s not sold out.

    “Lots of different types of people are coming in to buy it,” said a staffer at a Steimatzky bookstore on Ben Yehuda Street in central Jerusalem as she closed up shop for the day on Sunday. “Young and old, religious and secular. Lots of different books have wide audiences. But you don’t expect it for a book like this.”
    The Zehut party platform, “To be a Free Jew,” filling a shelf in a Steimatsky bookstore in Jerusalem, April 7, 2019. (Raoul Wootliff/Times of Israel)

    Asked if she had read the volume herself, the worker, who asked not to be named, said she “had picked it up a couple of times” but not delved into its 23 chapters, which sweep across a range of topics, from introducing a flat income tax to the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, the development of the Temple Mount… and legalizing marijuana.

    Initially, Feiglin’s Zehut (Identity) struggled to make inroads among the crowded field of parties competing in Tuesday’s elections. What started its rise to prominence two months ago was its promise to push for marijuana legalization if it won seats, however improbable this seemed at the time, in the 21st Knesset.

    With the pro-cannabis Green Leaf party not running in general elections for the first time in 20 years, legalization advocates have gradually turned en masse to the nationalist, libertarian Zehut of Feiglin, who cannily made legalizing marijuana a plank of his radical and iconoclastic manifesto — now adorned with a silver “bestseller” badge.

    The final polls of the campaign late last week show Zehut heading for five to seven seats in the 120-member Knesset. If that proves accurate, perennial outcast Feiglin could be poised to play kingmaker when it comes to post-election coalition-building, winning ministerial representation and being well-placed to demand the implementation of some of his key demands.

    With the support of stand-up comedian and legalization activist Gadi Wilcherski, who is placed in an unrealistic 18th spot on the party slate but has joined Feiglin at a number of high-profile Zehut events, the party is presenting a broad plan to “end the persecution of cannabis users” through “full and regulated legalization of cannabis, based on the restrictions on the sale of alcohol and on the restrictions already in use where cannabis is legal.” Feiglin has also sought to play up other quasi-libertarian domestic policies, which include an anti-labor union platform that promotes school vouchers, animal rights and free market economics.
    Moshe Feiglin, head of Zehut, during a campaign tour in the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem on April 4, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
    A proven ability to attract devoted followers

    As he sought to maximize his popularity, Feiglin initially played down his radical nationalist and religious far-right positions, even though they are set out in full in that bestselling manifesto, in favor of his message of personal freedom. But as support for Zehut has grown, Feiglin has emerged from the clouds of marijuana smoke and begun to talk like the ideological purist who has railed against establishment thinking since the early 1990s. Upending established political wisdom, however, this has not alienated voters; to the contrary, more and more seem to be heading his way.

    “I haven’t always supported him, but in the last two years I became interested in the party as its ideals really spoke to me,” said 23-year old Harel Bassan from Jerusalem on Sunday. “Now I’d definitely call myself a Feiglin supporter, even an ardent Feiglin supporter.”

    In his 25-plus years of political activism, Haifa-born Feiglin, a 56-year-old father of five, has always possessed the ability to draw bands of loyal and devoted followers. As co-founder of the Zo Artzeinu protest movement, he encouraged thousands of activists to block traffic across Israel in the hope of thwarting the 1993 Oslo Accords with the Palestinians. As chair of the far-right Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction, he brought throngs of religious settlers into the Likud ranks, and ultimately, to the immense irritation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, won election as a Likud MK.
    Moshe Feiglin campaigns unsuccessfully in Jerusalem for a seat in Likud in 2008. (Olivier Fitoussi /FLASH90)

    With Zehut, however, he has managed to reach a new audience that may not have previously imagined itself voting for a settler activist who has spoken out against women, gays, and Reform Jews, who is banned from the UK (since 2008) for inciting violence against Arabs, and who was sentenced to six months in prison for sedition. That sentence, handed down by the Supreme Court in 1995, when he orchestrated raucous protests against the Oslo Accords shortly before then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, was later commuted to community service.

    Drawn to the pro-legalization Feiglin, they are not turning away from the pro-Palestinian population transfer Feiglin. Some potential Zehut voters acknowledge they know little or nothing of his non-marijuana-related positions and track record; others acknowledge that they don’t care; still others say they would care, but that he won’t be able to implement his more radical policies anyway.

    “I first heard about him in terms of him being in favor of legalization,” said Adi, a 21-year-old Tel Aviv University student who lives in the school’s student housing in the north of the city. “Yeah, I smoke. And I think it should be legal. So when someone comes along and says ‘obviously it should,’ I definitely want to hear what they have to say.”
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) shakes hands with Likud MK Moshe Feiglin at the Knesset, July 2, 2013. (Flash 90/File)

    Adi, who will be voting for the first time on April 9, said she went to her first Zehut event two weeks ago, when the party held a pro-cannabis conference in Tel Aviv that she’d seen advertised in fliers given out on campus.

    “There was a good feeling there,” she said. “There were lots of different types of people.”

    While she described herself as “more to the left,” Adi said she had come to agree with Feiglin’s views on the economy, and that “even on the stuff that might be seen as right-wing, even extremist, I think that he is trying to find a solution where others have none.”

    She was referring to the radical — in some cases pyromaniacal — sections of the manifesto, which she said she had bought but not yet read, that specifically call for annexing the West Bank and encouraging the Palestinians to leave, putting government facilities atop the Temple Mount, curtailing the authority of the Supreme Court and the attorney general, and more.
    Zehut head Moshe Feiglin meets potential voters in Jerusalem on March 13, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

    “I don’t know about all of them,” Adi admitted. “But those aren’t all issues he’s going to really implement. He talks about his social and economic policies much more.”

    Speaking with The Times of Israel during an onstage English-language interview in Tel Aviv last month, Feiglin was indeed keen to steer the discussion toward his domestic policies, twice asking the crowd to ask him fewer questions about his views on the West Bank and the Palestinians — while rejecting the use of the demonym in a question by this reporter, and insisting on referring to Palestinians as “Arabs” — and more about “our fantastic economic plans.”
    Candid about his policies

    When pushed, however, he did set out his positions on the issue: Explaining his support for a one-state solution, Feiglin contended that over 90 percent of Palestinians in Gaza and 65% of Palestinians in the West Bank would already prefer to emigrate, making it possible to maintain a Jewish majority in an expanded sovereign Israel between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. (He did not specify a source for the statistics and the Zehut party was not able to provide one either.)

    As for the “minority” of Palestinians who choose to forgo economic incentives to depart and insist on remaining in that larger Israel, Feiglin said they would be given permanent residency and receive “full human rights” but would not be granted the same civil rights as Israelis.

    Those Palestinians who — “for some reason that I can’t even think of” — were interested in obtaining citizenship would be able to do so through a “long process” during which they would be required to “openly swear loyalty to the Jewish state,” Feiglin said, declaring that such an approach would ensure “a real peace.”

    In short, Feiglin said, his stance on the Palestinian issue was similar to that of the self-declared Kahanist disciples in the Otzma Yehudit party, whose leader Michael Ben Ari was banned from running in these elections for incitement to racism.
    Zehut party chairman Moshe Feiglin (R) is interviewed by Times of Israel political correspondent Raoul Wootliff in Tel Aviv on March 23, 2019. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)

    Feiglin also advocated for Israel retaking military control within Gaza, arguing that the residents of the coastal enclave would receive “more human rights” than those they currently enjoy under the Hamas terror group that rules the Strip.

    With similar candor last week, he set out the religious imperative behind his proposal for Israel to take full control of the daily security and management of the Temple Mount complex — the holiest place in Judaism and the site of the third-holiest mosque in Islam — saying that he wants to rebuild the third Jewish Temple there, immediately. “I don’t want to build a Temple in one or two years, I want to build it now,” Feiglin told a Maariv/Jerusalem Post conference in Tel Aviv.
    Moshe Feiglin (center) during a court hearing in Jerusalem on October 2, 2012. Feiglin was arrested for allegedly praying on the Temple Mount. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

    Such a move would be unrealistic in the extreme; suggestions of even minor changes to the status quo on the tinderbox holy site — where Israel has claimed sovereignty since 1967, but where the Waqf Muslim trust holds administrative authority and Jews can visit but not pray — have been met with vociferous, violent and sometimes deadly protests.

    Bassan, the 23-year-old who called himself an ardent Feiglin supporter, said he was primarily drawn to Feiglin’s pro-marijuana and free market economic views but also supported his views on the Palestinian issue, even while holding some reservations. “I do think it’s slightly more complicated and an issue that is slightly up in the air. But it’s more ideas, and not so much exactly what he will do,” he assessed.

    Even on the stuff that might be seen as right-wing, even extremist, I think that he is trying to find a solution where others have none

    Identifying as right-wing, Bassan said he thought that encouraging Palestinians to leave the territories of their own volition was “a good idea” but that there would have to be research done to establish whether they truly want to. “It would only be okay if they wanted to. I don’t think it’s moral to push people from their homes,” he said.

    Aaron Rutenberg, 37, a resident of the Tekoa West Bank settlement and long-time fan of Feiglin, said he felt that support for the Zehut leader’s economic plans went hand-in-hand with backing for his hardline security policies — and that it was this combination that was attracting voters.

    “People have been voting for a certain approach for a long, long time and they are tired of it: For big government and for a certain approach to terrorism,” he said. “Neither has worked. Both need to be changed.”
    The ultimate goal

    While the increasingly confident Feiglin is now quite unabashed about his extreme right-wing policies, he is still making an effort to reach out to voters across the political spectrum — those who want to see Netanyahu reelected along with those who want him replaced with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.

    “I would like him to recommend Netanyahu, and I think he will recommend Netanyahu,” Rutenberg said of the process after the election whereby representatives of each party that has made it into the Knesset are called in by President Reuven Rivlin to tell him whom they recommend he should charge with building a coalition. “It would disappoint me if he didn’t, but I just can’t imagine it,” he added.
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attending the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem on December 9, 2018 (L) and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz at a press conference in Tel Aviv on April 1, 2019.(Oded Balilty and JACK GUEZ / AFP)

    Both Bassan and Adi, by contrast, said they would prefer Feiglin to ally himself with ex-IDF chief Gantz.

    “I would be happy for Bibi to be kicked out,” Bassan said. “I don’t know if I would be happy that Gantz is prime minister but maybe he could be better. I think that it’s hard to make any change with Bibi; we need change.”

    In Adi’s words, “Gantz is okay. I don’t want Bibi.”

    Surveys toward the end of the campaign have generally indicated that while Likud and Blue and White are neck-and-neck, Netanyahu would get the recommendations of a majority of the elected MKs, and thus be best placed to form the next multi-party coalition, but Feiglin’s stance could potentially change that equation. Insisting that he does not have a preference between Netanyahu and Gantz, Feiglin — who has demanded the Finance Ministry for his party and said that he could fill the position — could emerge as a kingmaker in a tightly contested race.

    Feiglin could also recommend himself to Rivlin as prime minister, a party source said on Sunday night — a scenario that has no chance of being realized in this election, but one that he asserts will come to pass in the future.

    “I will be prime minister eventually,” Feiglin assured The Times of Israel last month. “Then we can really start to work.”
    Moshe Feiglin speaks at a Zehut campaign event in Tel Aviv on April 2, 2019.

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/up-in-smoke-how-pro-pot-feiglin-has-won-over-voters-unfazed-by-his-extremism/

  33. Feiglin published a manifesto of what should be done in Israel. It is the 4th best selling Hebrew book in Israel.

    Trouble with Feiglin is that he is willing to partner with Blue/White. So he can not be trusted to do the right thing. .Yes he some good ideas but if becomes the King Maker what type of potential troubles will occur.

    He has never been pragmatic as a politician. Some of the young voters are potentially voting for him.