Israeli Elections 2019

Benjamin Netanyahu has been the face of Israeli politics for decades and will become the country’s longest serving prime minister if he is re-elected on 9 April. He studied in the US before returning to Israel to complete his national service, serving in an elite special forces unit of the army. In the late 1980s he joined the Likud party, being elected its leader in 1993. He was prime minister from 1996-1999, and then from 2009 to the present day.

What Benjamin Netanyahu says about the Gaza Strip

“We don’t yearn for an unnecessary war in Gaza, but Hamas apparently has not understood the message: if it does not stop its attacks, they will stop in another way, in the form of painful blows. If Hamas is clever, it will cease fire and violence now. [Israel is] preparing for the possibility of a military campaign in the Gaza Strip should the [situation] spiral out of control.”

What Benjamin Netanyahu says about the Golan Heights

“We will never leave the Golan Heights and it is important that all countries recognise Israel’s sovereignty [there]. I will not give up our expectation that the United States [will] recognise Israeli sovereignty over Golan.”

What Benjamin Netanyahu says about Jerusalem

“The truth is that Jerusalem has been and will always be the capital of the Jewish people, the capital of the Jewish state. The Jewish connection to Jerusalem is being denied by those seeking to erase the history of our people, [but] we are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay.”

What Benjamin Netanyahu says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“The Nation-State Law prevents the exploitation of the family reunification clause under which very, very many Palestinians have been absorbed into the country since the Oslo agreement [in 1993]. This law helps prevent the continued uncontrolled entry into Israel of Palestinians.”

What Benjamin Netanyahu says about the West Bank

“The Land of Israel is ours, and will remain ours. We did not come back here after thousands of years only to be uprooted. As long as I am the prime minister of Israel, not a single Jew will be uprooted from his home. Not only [that], but we will build and add to [these settlements]. We have built and built and built, with great wisdom and determination, [so in the future] we will complete the construction of bypass roads, widening lanes, improving infrastructure.”

Benny Gantz comes from a pre-state Ashkenazi family and was drafted into the Israeli army in 1977. He rose through the army’s ranks to become the Chief of Staff in 2011, overseeing both the 2012 and 2014 wars on the besieged Gaza Strip.

What Benny Gantz says about the Gaza Strip

“I will allow any humanitarian assistance to the residents of Gaza [and] will assist in the economic development of the Strip. But I will not allow the payment of cash in suitcases to murderous gangs,” referring to Qatari money delivered to support Gazans living in poverty.

“The heads of the terrorist organisations need to know that [senior Hamas commander] Ahmed Jabari was not the first [to be assassinated], nor may he be the last.”

What Benny Gantz says about the Golan Heights

“We will preserve the Golan Heights, which will remain in our hands forever. We won’t ever leave.”

What Benny Gantz says about Jerusalem

“Jerusalem will remain forever the capital of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”

What Benny Gantz says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“I will do everything in my power to act to fix the [Nation-State] Law.”

What Benny Gantz says about the West Bank

“[We] must safeguard Israel from a security standpoint. The Jordan Valley will be our border [and] in a Gantz government there won’t be unilateral actions to dismantle settlements. We will not build wildly, which will foil diplomatic opportunities, but we will not freeze settlements [either]. They are strategic and spiritual assets and will remain so forever.”

“We are not trying to rule over anyone else, and will strive for peace with countries and leaders in the region. But we won’t let millions of Palestinians living beyond the [Separation Wall] endanger our identity as a Jewish state.”

Yair Lapid was born in Tel Aviv and did his national service in the Israeli army’s Armored Corps. He served in Israel’s 1982 war on Lebanon but, due to health reasons, was forced to complete his service working for the army’s newspaper. He then worked as a journalist and TV anchor, before entering politics in 2012. He founded the Yesh Atid party, which became the second largest in the Israeli Knesset in the 2013 elections.

What Yair Lapid says about the Gaza Strip

“[We need] a lot of force against Hamas [combined] with economic stimuli that will lead the population [of Gaza] to stabilise. [We must] demand quiet in the south [of Israel], and this can only be done after deterrence is renewed. There is a solution: to hit Gaza’s terrorists hard. Only after that strike, only after we regain deterrence, can we go back to talking about an agreement.”

What Yair Lapid says about the Golan Heights

“Had we returned [Golan] to Syria, as the world demanded, we would have had Iranian soldiers staring down at the Galilee, and Iranian artillery aimed directly at our cities. This is the time for the world to recognise full Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.”

What Yair Lapid says about Jerusalem

“Now is the time for the entire world to recognise united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Abu Dis will be [...] the capital of Palestine.”

What Yair Lapid says about the West Bank

“The Jordan Valley would remain the security border of the state of Israel in any future agreement.”

Naftali Bennett was born in Haifa to American parents and did his national service in a special forces unit of the Israeli army. He was called up as a reservist in Israel’s 2006 war on Lebanon. Bennett worked alongside Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition government until 2012. That year he became leader of the Jewish Home party, which he left in 2018 to form the New Right party.

What Naftali Bennett says about the Gaza Strip

“Terrorists from Gaza should not enter Israel. Just as in Lebanon, Syria or anywhere else, we should shoot to kill. We need to shoot those who send arson balloons from Gaza; they are not children — they are terrorists. We are fooling ourselves. Why shoot next to them and not directly at them?”

“[Former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s] irresolution and the delusional belief that talking to Gaza residents will bring down Hamas [...] are complete nonsense and irresponsible.”

What Naftali Bennett says about Jerusalem

“It will not be possible to divide Jerusalem even after a thousand years. Israel will not allow any concessions over its sovereignty; we are a small country and we will not give the Arabs even a centimetre.”

What Naftali Bennett says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“The Joint Arab List Members of Knesset have made clear they are supporters of anti-Semitism and terrorism. They sit in the comfort of Israel’s democracy, living off Israeli taxpayers, while they spend their time [...] writing letters to the international media in support of anti-Semites and supporters of terror.”

What Naftali Bennett says about the West Bank

“It’s now 50 years since we liberated [the West Bank]. It’s time to recognise [it] as Israel. The time has come for us to all internalise the end of the era of the Palestinian state, and the beginning of the era of sovereignty. The time for sovereignty has arrived, and it’s time to bring this idea from potential to reality.”

Born and raised in Haifa, Odeh boasts a long political career. He represented Hadash on the Haifa City Council in the late 1990s and early 2000s, becoming the party’s secretary-general in 2006. He was elected leader of the party in 2015 and placed first on the Joint List’s ticket for the general election that year.

What Ayman Odeh says about the Gaza Strip

“The problem is the occupying state - Israel. They closed Gaza, threw the key into the sea and said ‘We’re not responsible.’ The army drew up this imaginary line [the Gaza border fence] and whoever crosses it — kill them. Period. Is that the only way to address this matter?”

“Look at how the Israeli public views [those Gazans] killed [in the Great March of Return]. That is contempt for human life.”

What Ayman Odeh says about Jerusalem

“Jerusalem will remain for its people, standing strong, winning and the capital of Palestine.”

What Ayman Odeh says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“When the rights of minorities are trampled on in a democracy, it is not an internal issue. The [Nation-State Law] harms Arab citizens, Israeli democracy and the possibility of forming a Palestinian state and achieving peace.”

“We, Arab citizens, will rush to the polls en mass, and we will increase our power, now more than ever before. Whoever seeks to make a division and a stumbling block between Jews and Arabs, or between Arabs and Arabs strengthens [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and the right. They want us weak and divided, but we will be strong together.”

“The residents of the small [Bedouin] village of Umm Al-Hiran, whose 1,000 residents are Palestinian citizens of Israel, tasted the continuing Nakba bitterly [when their homes were demolished by Israel].”

What Ayman Odeh says about the West Bank

“Time and again Netanyahu chooses to continue the occupation and military control of another people. [He spends] 22 million shekels [$6 million] to expand the occupation, straight from government ministries; for the benefit of a handful of extremist settlers, the government is trampling its citizens. We choose peace and you choose apartheid.”

“If the government follows through on its desires to annex the West Bank without providing full equal rights to its Palestinian residents, it won’t be a new Nakba. It will be the continuation of one that has never fully ended.”

Mansour Abbas has previously held the role of spokesperson and deputy chairman of Ra’am. He was elected to head the party ahead of April’s election and, following a merger with Balad, now serves as head of the Ra’am-Balad alliance.

Rafi Peretz is an orthodox rabbi who served as the Chief Military Rabbi of the Israeli army. He was previously involved in Israel’s illegal settlement of the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, prior to its “disengagement” in 2005. He is a relatively unknown figure, never having held political office until his election as head of the Jewish Home party in February.

What Rafi Peretz says about the Gaza Strip

“We are committed to the residents of Israel's south, and to defeating Hamas. The concept of a proportionate response is off the table. Hamas needs to understand that when they hurt us, there is no proportion."

What Rafi Peretz says about the West Bank

“In order to stop [US President Donald] Trump's 'deal of the century' we need a party committed to the land of Israel. We need to move from defence to offense, from destruction to construction and sovereignty."

Bezalel Smotrich heads the National Union faction, which merged with the Jewish Home party in return for Smotrich’s placement as number two on the party’s Knesset list. He was born in the illegal Israeli settlement of Haspin, in the Golan Heights, and now lives in Kedumim, an illegal West Bank settlement near Nablus. He undertook his national service in the Operations Division of the army’s General Staff.

In 2015 Smotrich won a Knesset seat with the Jewish Home party, before being elected leader of the party’s National Union faction in January. He is closely linked with some of the West Bank’s most extreme settlers, allegedly inciting violence against Palestinians during an Israeli crackdown on the territory in December.

What Bezalel Smotrich says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“We will enforce the law in the Negev [desert in southern Israel]. Sovereignty is not a theoretical matter: If it is not enforced it does not exist. We will put an end to [the] illegal takeover of land by Bedouin in the south and Arabs in the north.”

Head of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, Michael Ben Ari has proved a controversial candidate in the upcoming general election. He is of Mizrahi (Middle Eastern Jewish) origin and studied at a yeshiva (religious school), before joining a settlement movement in the then-Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip in the late 1980s.

Ben Ari is a vocal supporter of rabbi Meir Kahane, who’s Kach party was banned from political participation in Israel for racism and incitement in the 1980s. Kahane’s teachings advocate for expelling Palestinians from Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt), changing the status quo on Jerusalem’s Al-Asqa Mosque compound, and most famously inspired extremist settler Baruch Goldstein to carry out the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank. 

In light of these ultra-nationalist views, a series of petitions have been filed to Israel’s Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, and Israel’s Election Committee to have Ben Ari banned from the upcoming election. On 17 March 2019, Israel’s Supreme Court upheld Mandelblit’s recommendation and ruled that Ben Ari cannot stand in the election.

Ben-Ari condemned the ruling, according to local media. "There is a legal junta that seeks to take over our lives. It's not a democracy," he was quoted as saying by Haaretz.

Tamar Zandberg was born in Tel Aviv and served in the Israeli army’s Education Corps. She was previously elected to Tel Aviv’s city council and won a Knesset seat with Meretz in 2013. In 2018 she was elected to head the party, meaning April’s election was her first electoral showing as leader.

What Tamar Zandberg says about the Gaza Strip

“We can’t have another war [in Gaza]. War means more dead soldiers and more children in shelters, and in the end we’ll be back where we started. The government must do everything to reach a ceasefire as soon as possible and then move toward a greater diplomatic solution.”

What Tamar Zandberg says about Jerusalem

"I really want to see all the embassies in Jerusalem, and I want to see Jerusalem recognised by the world as the capital of Israel within recognised and safe borders. [Yet] we simply cannot celebrate unilateral moves whose potential for danger is so significant.”

What Tamar Zandberg says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“The Nation-State Law was taken out of storage and apartheid pops out of the box. It is a basic law of racism. Our response is true Jewish-Arab cooperation at the head of our [party] list - our answer to discrimination and racism is a diverse and impressive group of leaders in their fields, fighters for justice and equality, women and men from all over the country.”

What Tamar Zandberg says about the West Bank

“This year we’re marking 50 years [of] the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people and land, and one thing is clear: the decision is between [whether] to continue this violent conflict, to sink deeper into war, hatred and the loss of hope: or choose a new path – even if it’s a long one – for peace that is based on two states for two people.”

“Israel needs a peace agreement that must include removing settlements. There is no greater deed of patriotism than opposing the occupation and saving the Zionist vision of a national homeland for the Jewish People in the land of Israel. [Being] pro-Israel does not mean pro-settlement.”

Avi Gabbay was born in Jerusalem to a Mizrahi family and did his national service in the Israeli army’s Intelligence Corps. He worked at the Ministry of Finance and for communications firm Bezeq before starting his political career. He joined the Labor party in 2016 and won the party’s leadership elections in 2017, heading the party since then. He is not, however, a sitting Knesset member (MK), meaning he has to reach an agreement with an ally who can serve as the official leader of the opposition.

What Avi Gabbay says about the Gaza Strip

“The [Israeli] government is failing to restore calm [in Gaza] - transferring money to terrorists is not a plan. Quiet is bought by deterrence, not with money. We need to strike Hamas hard with one hand, but with the other search for a diplomatic solution that will put an end to this.”

“[Under incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] there has been no diplomatic, economic or strategic pressure applied. There is a solution, it is a comprehensive plan for the return of Gaza to the PA [Palestinian Authority].”

What Avi Gabbay says about Jerusalem

“A united Jerusalem is the symbol of Israel - it is even more important than peace.”

What Avi Gabbay says about the West Bank

“If a peace deal is made, why do we need to evacuate [the occupied West Bank]? I think the dynamic or the terminology that we have become accustomed to, that if you make a peace deal you evacuate, is not actually true.”

Born in Morocco and having moved to Israel as a child, Aryeh Deri heads the Shas political party. He did not undertake national service in the Israeli army due to his ultra-Orthodox beliefs. He has held various interior ministry positions since the late 1980s, but disappeared from politics in the early 2000s after he was handed a three-year prison sentence for corruption. Deri is currently under investigation for other corruption allegations, with the Israeli police recommending in November that he be indicted for fraud, money laundering and tax offenses thought to amount to millions of shekels.

What Aryeh Deri says about the Gaza Strip

“If [Gaza] will be quiet, we will respond with quiet. We've given Hamas a chance to prove that we can return to routine, [but] if they release the reins there will be a very painful strike.”

Moshe Kahlon is of Mizrahi descent and served in the Israeli army’s Ordnance Corps. Kahlon was elected to the Knesset in the 2003 elections as part of the Likud party. He has since served in numerous Likud governments, holding the position of Communications Minister and Minister of Welfare. In 2014 he formed the Kulanu party, which he now heads.

What Moshe Kahlon says about the Gaza Strip

“I do not reproach citizens of Israel who are angry [about the besieged Gaza Strip], but when officials in the highest security offices in Israel tell us not to [escalate the situation], I am inclined to accept their opinions. We knew the truce [with Hamas] would be unpopular, but it came from a sense of great responsibility.”

What Moshe Kahlon says about Jerusalem

“The US embassy will [soon] be standing in Jerusalem, our nation’s eternal capital.”

What Moshe Kahlon says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“The enactment of the Nation-State Law was done hastily, we were wrong and we need to fix it. But this is a Jewish and democratic state, and if a community wants to separate for certain reasons, I can live with that very well.”

What Moshe Kahlon says about the West Bank

“My concern is that instead of rewarding the moderates and strengthening them, we’ll be doing the opposite, giving a prize to the problem child [Gaza]. This is very dangerous and could lead to an outburst of violence in [the West Bank].”

“I think it's time to annex the settlement blocs.”

Avigdor Lieberman was born in the Soviet Union and his family immigrated to Israel in the late 1970s. He was conscripted into the Israeli army, serving in Hebron for a year. Lieberman worked for the Likud party in the mid-1990s under Benjamin Netanyahu, in 1999 forming Yisrael Beiteinu specifically to attract Soviet-origin, right-wing voters in Israel. He served as Israel’s Defence Minister from 2016-2018, resigning in November over a dispute about Israeli policy in Gaza.

What Avigdor Lieberman says about the Gaza Strip

“We must not surrender to Hamas and its rule in Gaza. We must return to a policy of targeted assassinations and massive damage to terrorist infrastructure. I give my absolute support to the conduct of the Israeli soldiers shooting Great March of Return protesters.”

“There is no way to reach a truce agreement with Hamas without inflicting a severe blow to the Gaza Strip, [which] could bring us at least five more years of quiet.”

What Avigdor Lieberman says about Jerusalem

“When I took up the post of defence minister, I decided that Army Radio must broadcast from the most worthy place – Jerusalem, our eternal capital.”

What Avigdor Lieberman says about Palestinian citizens of Israel

“The terrorist Haneen Zoabi is in the Knesset and promotes terror against [Israeli] soldiers and citizens of Israel.”

What Avigdor Lieberman says about the West Bank

“We have continued the momentum of Jewish development in Hebron in a way that has not been seen in 20 years. We will promote building in all of [the occupied West Bank], from the north to the south.”

Born in Haifa, Moshe Feiglin completed his national service in the Israeli army’s Engineering Corps and served in Israel’s 1982 war on Lebanon. Feiglin began his political career in the Likud party, running against its current leader Benjamin Netanyahu for the chairmanship throughout the 2000s. He was elected to the Knesset in 2013, but left in 2015 to form Zehut.