Israeli Election Season Continues Despite Snow

Severe winter weather barely made a dent in the frenetic pace of Israel’s election season over the weekend. Incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had harsh words for his main rival in the elections, Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog, after he gave an interview with the Washington Post over the weekend in which he refused to agree with Netanyahu’s position that Iran poses an “existential threat” to the Jewish State. “While the prime minister works day and night to explain the significance of the threat Iran poses to Israel, the inexperienced Herzog harms Israel’s efforts to prevent a nuclear Iran for cynical political reasons,” said a statement by Netanyahu’s Likud party. Elsewhere, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Shalom Cohen caused a stir when he called Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikva,” a “stupid song” at an event in Netivot on Sunday.

Finally, The United Arab List expressed its outrage Sunday over the decision by the Central Elections Committee to employ a printing business in Karnei Shomron, a settlement in Samaria, to produce the slips to be used in voting booths on March 17.

Click here for a look at Israeli public opinion ahead of the coming elections (PDF)