Judy: Now, to another major
overseas election, tomorrow in
Israel, as that country's fifth
election in four years will get
underway.
Israelis will have to make a
choice between very different
world views.
Many voters are understandably
weary of going to the polls yet
again, but as special
correspondent nurit Ben reports,
this election is likely to have
far-reaching consequences.
Nurit: It's a decades long
tradition, groups of usually
older Israelis getting together
for coffee, maybe some pastries,
and a heated political argument.
Israelis call them parliaments,
and for well over a decade, one
name, love him or hate him, has
been front and center.
Benjamin Netanyahu.
Now with the country hours away
from its fifth election in less
than four years, one question
still seems to be on everyone's
lips.
Are you with bb or against him?
>> We have Bibi Netanyahu who is
one-of-a-kind.
>> Bb is dangerous to Israel.
Nurit: This time, the stakes are
higher.
Israel's government could be
centerleft or the most right
wing the country has ever seen.
The editor in chief of the
Jerusalem post here.
>> If you ask people from the
centerleft, they will tell you
democracy is at stake.
That there are forces within the
right wing camp that are
extreme, that would like to
change the rule of law and the
criminal justice system.
On the other hand, if you talk
to people on the right side,
they fear a government with Arab
parties who are believed to be
extreme and anti-jewish and
anti-Israel.
Therefore, the jewish character
of Israel is at stake.
Nurit: Last summer, things
looked different.
A motley crew of right wing and
left, centrists, and an Arab
party put their differences
aside and struck a deal.
They unseated the
longest-serving prime minister
in Israel's history.
Like others before it, that
fragile coalition fell apart,
and Israelis are heading to the
polls yet again.
After a brief stint in the
opposition and with a corruption
trial underway, Netanyahu has
been full speed on the campaign
trail, trying to reclaim the
coveted seat.
>> Voters, wake up.
Nurit: And he is still the one
to beat.
For well over a decade, the
right wing likud has been a
party of only one man.
Netanyahu's supporters back in
with ironclad loyalty.
>> I believe we have done huge
things for Israel, but I think
there are more things to do, to
block Iran for good.
I think we will have peace with
Saudi Arabia, and I will bring
it about.
With that, bring an end to the
arab-israeli conflict.
Nurit: His biggest challenge or,
the interim prime minister.
A former journalist who dove
into politics with a splash in
2013, and in a country where
left-wing parties have all but
disappeared, he has become the
face of the Israeli center.
>> It's possible to fight and
win in the fight over Israeli
democracy, because it is under
threat.
Nurit: In Israel's coalition
system, no one crosses the
finish line without support from
several other parties.
This time around, the ones to
watch range from far right
nationalist surging and popular,
to Arab factions struggling to
get their own voters to turn
out.
Take the far right head of the
jewish power party.
In a ultranationalist with a
decades-old taste for
provocation.
Calling for the assassination of
then premier in the 90's, or
just this month pulling a gun
amid clashes in the contested
east Jerusalem neighborhood.
Just a few elections ago, he was
shunned by Israel's right wing
including Netanyahu for being
too extreme.
Fast to election number five,
that fringe politician could be
the kingmaker and a major part
of a Netanyahu government.
His rise was helped by the king
of the right wing himself who
brokered a deal for a joint list
of far right parties.
Together, they are on track to
be the third-biggest party in
parliament, paving Netanyahu's
path to victory and backing
highly controversial changes to
the legal system that would put
a quick end to his trial.
In a campaign speech last week,
lippi warned those changes are
the tip of the iceberg.
>> What is truly important to
them is to annex 3 million
Palestinians, to limit women's
rights, to limit lgbt rights.
A dark, extremist, racist nation
with no legal limits.
Nurit: On the others of the
political spectrum are Israel's
Arab parties who also play a
crucial role in how it pans out.
Arab citizens of Israel makeup
20% of the population.
How they vote and if they vote
could stop Netanyahu or help
hand him the top job.
Israel's short-lived government
included in Arab party for the
very first time, but there is a
lot of frustration that they did
not change much and less than
half of all Arab voters are
expected to cast a ballot.
Still, others feel too much is
on the line to stay home.
>> Three in the Arab sector have
to vote so we can affect change.
If we don't vote, we will have
racists, and we cannot live
together with them.
Nurit: A member of one leading
Arab party told us what it would
take for them to join the next
coalition.
>> For the first time, we are
needed in order to solve this
problem.
It is our time.
To ask for the real, very basic
domains.
Not budgets.
But equal.
Citizenship.
Nurit: How those parties
farewell decide if it is
Netanyahu or lippi who grabs a
majority in the 120 seat
parliament.
Another stalemate could be in
the cards.
>> Israel has been in an endless
cycle of elections for the last
three years.
They primarily have to do with
one issue.
That issue is what will happen
with Benjamin Netanyahu?
There are a lot of parties in
the Israeli parliament that
refused to sit with him.
Nurit: Those include longtime
opponents and longtime allies.
For them, Netanyahu has
overstayed his welcome, refusing
to step down while facing
charges of bribery, fraud, and
breach of trust.
When polls open tomorrow just
one question will matter, how
much do Israelis care?
For a public drive to the voting
booth again and again, the
answer might be not much.
What a lot is at stake.
.
The question is, will they use
it?