- Title: WRAP: Israelis vote in close-run election
- Date: 17th September 2019
- Summary: JERUSALEM (SEPTEMBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) ULTRA-ORTHODOX ISRAELI MAN LOOKING AT ELECTION POSTER VARIOUS OF ULTRA-ORTHODOX ISRAELIS AT POLLING STATION MAN VOTING BALLOT PAPERS AT VOTING BOOTH VARIOUS OF ULTRA-ORTHODOX ISRAELI CASTING BALLOT TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (SEPTEMBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ISRAELIS VOTING GAZA CITY, GAZA (SEPTEMBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) GAZA ROAD, MOSQUES AND OTHER BUILDINGS IN BACKGROUND FISHERMEN AT SEA MAN WALKING PASSED SIGN READING (English): GAZA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMAS SPOKESMAN IN GAZA, HAZEM QASSIM, SAYING: "Whatever the results will be that will never give this entity (Israel) legitimacy on our land. We heard that all the parties were using provocative agenda based on violence against Gaza and the annexation of the West Bank as well as neglecting our people's right of return and self-determination. Whatever the results of the election will be our nation will continue to resist until they have their rights back and establish their independent state with Jerusalem as the capital." VARIOUS OF GAZANS AT MARKET (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GAZA RESIDENT, ABED MADFAA, SAYING: "What they (Israeli leaders) will offer me? Will they offer me job opportunities? Will they let workers go and work in Israel? No - according to their election agendas they want to go for a war against Gaza." RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) STREET SCENE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESIDENT FROM RAMALLAH, KAMAL KARAJEH, 55, SAYING: "Nothing will change even if the opposition will win, that will change nothing, he (Netanyahu rival Benny Gantz) will act worse than Netanyahu, not only what we are expecting from Netanyahu but worse. Because whoever runs Israel now is the extreme right no one else." BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) TAXIS PARKED NEAR ISRAELI CHECKPOINT BETWEEN BETHLEHEM AND JERUSALEM MEN STANDING OUTSIDE ISRAELI CHECKPOINT NEAR WEST BARRIER GATE ISRAELI WATCHTOWER ISRAELI SECURITY AT CHECKPOINT TEKOA, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) WOMAN SETTLER AND SON CASTING BALLOT AT POLLING STATION CHILDREN CASTING PARENT'S VOTE VARIOUS OF SETTLERS AND THEIR CHILDREN QUEUING UP AT POLLING STATION VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AND CHILDREN ARRIVING AT POLLING STATION TOP VIEW OF TEKOA JEWISH SETTLEMENT NOKDIM, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) SHMAYA FINN, 38-YEAR-OLD CAMERAMAN FROM NOKDIM, WALKING PAST ELECTION POSTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHMAYA FINN, 38-YEAR-OLD CAMERAMAN FROM NOKDIM, SAYING: "We are thinking about a government that is going to leave everyone here. I think this land is our land, anywhere you are looking at. We hope to stay and to grow and to have more people coming here." FAMILY ARRIVING AT POLLING STATION
- Embargoed: 1st October 2019 15:50
- Keywords: israeli elections occupied palestinian territories netanyahu lieberman gantz
- Location: JERUSALEM / NOKDIM, TEKOA, BETHLEHEM AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK / TEL AVIV, ROSH HA'AYIN, HAIFA, TAYBEH AND SHOMERA ISRAEL / GAZA CITY, GAZA
- City: JERUSALEM / NOKDIM, TEKOA, BETHLEHEM AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK / TEL AVIV, ROSH HA'AYIN, HAIFA, TAYBEH AND SHOMERA ISRAEL / GAZA CITY, GAZA
- Country: Jerusalem
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA004AX1OLL3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:THIS IS A HIGHLIGHTS WRAP OF MATERIAL THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN PUBLISHED. IT DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY FRESH MATERIAL.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu battled for his political survival in the final hours of a close-run election on Tuesday (September 17), urging voters to support him to avert a "disaster".
Opinion polls put former armed forces chief Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White party neck-and-neck with Netanyahu's right-wing Likud, and suggest the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party could emerge as kingmaker in coalition talks.
An end to the Netanyahu era would be unlikely to lead to a big change in policy on hotly disputed issues in the peace process with the Palestinians that collapsed five years ago.
Netanyahu has announced his intention to annex the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinians seek statehood. But Blue and White has also said it would strengthen Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank, with the Jordan Valley as Israel's "eastern security border". The Palestinians and many countries consider the settlements to be illegal.
The election was called after Netanyahu failed to form a coalition following an April election in which Likud and Blue and White were tied, each taking 35 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, or parliament. It is the first time Israel has had two general elections in a single year.
Netanyahu, 69, has cast himself as indispensable and blighted by voter complacency over his tenure - the longest of any Israeli prime minister. Prime minister from June 1996 until July 1999, he has held the post since March 2009 and is seeking a record fifth term.
Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) and will close at 10 p.m. when Israeli media will publish exit polls giving a first indication of the outcome.
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