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Israel's election brings to mind a saying by Bill Clinton. He said a leader who is strong and wrong beats one who is weak and right. Many Israelis think Benjamin Netanyahu is wrong, and he claimed the most votes. Here's NPR's Daniel Estrin.
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DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: On election day, Netanyahu took a megaphone to a shopping mall.
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PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: (Speaking Hebrew).
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Speaking Hebrew).
ESTRIN: "What do you want - an Islamist country?" Netanyahu asked. "No," the crowd replied. "A Jewish state?" he said. "Yes," they replied. "Go and vote, for God's sake," he said.
ITAI YONAT: He's pushing very strong buttons - fear, uncertainty and hatred.
ESTRIN: Itai Yonat is a former Israeli intelligence officer whose company Intercept 9500 helps clients defend against influence campaigns. He says Netanyahu has played to Israelis' primal fears.
YONAT: The message is the Arabs, this ancient fear of Arabs killing Jews.
ESTRIN: Netanyahu campaigned that if he didn't win, Jewish opposition parties would form a governing coalition with Arab political parties. It's a scenario that scares his supporters after the Hamas attacks of October 7.
MALI LEVY: (Speaking Hebrew).
ESTRIN: Mali Levy (ph) voted for Netanyahu. She's in the city of Sderot near the Gaza border. About 40% of the city voted for Netanyahu. Over a croissant and carrot juice, she says she's being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder after surviving the October 7 attack on her city.
LEVY: (Speaking Hebrew).
ESTRIN: She says, "I lost trust after October 7 in every leader and every politician." But she voted for Netanyahu because of the way he retaliated in Gaza. She feels safe with the Israeli military still inside Gaza as a buffer. She fears the opposition would rely on Arab-party support.
LEVY: (Speaking Hebrew).
ESTRIN: "I don't want the Arabs to run the country," she says.
Arab parties representing Israel's Palestinian Arab citizens, who make up 20% of the population of Israel, won many seats in Parliament. Jewish opposition parties have vowed not to form a government with them. But they are expected to join forces with them to pass legislation that puts Netanyahu in a corner, like forming an October 7 investigation committee that would look into his responsibility for the Hamas attacks. Netanyahu is countering that with a campaign to discredit the election results, says influence campaign expert Itai Yonat.
YONAT: We have seen this campaign actually trying to attack the integrity of elections and the legitimacy of the results.
ESTRIN: Israel's top elections official says the voting results can be trusted. But Netanyahu's party says a, quote, "black cloud" hangs over the election results, alleging Arab voter fraud and foreign elections interference from Qatar. Netanyahu's main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, is accusing Netanyahu of a, quote, "destructive and violent delegitimization" attack on the election results. Now analysts in Israel believe Netanyahu could order new military strikes on Iran, together with the U.S. Netanyahu voter Mali Levy supports a new war against Iran, but worries.
LEVY: (Speaking Hebrew).
ESTRIN: "It will be terrible if there's no new government formed in Israel and there will be a war. You need stability before going to war," she says. Renewed strikes on Iran could happen even before Israel's election stalemate is resolved.
Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Sderot in southern Israel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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