Netanyahu Says Israeli Election Too Close to Call, Urges Right-Wing Mobilization

With less than three weeks until Israel's legislative elections on October 27, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the electoral battle will be extremely close. Speaking to rabbis of the religious Zionist stream on Thursday, Netanyahu asserted that the two camps are neck and neck and called for a massive mobilization of right-wing voters. "I received new data this morning that we verified from sources abroad. We are tied, and the elections will be decided by a few votes," Netanyahu declared, without specifying the origin of the data. The Prime Minister is intensifying efforts to rally the right-wing electorate ahead of the vote. He attended a meeting with religious Zionist rabbis, alongside Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Israel Gantz, president of the Yesha Council and the Binyamin Regional Council. This meeting, initiated by Smotrich and Gantz, aimed to forge a common strategy and establish a coordination structure to boost right-wing voter turnout. Finance Minister Smotrich described the election as a decisive turning point, stating, "The next elections will decide the future of the State of Israel." He accused political opponents of seeking to evacuate Israeli communities and facilitate a Palestinian state, vowing to "strengthen the Jewish identity of the state and consolidate Israel's security." Israel Gantz praised the exceptional mobilization, saying, "We have united our forces and gathered the most important players in this election campaign to bring hundreds of thousands of right-wing voters to the polls through the actions of public officials." These initiatives underscore the importance Netanyahu and his allies place on voter turnout in what the Prime Minister portrays as a highly uncertain contest.