Election Analysis Blames Media for Misleading Public

Commentator Ze'ev Kam expresses deep shame regarding the Israeli media's conduct during the recent election cycle, accusing it of misleading the public with false narratives about potential election cancellations and politically motivated military actions. He criticizes the media's extensive polling projects as public opinion engineering and condemns its shift in focus from promoting a "covenant of servants" to advocating for alliances with Arab parties. Kam also decries the media's portrayal of a "cult of death" among Zionist and Jewish citizens while favoring cooperation with anti-Zionist Arab parties.

The article details the election day dynamics, noting higher-than-usual turnout in Tel Aviv and Arab communities, contrasting with lower turnout in Ashkelon. Kam highlights the unprecedented surge in Arab voter turnout, suggesting significant external funding and campaign efforts, and questions whether investigative reports will follow. He argues that while panic in the right-wing camp was real, it's uncertain if it solely drove subsequent right-wing voter turnout.

Analyzing political interests, Kam suggests that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might prefer new elections, while the opposing camp, having exerted maximum effort, should push for a unity government. He criticizes the media's pre-election reports of potential election postponements and politically motivated military actions as ineffective. The piece frames the election as the first since the "Simchat Torah disaster" three years prior, suggesting that the expected public outcry did not materialize as predicted.

Kam evaluates the election's successes and failures, labeling Yair Golan's new platform a failure for not bringing new votes and Naftali Bennett's alliance with Yair Lapid as a diminished outcome from Bennett's initial standing. He praises the Religious Zionism party's resilience, noting its recovery from below the electoral threshold to a significant showing despite facing opposition from various directions. The article concludes by proposing a unity government led by Gadi Eisenkot and Netanyahu as the most logical solution to prevent further elections, emphasizing its potential to address critical issues like the conscription law, Iranian threats, and the failures leading to the Simchat Torah disaster. The author suggests that if opposition parties push aggressively with Arab parties to change Knesset leadership, it signals a move towards new elections.