Candidates drive the election debate

During this election campaign season, politicians are doing whatever it takes to drive their messages home — including getting behind the wheel of a taxi.

In a stunt engineered by Channel 10 news, three Knesset candidates pick up passengers in Rishon Lezion and ferry them to their requested destinations.

As one might expect, the conversations between the drivers and their fares in these “Ballot Box Cabs” are not commentaries on the weather, but rather heated political discussions.

The drivers — Yesh Atid MK and former welfare minister Meir Cohen, Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg and political newbie Zouheir Bahloul from the Zionist Camp — know they have a captive audience and do what they can to convince their passengers to vote for them.

Simultaneously keeping an eye on the prize and on the road is not an easy task, what with the passengers freely expressing their opinions in typical Israeli style. Many of the folks in the back seat openly declare who they want to see leading the country — and it’s usually not the person doing the driving.

The passengers, aware that when you’re stuck in a cab with someone it’s all but impossible to dodge the tough questions, use the opportunity to grill the politicians.

One woman wants to know if Meir Cohen would agree to sit in a coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even as he tells her he will do everything he can to prevent Netanyahu from being elected prime minister again. Another woman asks Cohen why he and Yesh Atid, whose leader Yair Lapid vociferously denounces corruption, don’t get themselves dirty in order to achieve their aims.

“We stand by our principles,” he answers her.

Bahloul’s rides go relatively smoothly — except for the fact that one passenger thinks he is a Druze rather than a Muslim Arab. The misunderstanding cleared up, the man says he would have no problem having Bahloul in the Knesset. However, he would have a problem voting for Bahloul’s party. He doesn’t actually say so, but one glance in the rear view mirror is all the driver needs to see this.

Tamar Zandberg impresses by keeping her cool in a situation that might provoke others to road rage. A young woman who thinks Netanyahu is the bomb makes her disdain for the leftist Zandberg abundantly clear. She tells Zandberg that if it were up to the left, the Islamic State would be ruling Israel and people would be decapitated.

“You are dangerous. You are a danger to this state,” the passenger tells the Meretz MK. “But don’t take it personally.”

The young woman, who has never voted before, thanks Zandberg as she exits the cab.

“If I hadn’t ridden with you, I wouldn’t have voted this time, but I am going to. See — you did something good,” she says.

“Forget it. Don’t vote. It’s better that way,” responds Zandberg half-jokingly.

Well, there is certainly no mistaking this for Cash Cab. In these taxis, no one wins any money with their answers. What’s more, it doesn’t seem the politicians win any votes, either.