Netanyahu warns small right-wing parties could cost him elections; claims opposition will form ‘fascist regime,’ close the internet

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues a public appeal to voters not to support smaller right-wing parties that may not pass the 3.25 percent electoral threshold in October’s elections, warning that it could destroy the current coalition’s chances of retaining power, and lead to the election of a “fascist regime.”

“This election will be decided by every vote. Don’t waste your vote on small parties that may not pass the threshold and bring the left to power. Don’t waste votes. Keep the right. Vote for Likud,” the premier declares in a (Hebrew) social media post.

Netanyahu argues that the left was able to win the 1992 general election, ushering in the Oslo Peace Accords, because of breakaway right-wing parties established by those angry with then-Likud prime minister Yitzhak Shamir.

“We paid with thousands upon thousands of murdered citizens and thousands of casualties, and we are still dealing with this problem today, all stemming from that mistake, where splinter right-wing parties fell out and brought down the Right-wing government. Now, are we going to make this mistake again?” he asks.

He claims that if parties opposed to his government win the election, “there’ll be a fascist regime” running Israel, preventing free speech, including by “closing the internet” and shutting down the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14.

The post comes a day before hawkish ex-general Ofer Winter is slated to launch a new party that could draw a significant number of votes from the far right, weakening parties that currently make up Netanyahu’s governing coalition.

Meanwhile Yoseph Haddad, a right-wing activist and influencer from the Arab community, registers his own new party, dubbed Brave Israel.

They join a crowded field that has developed on the right, including a number of parties started by disaffected nationalist politicians aimed at drawing votes away from Likud and forcing a compromise with Zionist opposition parties. The new factions, including Sharren Haskel’s Israel First, Yuli Edelstein and Gilad Erdan’s Unity and Yoaz Hendel and Chili Tropper’s Zionist Home-The Reservists, are all expected to fall short of the electoral threshold unless they coalesce.

According to a poll aired yesterday by national broadcaster Kan, Winter’s party has the potential to pass the electoral threshold.

The Kan poll found Netanyahu’s Likud only receiving 22 seats if elections were held now, down from its current 32, and trailing behind Gadi Eisenkot’s 24 seats.

The Zionist anti-Netanyahu bloc is currently polling at around 58 seats, with the current Netanyahu coalition parties at around 52, and mainly Arab parties holding the balance in the 120-member Knesset.