PM uses bottles to explain why public should vote Likud

In an effort to boost support for his Likud party, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Wednesday that the head of the faction that will receive the highest number of Knesset seats in the March 17 election will be tasked with forming the next government, regardless of the size of the right- and left-wing blocs.

Speaking to students at a pre-army preparatory program in the central West Bank settlement of Eli, Netanyahu pointed to two mineral water bottles placed on the podium in front of him to illustrate his warning.

“This is the Likud, and this is the left or Labor or whatever they call themselves these days,” the prime minister said, gesturing at the bottles. “We must go for the party whose water line is higher; the blocs will not determine, but rather the party size is what will determine. That is what we were told in a briefing with officials,” he added in an apparent reference to President Reuven Rivlin, whose job after the elections is to select the party with the highest chances of forming a stable government.

The considerations that go into the selection are vague — the president has the authority to choose any party he sees fit — and include a process whereby the various parties provide him with their recommendations as to which party leader has the best chances of forming a coalition. While the head of the largest party is usually tapped, in 2009 Netanyahu and Likud were chosen by then-president Peres despite winning one seat fewer than Tzipi Livni’s Kadima party.

“If the water level in the bottle goes down, and the left-wing party’s level is higher, a government that has forgotten its roots will be established, a government that will simply give in at every turn,” Netanyahu continued. “Their center of gravity is not our center of gravity — a deep chasm separates us, in our values and deep connection to our heritage, our pride and ability to stand proudly in the face of the huge pressures applied to us.”

Netanyahu’s choice of a prop was evocative, as late last month allegations emerged that his wife, Sara, had bilked the state out of thousands of shekels by pocketing the small change from bottle deposits during her husband’s first four years of in office following the 2009 elections.

But shortly after Netanyahu’s speech, officials at the president’s residence disputed his account and said that Rivlin had not yet determined how he would decide which political leader to task with forming the next government. “These things are unknown to the president, and any speculation as to the president’s decision on the identity of the future government at this time are subject only to the speculation of those who make the predictions,” the president’s office said in a statement.

Benjamin Netanyahu and wife, Sara, celebrate his 65th birthday in Jerusalem, October 21, 2014 (photo credit: Haim Zach/GPO/Flash90)

A Times of Israel survey published earlier this week showed that current trends among likely voters in Israel suggest a tighter race between Zionist Union’s Isaac Herzog and Likud’s Netanyahu than previously reported ahead of the March 17 elections. According to the poll, a full 24% of likely voters remain undecided — down from the 31% of likely voters that were undecided at a similar time before the 2013 elections, but still a large group that can sway the election in the coming weeks.

The data suggest that a plurality of these undecided voters, however, have soured on Netanyahu, giving him lower personal and job approval ratings and edging in the direction of Herzog’s Zionist Union.

Still, even with a strong showing on election day, the Zionist Union would find it challenging to build a coalition of 61 or more seats in the Knesset in order to form the next government, which mathematically would require the buy-in not just of parties in the center such as Yesh Atid and Kulanu, but also either the ultra-right Jewish Home, the non-Zionist Joint (Arab) List, or the ultra-Orthodox parties.

Stephan Miller contributed to this report.