Phil Weiss speaks to Yossi Gurvitz to unpack the March 23rd Israeli election results. Yumna Patel discusses the upcoming Palestinian elections with Dr. Yara Hawari and Dr. Haidar Eid.

The Israeli election appears to be deadlocked, judging by exit polls. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party has the upper hand with 31 or more seats, far more than the nearest competitor, per the polls, but the anti-Netanyahu parties have as many as 60 seats, or half the parliament.

The last polls before March 23 election show Netanyahu with commanding position. 45 percent of voters think he is the best candidate for prime minister, nearly double the number of the hope of American liberal Zionists, centrist Yair Lapid. And Likud polls at 20 seats, way out ahead of Lapid’s party at 18.

Rightwinger Naftali Bennett is the kingmaker in Israeli election next week, and signals, correctly, that the Israeli right should not be fearful of Yair Lapid. For Lapid’s party states in Hebrew that it is for the settlement project, though it scrubs that section from the English version intended for US liberal Zionists!

By campaigning for conservative “Arab” voters, Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to suppress the Palestinian vote, by shattering the Joint List, which won a historic 15 seats in the last election and is now polling at only 9.

Israeli politics continue to lurch rightward. The only way to knock out Netanyahu is for Naftali Bennett to join Gideon Sa’ar in opposition, and no room for Palestinians. The Netanyahu opposition would go from left to far right, but at least that way it’s a Zionist coalition with ability to govern, says Amir Tibon of Haaretz.

The Never Netanyahu parties in Israeli politics only get to about 50 seats in polls for the March 23 elections, which likely leaves Netanyahu in power because opposition won’t work with Palestinian votes! Netanyahu sees a path to a majority of 61 with a deal he forged between Bezalel Smotrich and Otsma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, a racist fascistic party with Kahanist roots.

Longtime Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai has formed a new political party – “The Israelis” – to finally take down Netanyahu. But Netanyahu has one card up his sleeve — the coronavirus vaccine.

Benny Gantz is the “liberal” white knight who was going to save Israel from Netanyahu, by becoming “alternate Prime Minister.” He has been outfoxed again and again and now Israel appears headed to a fourth election in two years with Gantz’s party polling at a miserable six seats and a politician to Netanyahu’s right threatening to become the “Just not Netanyahu” candidate.

The corona crisis in Israel has revealed the state’s reliance on secret police, often making errors in identification, and the denial of lifesaving equipment to Palestinians. Here are some heart-breaking examples of what Apartheid looks like at the time of Corona.