Turnout in Israel's closely fought elections was 72 percent, and the slight majority that allowed Benjamin Netanyahu to remain prime minister was more concerned about national security than a soft economy, a Jewish rights activist told
Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
Netanyahu's late comeback on Tuesday in an election that many observers thought he might lose affirmed his stature among Israelis as the go-to leader in troubled times, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner.
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Cooper said that "the bottom line is Israel lives in a very, very tough neighborhood" at a "very unsettled time for everyone," and with "an existential threat" hanging over a country that is hated by its Middle East neighbors.
Under the circumstances, Netanyahu ultimately persuaded Israelis to "go with the person that we know" and "the coalition that we trust."
Cooper said three key outside players figured into voters' decisions: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas; Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei; and President Barack Obama.
"I'm not putting them in the same basket," said Cooper. "But in terms of the U.S., many Israelis across the board are concerned: they don't feel that there's a coherent approach to the implosion of the neighborhood."
He said Israelis also fear what Netanyahu articulated in his controversial March 3 speech to Congress: that a U.S.-brokered nonproliferation deal with Iran would leave Israel vulnerable to a nuclear strike.
"So, when you vote, you may be having lives in the balance," said Cooper. "That was the overwhelming issue."
He added, "Having myself been in the Congress watching the Netanyahu speech … it reminded everyone, friend and foe alike, that Bibi Netanyahu has earned his place on the international stage."
In what observers saw as a last-ditch effort to shore up conservative support at home, Netanyahu said on the eve of the election that he would never allow the formation of a
Palestinian state.
But Cooper said, "Bibi may yet come back to it if there is a viable partner," meaning to negotiate on the Palestinian side.
Right now, he said, ordinary Palestinians are "caught between a rock and a hard place," and represented by "a corrupt, ineffective leadership."
"So, the two-state solution issue will eventually come back," said Cooper. "But there's no timetable for it, and it's not going to happen before the end of President Obama's second term."
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