Right wing hate speech and Hamas terror attacks, turned a 20
point lead by Shimon Perez over Benjamin Netanyahu into a last minute victory
for Netanyahu!
Here is a recap of the events leading up to that election:
1993: Israel and the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) signed the Oslo Accords signed by Prime Minister Yitzahak
Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. Rabin,
despite his extensive service in the Israeli military, was disparaged
personally by right-wing conservatives and Likud leaders who perceived the Oslo
peace process as an attempt to forfeit the occupied territories
.
November 4, 1995 Minister Yitzahak Rabin was assassinated by
an ultra nationalist radically opposed to Rabin’s peace initiative and the Oslo
Accords. Netanyahu was the head of the
right-wing Likud party and leader of the parliamentary opposition in 1995. In a
film by Amos Gitai “Rabin, the Last Day”, we see Netanyahu speaking at rallies where
his supporters held up posters calling for the deaths of Rabin, Peres and
Arafat and the extermination or expulsion of all Arabs on Israeli-held land. He
surely saw the homemade images of Rabin in a keffiyeh, or Palestinian-style
headscarf, and the other images, the ones depicting Rabin wearing an SS
officer’s uniform. He saw people staging a mock funeral for Rabin, carrying a
coffin through the streets. He saw all those things and said nothing about any
of them. Indeed, he embraced that situation as a political opportunity.
1996: After Rabin’s assassination Netanyahu’s popularity plummeted
as he was seen by many Israelis as being at least partially responsible thru
his hate rhetoric. Shimon Perez the Israeli Prime Minister called for early
elections and was ahead of Netanyahu by 20 points early in the election cycle.
However,
the country was hit by a spate of suicide attacks by Hamas including the
Jerusalem bus 18 massacres and other attacks in Ashkelon and the Dizengoff
Center, which killed 59 people, severely damaged Peres' election chances. Polls
taken in mid-May showed Peres ahead by just 4-6%, whilst two days before the
election his lead was down to 2%. On election day Netanyahu won by 1%.
For people who feel comforted by Trumps drop in the polls,
be aware of past history; let’s hope it is not repeated! Remember a few days
ago there was near panic at the NY airport caused by people making lots of
noise celebrating Usain Bolt’s Olympic achievements. Fear makes people irrational!
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