Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday demanding an independent commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack, three days before a national election.
The rally at Hostages Square was organised by the October Council, a group representing the families and friends of victims and survivors of the 7 October 2023 attack.
Opposition leaders attended as demonstrators criticised the government that was in power during the attack, chanted “shame” and called for political change and accountability.
Opinion polls have suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition could lose its parliamentary majority, although the fragmented political landscape leaves the outcome uncertain. His main rival, centrist Gadi Eisenkot, also faces challenges in assembling a governing coalition.
In the Negev Desert town of Dimona, traditionally a stronghold of Netanyahu’s Likud party, some disillusioned voters are campaigning for Eisenkot’s Yashar! party ahead of Tuesday’s election.
Likud received about half the votes in Dimona in the 2022 election, and Netanyahu retains a strong base of support. However, some residents are seeking a change in government, making the town a potential battleground for undecided voters.
Michal Elmalem Abu, a former Likud city councillor who now leads Eisenkot’s campaign in Dimona, said the campaign was focused on voters who recognised that the country was in crisis and remained open to persuasion.
Data from the Israel Democracy Institute’s Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research showed that around 13 per cent of Israeli voters had yet to decide how they would vote. Among those who supported Likud in 2022, 55 per cent said they intended to vote for the party again, while 15 per cent planned to back parties opposed to Netanyahu, including 8 per cent who favoured Yashar!.
Political scientist Amotz Asa-El of the Hartman Institute said towns such as Dimona offered Eisenkot an opportunity to win support from Likud’s traditional voter base.
Despite the challenge, Netanyahu continues to enjoy strong support among many residents. Eisenkot supporter Oria Asaf expressed hope that voters would prioritise the future over past political loyalties.
“The moment people will start thinking about their children's future rather than their parents' past, the government will change,” he said.
U.S. air travel is not expected to return to normal schedules until late on Sunday (15 November), the head of the ...
Irish army bomb disposal experts safely neutralised an explosive device discovered in central Dublin on Friday (13 November), close to where E...
Pope Leo visited a remote town in Peru's western Andes on Saturday (14 November), returning to a community he once served as bishop during a de...
Iran’s Assembly of Experts has backed withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and overhauling the country’s defence doctrine, calling both steps essential to national security and deterrence.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration lifted a nationwide ground stop on Friday (13 November) after a communications failure at air traffic control centres caused chaos at airports and triggered the longest nationwide shutdown since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
More than 30 people have been taken to hospital after a cargo ship collided with a passenger cruise docked on the Mississippi River in New Orleans on Friday (13 November).
Europe will send a team of diplomats to Ukraine peace talks rather than a single envoy, EU leaders agreed on Friday at the end of a summit in Dublin.
Spain’s parliament has approved a government package aimed at easing the country’s housing crisis, a day after workers staged the first general strike in 14 years over soaring housing costs.
More than 537,000 trees were planted across Turkmenistan during a nationwide greening campaign as part of the autumn planting season. The initiative, attended by President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, also included maintenance work for nearly two million trees planted in previous years.
Peace is Armenia’s only reliable guarantee of security, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said in comments in Dublin, where he also commented that the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) alliance had failed to fulfil its obligations towards Yerevan.
Türkiye and Qatar signed a mutual defence agreement on Friday, November 13, aimed at strengthening collective security and regional stability. The two countries pledged to take a united stance against any external armed attack on either nation.
As Central Asia expands its hydropower infrastructure and high-rise construction, seismologists are examining whether large mountain reservoirs could influence earthquake activity. The question is particularly pressing in a region where major cities lie close to active tectonic faults.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes part of everyday life, languages with smaller speaker communities risk being left behind. Georgian, spoken by around four million people worldwide, is facing a digital challenge: making sure it is understood by the machines shaping how the world communicates.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment