Two Days before Vote, Israel PM Seeks to Lure Centrists

Two days before Israel's election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a last-ditch effort Sunday to garner support by appealing to the center and heading for a mass rally in Tel Aviv.

Israel goes to the polls on Tuesday for the second general election in as many years with pundits unanimous that it is turning out to be a referendum on Netanyahu's six years as premier.

Netanyahu has run a campaign focusing squarely on security issues, arguing he is only one capable of protecting Israel from an Iranian nuclear threat and warning that Israel's security will be at risk if his rivals, the center-left Zionist Union, win.

But on the street, voters have appeared much more concerned by the increasingly unmanageable cost of living and the ongoing housing crisis.

"These elections are not about Iran, Hamas or even the housing crisis. They are a referendum about Benjamin Netanyahu," wrote Ben Caspit in the Maariv daily.

"It seems that the public doesn’t want him anymore. Right wing, left wing — it doesn’t matter. The man has come to the end of the road with us; we’ve come to the end of the road with him."

With the last polls showing a consistent erosion in support for his right-wing Likud party, Netanyahu on Sunday launched a last-ditch charm offensive to lure the support of center-right Kulanu.

And Likud officials confirmed the premier would be addressing an evening rally in Tel Aviv aimed at boosting support for the right.

Ahead of the rally, scheduled to start at 1700 GMT, Netanyahu gave interviews to Israel's two main radio stations in which he said he would be willing to hand the powerful finance portfolio to Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon.

"I cannot form a government without him. However many seats his party wins, he will get the post of finance minister," Netanyahu told army radio.

A popular former Likud minister, Kahlon -- whose party is forecast to win between eight and 10 seats -- is expected to play the role of kingmaker following Tuesday's vote.

During his tenure as communications minister (2009-2012), Kahlon broke up a years-long monopoly within Israel's mobile phone sector, and his election campaign has focused almost exclusively on economic issues, notably the housing crisis, a key issue for voters.

But Kahlon dismissed the offer as "spin", saying Netanyahu had not made good on promises he made in the past.

"Netanyahu already promised me the position of head of the Israel Land Authority and the finance ministry and didn't keep his word," he wrote on Facebook, referring to the body which oversees land development.

In a poll published in the top-selling Yediot Aharonot on Friday, the Zionist Union was in the lead taking 26 of the Knesset's 120 seats, followed by 22 for Likud.

Under Israel's complex electoral system, the task of forming a new government does not automatically fall to the party that wins the largest number of votes.

The winner -- and next prime minister -- will be the one who can succeed in cobbling together a coalition commanding a parliamentary majority.

Friday's last-minute poll predicted the right-wing and religious bloc would take 56 mandates and the same number for the center-left and Arab parties.

And with Kulanu seen taking eight mandates, Kahlon's decision on who to back is likely to be crucial.

Isaac Herzog, who heads the Zionist Union with former peace negotiator and centrist HaTnuah leader Tzipi Livni ridiculed Netanyahu's latest offer.

"When Bibi goes down in the polls, he ups the lies," he wrote on his Facebook page, recalling Netanyahu's failed ILA promise to Kahlon just before the 2013 election.

"Two days before the 2015 elections, he is panicking again and this time has promised Kahlon the finance ministry, but nobody believes him any more," he wrote.

Speaking to public radio, he acknowledged Kahlon would be "an important partner if I form the next government".

On the ground, right-wing lobby groups were urging supporters to attend the Tel Aviv rally in a bid to increase support for right-wing and religious parties.

One of the organizers, "United Headquarters for the Land of Israel," said the rally could "strengthen the parties which support the continuation of settlement in Judaea and Samaria (the West Bank)" and ensure the election of a government that will "stand bravely against pressure from the rest of the world".

Netanyahu is expected to address the rally at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) and Naftali Bennett, head of the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party, is also expected to speak.