Cyclists ride past a Likud party election campaign billboard depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and billboards depicting Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, together with his top party candidates Moshe Yaalon, Yair Lapid and Gaby Ashkenazi, in Petah Tikva, Israel April 7, 2019.
But ex-military chief Benny Gantz has mounted a strong challenge to the veteran prime minister by brandishing his security credentials . True to form, Netanyahu made a deeply controversial pledge only three day s before the election, saying he planned to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank in the event of victory.
"Who else can do this? Who can do this? Come on. Honestly," Netanyahu said in an interview on Sunday with local news site Arutz Sheva. Under those polls, both would fall far short of an outright majority -- with around 30 seats each -- and would need to pull together a coalition.