“It’s a referendum because he’s the reason we’re having this election in the first place,” says Scheindlin, referring to the prime minister’s decision to engineer the collapse of the power-sharing deal he agreed last year with centrist rival Gantz. While campaign issues and alliances have shifted during the country’s recent two-year political morass, Tuesday’s contest is again being framed as a referendum on Netanyahu – a narrative that has dominated recent elections and underscores the extent to which Israel’s longest-serving prime minister has personalised the country’s politics. Over the years, none of his rivals have succeeded in matching his relentless campaigning or his ability to absorb the media’s attention. Much has been said about the enduring appeal of “Bibi”, his natural charisma and his baritone voice. “That's a classic hallmark of populists – and he’s very good at it.” “He’s very skilled at dominating the media, he knows how to generate headline news,” she tells FRANCE 24. “Netanyahu proved to be a good student, learning all the best tactics from the many consultants he worked with,” says Dahlia Scheindlin, a pollster and political adviser who has worked on multiple Israeli campaigns Those ties go back to Netanyahu’s very first election win – the 1996 upset masterminded by Arthur Finkelstein, an influential conservative consultant who worked for former US presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. McLaughlin’s collaboration with Netanyahu, which began ahead of the 2015 vote, fits into a long history of partnerships between Republican strategists and the US-educated Israeli PM. Once again, the defeat that was forecast for Netanyahu failed to materialise. An April 2019 vote in which he faced off against challenger Benny Gantz and his Blue and White party instead ushered in a cycle of inconclusive elections and beleaguered attempts at a unity government, sending Israeli voters back to the polls Tuesday for the fourth time in two years.
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