© REUTERS / RONEN ZVULUN
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to give media interviews on election day and also called on Twitter supporters to vote, despite the fact that such activities are prohibited by the law.
According to Israeli law, election campaigns on radio and television must be completed at 7 p.m. on the day before the election. Nevertheless, on election day, Netanyahu was interviewed by the Kol Chai broadcaster. The incumbent prime minister also was broadcasting live on Facebook and was actively publishing messages on Twitter, encouraging supporters to vote.
"Right-wing voters, have you gone crazy? Come out now to vote for the Likud to stop a left-wing government with the Arab parties," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu used the same technique, which was previously called the "gevalt campaign" (Yiddish word "gevalt" means noise, mess), to mobilize supporters in the April elections and four years ago.The Times of Israel newspaper reported that Facebook temporarily suspended the chatbot of Netanyahu's page for publishing voting data, which is illegal on election day. However, later the chatbot was restored after the Likud party promised not to violate the law.
Comment: RT
reports:
'Israel at historic juncture': Netanyahu refuses to concede as Gantz claims 'mission accomplished'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to fight on even as exit polls showed him tied or lagging behind his main opposition rival, with a slim chance of assembling the coalition needed for a fifth term.
"We won't have and can't have a government dependent on anti-Zionist Arab parties," Netanyahu proclaimed as the crowd of his supporters booed and chanted 'we don't want unity.'
"Israel needs a strong government, a stable government, a Zionist government, a government that is committed to Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people."
The embattled PM stopped short of claiming a victory - or conceding his defeat - saying instead "we are waiting for the real results. One thing is clear: Israel is at a historic juncture."
Netanyahu's chief rival for the premiership, retired General Benjamin 'Benny' Gantz, gave his followers a cheerful "mission accomplished" speech in the early hours of Wednesday, encouraged by the exit polls.
"We will wait for the actual results, but the way things stand, we've fulfilled our mission," he said at Blue and White HQ in Tel Aviv, adding that Netanyahu "did not succeed in his mission."
Negotiations to form a national unity government are under way, Gantz said. Blue and White has previously said they were open to such a government with Likud, but only without Netanyahu anywhere in the picture.
What does it say about a candidate who flouts his country's basic laws? Although this is of course to be expected with Netanyahu:
Comment: RT reports: What does it say about a candidate who flouts his country's basic laws? Although this is of course to be expected with Netanyahu: