By Liora L., a current NFTY-EIE student, OSRUI staff member and former camper, and NFTY-CAR

One of the reasons I wanted to come to Israel this semester was to witness Israel’s elections. They were exciting, and I am thrilled that I had the chance to experience them firsthand. Over the past couple of months I have seen countless advertisements, on YouTube and on billboards across the country. I also witnessed a surprising amount of campaigning, including at the Jerusalem Marathon, where people from many political parties walked around handing out stickers, balloons and flyers to every person they saw. I have particularly valued being able to learn, in the heart of an election campaign, about the structure of Israel’s government and how it is formed and functions.

The outcome of this election was a huge shock for me, as it was for most others who had been watching the polls. In the final days before voting, most people predicted that the Zionist Union would get several more seats than Likud. Instead, the final vote count showed that Likud had won 30 seats and the Zionist Union had won 24, meaning that, for the next four years, or until the next election, Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to continue as Israel’s prime minister. Some have speculated that this surprising result was due to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s announcement just before Election Day that, under his leadership, no Palestinian state would be created. The announcement may have motivated supporters of other right-wing parties to shift their support to Likud.

Click here to read the rest of Liora’s blog.