Indecisive voting:With many parties to choose from, voters may not decide until the polling place

Israel's Prime Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu

During the latest election this year, Israelis had the option to vote from 40 political parties of their choosing in the article. Due to so many choices, some Israelis are having a difficult time choosing either they want to stick with the political party of their choosing, but do not like the leaders of that group. Or, another example, maybe some Israelis want to vote for a complete change from the current government, but think that the smaller political parties may not get the votes into the Knesset. In order for a political party to be cleared in the electoral threshold, there needs to be about a 3.25 percent votes to win.  Whether people vote for right-wing, center-right, moderate, center-left, and left political parties in the mentioned article are having a “voting block” as they do not who they would cast their ballots for until Election Day in the polling stations. Many Israelis in the wide range of the voting spectrum of the political parties are appalled by the “fighting dirty” tactics between politicians and also the political parties attacking against one another to try to gain votes to vote for them. Voters complain that it deters the focus of who they are as a political agenda and their promises to the civilians who vote for them but instead turn to radio, television, and social media outlets to aggressively swerve votes from other political parties. On the account of the political parties being so large, voters do like the political agenda but feel that maybe the scandals, that have been featured widely on the news may not be worth their vote. 

The voters mentioned in the article who vote anywhere from right-wing to left-wing have been vocal of their reasons why they are not sure of who they will vote for until Election Day. Some of the voters mentioned are Revital Mansour, a right-wing voter, who wants to vote for Likud but is unsure because she is no longer interested in Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel’s leadership. Another voter, Zahava Bogner, who votes for the center-right, states that if smaller parties do not get the minimum voting percentage into the Knesset then it is considered as a wasted vote. She too is undecided on who will get her vote, as she states that she needs to outweigh all of the political parties she does not want, to the ones she will consider getting her vote. Another voter, Gabriel Avner, who votes for the center-left, explains that his decision is getting harder to vote for a party because candidates are taking a hostile jabs at other candidates that clouds his mind to be able to choose a candidate. An additional voter, Ori Weisberg, who also votes on the left of the political party, wants a party to be in office that will further LGBT+ rights and to give refugees a place to live in Israel, but yet the direction of that same party he feels that the direction lacks in clarity of the agenda. 

The author of the article, Allison Kaplan Sommer is a writer for Haaretz and some of her featured articles are themes she reports on are: United States-Israeli relations, the candidates and political parties of the elections in Israel, Diaspora Jewry, American Israel Public Affairs (AIPAC), and Anti-Vaxxers. Sommer’s point of view in this article takes a neutral, unbiased stance. Sommer merely reports on who the voters are, what political party they tend to vote for, and why the voter feels that even with a plethora of political parties to choose from, a decision is still not easy.