Israel Election Updates Lieberman: Arab Knesset Members' Sole Ideology Seeks Israel's Destruction

Latest political summary: The Central Elections Committee has disqualified a Jewish far-right extremist, Baruch Marzel, and an outspoken Arab lawmaker, Haneen Zoabi, from running in the March election. The decisions now go to the High Court of Justice. Read the full story

• Big Parties Turning on Their Allies
• The Most Heinous Crime in Israel

Latest updates:

9:00 P.M. Joint List launches campaign with call for Jewish-Arab unity

“Jews and Arabs must stand together against the ugly wave of hatred and racism,” MK Dov Khenin of the Hadash faction said on the launching of the Joint List campaign in Nazareth Saturday. The Joint List ticket combines Hadash and the Arab parties in the current Knesset: Balad and the United Arab List-Ta’al.

“Anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to feel what happened here last summer should stand by us,” Khenin said. “Every person with a conscience in this country should ask himself at this time: Does he stand with the forces of war and hatred and death, or with the forces of justice and equality and peace and life. There will be no peace here and no life here until we free ourselves of the occupation." Read the full story

“We are also delivering a message of equality today: full equality for Arab citizens, women, mizrahim [Jews with origins in Arab countries] and all the other populations that are discriminated against; a message of social justice for all. (Jack Khoury)

7:46 P.M. Zionist Camp head Isaac Herzog, interviewed on Channel 2, says that if his list gets "even one seat more than the Likud" in the upcoming elections, he will lead the next coalition. The statement was made in response to a challenge by the interviewer over his ability to lead a coalition, considering the number of parties from the right and center-right that have stated they will not join him to create one.

Inviting Netanyahu to debate, Herzog accuses Netanyahu of being "willing to hurt the State of Israel for his personal gain." (Haaretz)

1:20 P.M. Yacimovich urges Israelis not to vote for parties that will surely join Herzog's governing coalition

Labor MK Shelly Yacimovich says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "has no problem harming the state for the sake of election spin."

Speaking at a political forum in Ramat Yishai, Yacimovich said that Labor leader and Zionist Union co-chairman Isaac Herzog's "political abilities and dialogue skills" will lead him to form the next government.

"This is why one should avoid voting for parties that will join Herzog's government in any case," she said, urging Israelis to vote for the Zionist Union. (Jonathan Lis)

1:00 P.M. MK Shaffir: Netanyahu distracting voters with political spin

Labor MK Stav Shaffir accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using political spin to distract voters from what's really going on.

"Bibi is busy with political spin at our expense. First it's ice cream, then it's Obama, and then he finds dangerous enemies on the literature committee of the Israel Prize," she said at a forum in Givat Shmuel. "[He does] everything except [dealing with] what's happening in our country." (Jonathan Lis)

12:56 P.M. Labor MK Eitan Kabel says: "Netanyahu's government is driving Israel to become a bi-national state. The diplomatic stalemate that constitutes Bibi's and Bennett's vision will result in the loss of the Jewish majority in the only Jewish state in the world. We see it as the embodiment of anti-Zionism."

Kabel made the remark at a forum in Nes Tziona. (Jonathan Lis)

2:37 P.M. Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Galant vows to win next Gaza war

Maj. Gen. (res.) Yoav Galant, a Knesset candidate on the Kulanu ticket, vowed that if he has his way Israel will be victorious in the next Gaza war.

"A war must be won," he said at a forum in Rishon Lezion. "I can't live with a tie. With me, the next battle in Gaza will be much shorter and will yield better results. Hamas isn't the Red Army, contrary to what you were told." (Jonathan Lis)

12:36 P.M. Lieberman: Arab Knesset members' sole ideology seeks Israel's destruction

Foreign Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman says that a unity government that includes Likud and the Zionist Union will not result in a resolution vis-à-vis the Palestinians.

"The more Herzog and Netanyahu deny the possibility of a unity government, the more I [believe] a unity government will be formed," he said at a forum in Be'er Sheva. "I can't see such a government acheiving a resolution. The best case scenario is another quiet day. And this quiet is hogwash"

Lieberman accused the Netanyahu government of indecision. "We fought Operation Protective Edge for 50 days but the result is that Hamas continues to fire [rockets] If it were up to me they wouldn't have left the bunkers after 50 days – they would have remained buried underground."

Addressing the graft investigation that has implicated his party, he said: "There is no corruption scandal, there's a sex scandal within Israel Police. They invented something to cover up their failures."

He also accused the Arab Knesset members of "having no ideology other than to destroy Israel." (Shirley Seidler)

12:10 P.M. Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid says Netanyahu should no longer be prime minister.

Speaking at a political forum, Lapid said: "I served a year and eight months in his government. The process I witnessed wasn't good; the more time passed, the less interested he became in managing the state. He was primarily preoccupied with retaining his position, with all the associated comforts." (Jonathan Lis)

12:01 A.M. Likud MK Danny Danon: "In the coming week, we are expected to see a slanderous crusade waged by the left. Bougie [Herzog] must understand that leadership isn't built by personal attacks on the prime minister, and this isn't the way to restore his faltering campaign."

Danon was speaking at a political forum in Givat Shmuel. (Jonathan Lis).