As the results of Tuesday’s general election in Israel began to solidify on Wednesday, senior officials in Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s political bloc harshly criticized his failed campaign.
“[Lapid] behaved like a cannibalistic pig who tried to eliminate [the other parties in his bloc] in order to be the biggest one, and this is the result,” said one official, according to Channel 12.
With some 85% of the vote counted on Wednesday morning, both the left-wing Meretz and Labor parties were hovering close to the electoral threshold.
The official accused Lapid of recklessness in failing to shore up the prospects of the other parties in the bloc.
“Lapid acted recklessly, did not manage the bloc, did not take care of the Arabs and did not take care of the surplus agreements,” said the official. A surplus agreement is an agreement whereby parties that cross the electoral threshold can share “surplus” votes—meaning votes insufficient to add another seat to the faction—with its larger allies, potentially converting those votes to more seats for the bloc.
Meanwhile, Ynet quoted an anonymous Labor member denouncing party leader Merav Michaeli, saying, “We expect her to draw the obvious conclusions, otherwise we will send her home. It is unbelievable that the Labor Party is struggling to cross the electoral threshold. Merav is a colossal failure, and disconnected from reality.”
According to the exit polls of all three major Israeli channels, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu will be able to form a right-wing/religious governing coalition in the next Knesset.