BICOM

With the campaign entering its final leg, prominent party leaders yesterday looked to highlight key messages at the expense of their rivals.

Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett yesterday attempted to shift focus to Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu Party. Kahlon is thought to have attracted voters from the centre and right-wing with a message of socio-economic reform. Bennett yesterday accused Kahlon of “moving left” and proclaimed “In order to be social-minded, you don’t have to be left-wing … To lower the cost of cheese, you don’t have to give away territory.” Bennett encouraged those who are disillusioned with Likud not to vote for Kulanu, but his own “social-minded right-wing party.”

Kulanu responded by saying that theirs is the only national and socially-minded party. A spokesman said “Kahlon’s actions speak for themselves, much more than Bennett’s false rhetoric.”

Meanwhile, Kulanu took aim at Yesh Atid, considered a rival for centrist votes. Kahlon visited Kiryat Gat and looked to expose Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid’s inaction to resolve Israel’s lack of affordable housing. Kahlon spoke to the media against the backdrop of empty fields, illustrating the apparent falsehood that, “Former finance minister Lapid told us about 7,000 units that are currently being built and that there are currently cranes and tractors in the field.” However, Yesh Atid soon responded by releasing footage of trucks at work nearby in the early stages of construction.

Yesterday evening, Lapid headlined a party rally in Holon, attended by 2,000 people. He predicted success in next week’s election, saying “the streets are burning” with support for Yesh Atid and that the feeling of support is “even stronger than last time.” Yesh Atid was the surprise package of the 2013 election, winning 19 Knesset seats.

Also yesterday, United Torah Judaism chair Ya’akov Litzman, ruled out the possibility that the ultra-Orthodox party would sit in a future government with Yesh Atid, telling Haaretz “I won’t sit with Lapid. Period.”