BERLIN – European media devoted significant coverage and analysis to Israel’s
Knesset elections.
“How close will it be for Netanyahu?” asked the mass
circulation German Bild newspaper in its story on the Israeli
election.
The paper predicted a swing to the Right in Israel’s Knesset
and the reelection of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Der Spiegel
online headlined its article “Economic crisis could cost Netanyahu the
victory.”
The website of the popular German TV news show Tagesschau.de
published a report on the most important politicians in the election campaign
and termed Netanyahu the “clear favorite.”
The Milan-based daily Corriere
della Sera echoed many of the German media’s reports and wrote, “Israel goes to
the polls: The right is favored.” La Republica wrote that “Netanyahu runs with
the certainty that… he will get his fourth term as prime minister… but it will
not be the triumphant victory that ‘King Bibi’ expected.”
Spanish paper
La Vanguardia, based in Catalonia, predicted that Netanyahu would prevail. The
left-liberal daily El País wrote: “The Israeli Left is in the shadows” and
“Netanyahu is in charge,” adding that the prime minister is not addressing the
Palestinian peace process or the establishment of a two-state
solution.
The Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat devoted an article to the
voting in Jerusalem headlined, “Voting on the outskirts of Jerusalem, Netanyahu
calls upon the people.” The paper tracked the career of Netanyahu and diagnosed
that his “right-wing government is expected to continue to lead – despite the
decline in popularity.” Finland’s largest TV station, MTV3 reported, “Right-wing
winds blowing in Israeli elections” and noted like many of the European news
outlets that it is assumed that Netanyahu will continue the leadership of a
right-wing government.
The Austrian paper Wiener Zeitung wrote that
“Israel votes without vision” and predicted a Netanyahu victory. The Polish
Rzeczpospolita wrote that the new coalition would likely be more conservative
than the current administration.