Bill Schneider: Israelis don't like either candidate

Bill Schneider

CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider is in Israel, gauging political drama in the race for prime minister.

Q: What's it like in Israel as the election nears?

SCHNEIDER: What you have here in Israel is a very frustrated and somewhat angry electorate who are facing a choice between two candidates they really don't like. Ehud Barak is a discredited prime minister whom they would like to repudiate. They feel he's wishy-washy and ineffectual.

Ariel Sharon is an alternative who frightens a lot of Israelis. They think he's too extreme, too old, and they're very reluctant to give him a strong endorsement. There are politicians out there whom they might prefer -- Shimon Peres for Labour, Benjamin Netanyahu for Likud -- but they're not running.

Now it is only three days before the election and the candidates are set -- it's Sharon and Barak.

Q: Is it normal for the incumbent to pick up support as the election nears?

SCHNEIDER: Barak is expecting that he will pick up support. He hopes voters will conclude that there's only one way to stop Sharon from becoming prime minister, and that's to vote for Barak.

Typically, what happens is the incumbent does not pick up support because people decide very quickly whether they want to continue with the same prime minister. They may say they are undecided, but in the end, those undecided voters usually vote for the alternative, the challenger.

Q: But as you remarked earlier, Sharon is controversial.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, he has a very controversial record. He's got a lead in the polls that's unprecedented in Israeli history, in large part because Barak is so discredited. This is really a referendum on Barak's leadership; a negative referendum.

Q: How important are the TV ads to this race?

SCHNEIDER: They're not quite as important as they are in the United States for a couple of reasons. They're only shown once every evening. You can't buy television time. There's a certain amount of time, I think half an hour every night, set aside when all the ads are shown, one after another; it's sort of the political period on television.

The other reason they're less important is, these are two very well-known candidates. Voters in Israel do not have to be introduced to Ehud Barak, who's the most decorated soldier in Israeli history -- who's been prime minister for the last year and a half -- or Ariel Sharon, who was one of the founding giants of Israel, a great military hero, a very controversial figure who has been involved in Israeli politics for decades.

So I don't think the ads are making any crucial difference. It's very hard to change either of these men's image.

Barak: 'Fate of Israel' at stake in election
February 1, 2001
Barak refuses to stand aside
January 31, 2001
Hope for new Mideast summit
January 30, 2001
Arafat may allow Jewish settlements
January 29, 2001
Sharon calls peace talks a campaign ploy by Barak
January 28, 2001
Mideast negotiators want to continue talks after Israeli elections
January 27, 2001
Mideast talks sidestep impasse; more planned
January 26, 2001
Killings overshadow Mideast talks
January 25, 2001
Israeli minister returns to talks venue
January 24, 2001
Decision on Mideast peace talks due Wednesday
January 23, 2001

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
World Economic Forum
Palestinian National Authority
PLO Negotiations Affairs Department
Israeli Prime Minister's Office
Israel Defense Force
Palestinian Red Crescent

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.