Friday 11 International Friday, December 27, 2019 ’s indicted Netanyahu faces party leadership challenge

JERUSALEM: Israel’s embattled premier Ben- in southern Israel near Gaza, after what the army jamin Netanyahu faced off against longtime rival called a “projectile” was fired from the Palestin- Gideon Saar for the Likud party leadership yes- ian enclave. terday, in a contest that could threaten his grip on power. A defeat for Netanyahu, 70, would be Corruption, election a shock, but even a relatively close result could Stephan Miller, a pollster who has worked on weaken his influence over the conservative party multiple Israeli campaigns, said whatever the re- he has dominated for 20 years. sult “Netanyahu can only lose.” No matter how In power as premier for a decade, Netanyahu much support Saar receives, “it will be the first early next year faces a third general election time in 10 years that a group of voters on the within 12 months and has been indicted in a right explicitly express their desire to get rid of multi-pronged corruption probe. Netanyahu,” he said. “If that is more than a third But to lead Likud into the next national poll, of the party, Netanyahu will be significantly dam- he must overcome the internal party challenge. aged.” The winner of Thursday’s vote will lead Polls in that party race opened across the Likud into Israel’s third national poll within 12 country at 09:00am (0700 GMT), with Likud’s months. The general elections in April and Sep- roughly 116,000 eligible voters having until tember saw Netanyahu deadlocked with centrist 11:00pm to choose between Netanyahu and challenger Benny Gantz, neither of them able to Saar. Results are expected early Friday morning. command a majority in Israel’s proportional par- At a polling station in the Kiryat Moshe liament. Last month, Netanyahu was indicted for neighbourhood of , Rami David said he fraud, bribery and breach of trust in three cor- JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lights a Hanukkah candle alongside the voted for Saar because “he would give Likud a ruption cases, allegations he strongly denies. of the Shmuel Rabinovitch (L) and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman at the Western new image.” Saar, 53, has been a senior figure in The primaries were called shortly after, the Wall, ’s holiest prayer site, in the of Jerusalem. — AFP the Likud for a decade and held multiple min- first internal challenge to Netanyahu since 2014. istries. He is seen as slightly to the right of Ne- A series of polls in recent weeks have indi- tanyahu and has called for an even more hawkish cated a Saar-led Likud might win fewer seats in Determined to fight on publicly. Major Likud players “already sense policy towards the Palestinians. Nathan Moati, a third election than under Netanyahu, but the Netanyahu has sought to paint himself as an there is a changing of the guard. They are hoping 26, backed Netanyahu and didn’t think support- overall rightwing bloc might be larger — poten- irreplaceable leader fighting a “witch hunt” by that the contest between Saar and Netanyahu ers were concerned by the indictment. “The tially yielding a viable governing coalition. the police, the legal establishment and the media. will create the conditions for a third party to most important thing is to vote overwhelmingly Saar has not attacked Netanyahu personally, Other party figures seen as potential future take home the spoils,” he said. — we need to have 80/20 (for Netanyahu).” even hinting he would support him becoming Is- leadership candidates — including parliamen- Netanyahu’s downfall has been predicted Saar and Netanyahu have spent recent days rael’s president. A source close to Saar insisted tary speaker Yuli Edelstein — have so far chosen multiple times since he became premier for a criss-crossing the country, with Saar seeking to his camp was hopeful of an upset. not to support either candidate, despite pres- second time in 2009, but he has defied expec- portray himself as a more electable leader. “More and more, the Likud rank and file are sure. Ofer Zalzberg, an Israeli political analyst at tations and appears determined to fight on. The campaign’s most dramatic moment came understanding the choice is between Netanyahu the International Crisis Group think tank, said it Under Israeli law, a prime minister is only Wednesday evening when Netanyahu was and being in opposition versus Saar and being would have been unthinkable a few years ago for forced to step down once convicted with all ap- rushed off stage while campaigning in Ashkelon in government,” the source said. senior party officials not to back Netanyahu peals exhausted. — AFP

overnight for a second time since the Iraq protesters protests began, and protesters also torched the new headquarters of a pro-Iran militia Beirut floodwaters sweep away Jewish graves in Diwaniyah. torch buildings, Iraq has been rocked by protests since BEIRUT: Flooding at Beirut’s only Jewish cemetery October 1, prompting Prime Minister Adel has swept away entire graves after heavy rainfall block roads Abdel Mahdi to resign last month. hit the Lebanese capital. The floodwater destroyed After dwindling, the street campaign has a retaining wall at the graveyard in the Ras al- gained new vigour in recent days to rally Nabaa district overnight into yesterday, dragging over PM pick against widespread corruption and a polit- sarcophagi and large chunks of rubble onto the ical system seen as beholden to neighbour- pavement below. ing Iran. Government offices and schools NASIRIYAH: Iraqi anti-government pro- Nagi Georges Zeidan, an expert on Lebanon’s remain closed across almost all of Iraq’s tiny Jewish community and a volunteer at the testers blocked roads and bridges in Bagh- south. dad and the country’s south yesterday after graveyard, said at least four graves were damaged, Pro-Iranian factions have for several all in part of the cemetery for people buried in the torching several buildings overnight. weeks touted outgoing higher education The demonstrators oppose the entire 1940s. minister Qusay al-Suhail for the post of Zeidan said the skeletons of the deceased re- political class and have vented their anger prime minister, but his nomination was op- against leaders who are negotiating to mained concealed but have yet to be removed from posed by President Barham Saleh. beneath the rubble. He urged authorities to inter- nominate an establishment insider as the Those factions are now lobbying for As- next prime minister. vene to make sure they are preserved. saad al-Aidani, the governor of Basra — The cemetery has 3,407 graves, according to “The government is hostage to corrupt another unpopular choice with demonstra- BEIRUT: A man inspects graves damaged during bad parties and sectarian divisions”, said one Zeidan, who keeps a record of all the names of the tors. “We don’t want Assaad the Iranian!” deceased. It is owned by the Lebanese Jewish weather in a winter storm at the Jewish cemetery in activist, Sattar Jabbar, 25, in the southern shouted protesters in Kut, a southern city. the Lebanese capital Beirut yesterday. — AFP city of Nasiriyah. Smoke and flames from Community Council and dates back to the 1820s, The protesters want a technocratic pre- he added. burning tyres in Nasiriyah, Basra and Di- mier who has had no involvement in the po- waniyah blocked major roads and bridges Lebanon was once home to thousands of Jews gogues still stand, including one in the northern litical system set up after the US-led but they left steadily for Israel, Brazil, Europe and city of Tripoli that has been turned into a fabric across the Euphrates all night, AFP corre- invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hus- spondents said, before some of these road- the United States after the State of Israel was es- dye shop, and one in the southern city of Sidon. sein in 2003. Around 460 people have been tablished. According to Zeidan, only 29 Jews remain A severe downpour overnight led to floods blocks were lifted in the morning. killed and 25,000 wounded in nearly three In Nasiriyah, demonstrators set the in Lebanon. across Lebanon, blocking roads and damaging months of clashes between protesters and A handful of buildings that were once syna- homes. —AFP provincial government building ablaze security forces. — AFP