Intel: How the Palestinians are trying to take Netanyahu down via Israeli elections
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ weekend meeting with Nazareth Mayor Ali Salem is widely seen as a desperate gambit, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to coast to re-election on a security platform while Israeli peacemakers fade from the scene.
![ISRAEL-POLITICS/ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem February 17, 2019. Sebastian Scheiner/Pool via REUTERS *** Local Caption *** - RC1F7CF03220](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2019/02/RTX6N4IX.jpg/RTX6N4IX.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=eeO8UdEN)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ weekend meeting with Nazareth Mayor Ali Salem is widely seen as a desperate gambit, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to coast to re-election on a security platform while Israeli peacemakers fade from the scene.
Why it matters: Abbas urged Salem, one of the influential Israeli Arab figures, to back a last-minute effort to reunite the four Arab-Israeli parties for the April elections. The Palestinian leader hopes to challenge Netanyahu through an Israeli Arab coalition with the center-left to usher in a new prime minister, as they did with Yitzhak Rabin in 1992.