breed. -- brief. --breathe. >> this is al jazeera. these are the headlines. the u.s., eu, and several other countries approved court needed sanctions on chinese officials. china immediately hit back with sanctions on 10 european politicians. >> rather than changesconcerns,d a blind eye and these measures are credible and unexceptional. -- unacceptable.

there'll will be no change in european union determination to defend human rights and to respond to serious violations. >> the eu has also announced sections on 11 military officials in myanmar. including the leader of the military junta. this is in response to the crew seven weeks ago. saudi arabia has offered a plan for peace in yemen, which has been decimated by six years of war. initiative includes a nationwide cease-fire. rebels say the plan does not go far enough. a large critical trial -- clinical trial in the u.s. to show him the astrazeneca vaccine to be safe and effective. the study involving more than 30,000 people showed the job was more than 79% effective in preventing covid-19 and 100 percent effective against severe illness. several european countries halted astrazeneca shots early

this month after reports that it was linked to blood clots. some have since resumed inoculations. at least five people are feared to have died in a major fire in a refugee camp in bangladesh. the blaze at the camp has destroyed hundreds of tents and left thousands without shelter. hundreds of people have been rescued and thousands more evacuated as severe flooding hits eastern parts of australia. the state of new south wales is battling the worst floods in decades, with some places declared a natural disaster area. those of the headlines. stay with us on al jazeera. inside story is next. ♪

>> three elections produce no clear winner. now the israelis go to the polls yet again. the hope is to end the deadlock that has gripped the country. this boat make a difference? wallow mean for benjamin netanyahu? this is inside story. ♪ >> welcome to the program. israel's fourth round of elections in less than two years is aimed at ending its prolonged political crisis. opinion poll suggest the vote could yield inconclusive results yet again. the callista government could soon collapse. the prime minister been yahoo!'s again at the forefront of elections. he has been in power for 12 consecutive years. he believes he and his

right-wing allies can get an edges time and lead the government for a sixth term. he has been challenged by a fractured group of political contenders. >> in three consecutive elections, benny gantz prisons the strongest challenge met jim and netanyahu had faced in years. the former army chief you had -- head helps deny him a viable coalition, but failed to form one of his own. his decision to split his alliance and break is central campaign promise by joining netanyahu in government saw his standing crumble. >> we entered the government because there was a health, economic, and social crisis. one of the biggest israel has ever seen. we are not outsiders. all of uour soldiers for this country. >> he is campaigning for a half-dozen seats on the basis they can block legislation allowing netanyahu to escape his corruption trial.

his collapses left a fragmented field of possible alternatives to netanyahu, leading the pack is dances former partner in blue-and-white. a former prime -- a former finance minister in an earlier netanyahu government, and the number one target of netanyahu's campaign. >> he is a complete select. -- cynic. he sees this as a tool to divert us from the things he does not want us to talk about. >> is trying to downplay his own -- his o ministerial ambitions. he is the scary left-winger. israel democracy institute says a split field makes it more difficult for the prime minister. >> then yahoo! would like us to choose between good -- two good chocolates, but he has to face many good chocolates. if you think about the voter as a consumer, this is much more problematic for him.

>> in the unlikely chocolate box of israeli politics, this ollie bennett would be found well to the right of the prime minister. he rose out working with him, but leaves the door open to joining that at least partially open. >> the people -- the painful truth is then yahoo! prefers his own interest over the interest of the country. >> his decision to lead likud and challenge them from the right was the big news as the campaign began. it is promised -- his promise late surge in the polls has failed. for all that has changed in terms of the line of of challenges, one thing has remained constant throughout this to your political crisis. it really is all about venture netanyahu. al jazeera, western ursuline. -- west jerusalem. >> the spring and our guest. we have gail hoffman.

she is the political correspondent at the jerusalem post. in london we have a senior research consultant at chatham house. welcome to you both. i would like to begin with you gail. take that statement posed by our correspondent. are these elections really now just about benjamin netanyahu yucca --? >> unfortunately, yeah. i would've loved if this would be about serious issues like the economy in matters of religion and state and where the final borders shoulde in negotiations with the palestinians that are inevitable to take place under joe biden. but no, they are about the person who is our prime minister, the longest in any -- in israel's history. he is a divisive figure. people either love him or hate him. as long as you have a majority of people in israel who agree with his policies, a majority of people who not want men yahoo!

to remain in office, -- netanyahu to remain in office, especially under indictment. >> is that the only factor in play here yucca --? explain how they got to this point. >> we were supposed to have a government that would last for years. instead, he negotiated early elections at the end of 2018 that took place in april of 2019. then no government could be formed a couple times. then i government formed and uld only last a year. that led to us proving i signs theory of insanity. doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting different results. >> will there be a different result yucca --? >> i do not think we can expect diametrically opposite results. i think to a large extent you look at the margins. we are talking about the two

box. -- blocks. it is not even the right and left anymore. it is between anyone but bibi or only bibi. this is what left -- this is what is left. idly -- i agree with his analysis. it is netanyahu the person, the way he handles himself as the prime minister, but at the same time his record. the relation with the palestinians. economic issues. the way the state has gone about coronavirus in israel. at the end of the day, it is the electorate. in four elections, they voted

very similarly. the pattern is so similar. how did they expect to get different results? we will see. we will look by the end of tomorrow weather is -- whether there is any shift in the blocks. not necessarily ideological blocks, but more those who want to see the end of the netanyahu era and those who are trying to keep them in power. >> gail hoffman, what you think is netanyahu's calculation here? obviously he is hoping a greater majority will give him more power. what does that mean for him fighting corruption charges? >>'s trial has finally started after being pushed off and pushed off. there is no doubt it is easier in any country when you are in power and not be in our -- an average citizen. by israeli law, the caretaker government is still led by the prime minister.

it is technically possible that the alternate prime minister could result in him taking power. but right now netanyahu has two powers are as he can. -- has to stay in power as long as he can. we have had 4 million -- 4,500,000 israelis vaccinated. in a company -- in a country of 9 million people, in which a third of people are too young to be vaccinated. were leaving the world in vaccinations and netanyahu is promising the people of israel to thank him for that. >> we can now bring in the political in tel aviv. the same question to you. do you think this deadlock has shaped the way that voters in

israel will vote down? is it in any way about policies for the voter yucca >> i think it is more about a love affair with netanyahu or a hate affair with netanyahu. if you remove him, the person netanyahu, from the equation, we would not have the false -- the four elections. i'm not sure this is the last one this year. people cannot be in different to netanyahu. they do not talk about occupation, they do not talk about the economy, yes, some people are grateful that he brought the vaccines, but many people lost their jobs or relatives due to his problematic, i would say, regard with covid 19. some people are fed up.

they will stay at home or go to the beach. it is getting very warm here, and nice outside. many young people believe that it will be business as usual. why will aforetime be different from the third, second, or first? my granddaughter is -- she just turned 19. this is the third time she is going to visit the ballot station. i have to work very hard to convince her to take the effort. >> i would like to come back to you. what is the impact of having all of these elections? >> constant instability in israel. the inability for the country to move away from the netanyahu era, to actually think strategically onto so many issues. israel is so preoccupied with

netanyahu for the last four years. he has been under investigation. the only thing we discussed is whether he stays or goes. and whether the people are in love with him or not. half wants to see them go. at the same time, there are dire consequences, economic consequent as of covid that need to be addressed. the highest employment level ever. there is obviously the issue of the occupation. the relation with the pal scenes, iran, so many other issues. but the netanyahu issue compromises the ability to address any serious issue that is of concern for the citizens. this cannot be healthy for anything. >> gail hoffman, talk me through who his main challenges are.

what they bring to the table, and how much of a threat they pose. >> it would've been a lot harder if his maker of better -- main competitor would be a challenge on the right. for a while it looked like there would be a main challenger on the right. his former protege naftali bennett bills of credit with the people of israel when he focused on the coronavirus in a professional way, first as defense minister, then as an opposition member. but then he lost his support. then came along a likud number, a former education interior minister. he was the main challenger for a while. now he is lost more than half a his support. -- half of his support. and now there is a centrist, a former journalist, anchorman, who is a former finance

minister, but coming from the center and, netanyahu's perspective, centerleft, makes it very easy of a competitor against netanyahu. netanyahu for so many decades in politics has tried to make left wing a bad word to the citizens of israel. it is pretty easy to do that. for netanyahu to beat them, you have to see a strong partnership and it remains to be seen if that is possible. >> what does all this political deadlock, i guess is the word, mean for the smaller parties, including the arab parties? might they end up being the make or break for future coalitions? >> i think what happens is, even before we open the ballot stations, we can say all the parties are losing. people do not believe in the system. arabs and jews really losing

their trust in democracy. they see it is business as usual. they get used to the idea that a person who is indicted, in severe charters, test charges -- severe charges can get the mandate. these previous times, can he get it? people say that he may make a deal with some and get their support in voting for him to be the next president, since the president will finish his term in july. i think the fact that netanyahu can convince israeli arabs, whom he has delegitimized for so many years, to support him, i think

this is another slap in the face to the average israeli arab -- that tells him, we believe we can tell you again and again that someone who does not believe in coexistence with israeli arabs can beer leader. -- can be your leader. i think all the parties, including the orthodox, who have lost trust because of their conduct during covid-19 crisis, i think likud is losing because many left the party. we are not voting for political parties. it is either you vote for the person, for mr. netanyahu, it is not about the issues. >> want to bring you in on this point. why is the left been unable to provide a credible alternative

to benjamin netanyahu? >> i think we need to look at it historically. the labour party was in those inclined from 1977, i think they lost their vote for many years. they became a very tel avivan party, if you like. it a field to -- they appealed to the middle class and upper middle classes in tel aviv and the intelligentsia. as a result, between the labour party and competing for peasants is instead of actually having the ability to reach out to the wider population you would expect they would represent. the tragedy of the left in israel is the socio-, --

economic work. netanyahu has done nothing for the working class. they see him as their representative. the lack of courage to set a real alternative when it comes to the relationship with the palestinians. even the labour party is not ready to talk about occupation. just a word occupation during the selection. they lost their way. they are not ready to lead. to present an alternative. and also they must be patient, to fight not only this election, but the next, until they get the wider population. >> gail hoffman, we have not even mentioned benny gantz. he was meant to be coming in as prime minister in the rotating prime minister ship. is a selection going to be the last we hear of him? >> i interview him on thursday.

i found him to be confident and ready but frustrated with what he had been through over the previous year. he found the army to be a much more pleasant situation. he said at the army, when you kill the forces, they do not come back. but an industry politics, they do. -- but in israeli politics, they do. i want to be a little more optimistic than the other speakers here. first of all, i want to differ on the labour party. the new labor chairwoman is reviving the party. she is doing what jesus did in reviving the dead. it has been very impressive. i want to differ also when it comes to israeli arabs. there is been many changes among israeli arabs. leader of the united arabist party wants to cooperate with the israeli government no matter where it is on the political spectrum.

in order to help the israeli arab citizens. for decades, israeli arab parties waited for the conflict to be solved. the uae and bahrain are not waiting for the conflict be solved, but citizens of israel do not have to wait easier -- either. this result could improve the education and infrastructure systems. >> do palestinia care about the israeli elections? >> i think that the average israeli would rather spend his time tomorrow on the beach then standing in line in the ballot stations. people do not care so much anymore. i will offer you a dialog i heard the other day. between two israelis in the

supermarket. one said, you know, who else you have? do you have any other candidate? you have an alternative? jailer guy said, -- the other guy said, what happens if netanyahu is -- he is 71, going on 72. what happens if he is gone? we had great primus or like ben-gurion who passed away. -- great prime ministers like penn gurian who passed away. the guy said, i cannot believe it. his son will succeed in. as i mentioned before, he was serious about it. it went on this discussion. >> i want to ask you again, what about palestinians? two palestinians care about the is -- do palestinians care about

the israeli elections? >> they lost completely hope and change. i will add to the cash and the american elections. they were hoping to hear something from president -- the new american president biden. this is the first time in the last four elections that netanyahu does not have his american friend on a side to support him with moving an embassy or approving an annexation. he is on his own. if you read the american response to the icc, the international criminal court about indicting or investigating war criminals, you will see that biden offered netanyahu. p.

-- full support. i think they lost not only hope in israel, they lost hope in the arab world. you see what is happening in the gulf countries. they welcome israelis. dubai is the most popular tourist attraction for the israelis. they go there -- >> we are coming to the end of time. i want to bring in him. everyone seems to be on agreement that the palestinian issue does not seem to be affected in these elections. why is that? is it because voters have already got their entrenched positions, where they stand about illegal occupation about palestinian territories? or is it that it is simply not being talked about? >> i think there are multiple reasons.

one so-called success of netanyahu and his allies is the ability to marginalize the issue. israel society lives in complete denial about the fact that they deprive a nation of their rights of self-determination. the consequences of an entrenched occupation that deprives people of their basic rights. this is one thing. at the same time, the international community shows very little interest in what is happening in palestine and in the current situation. settlements are expanding. the jewish population in the west bank is growing. we saw how the military treats civilian populations. the international community does basically nothing, with the exception of the icc. if you add to this that there is a sense of also then giving up on the palestinians and the divisions in the palestinians themselves.

the inability to provide -- to find common ground ground between thoughts on and hamas. whatever happens, the israelis are going to be affected by the palestinians and vice a versa. the situation is not going away. it needs a peaceful solution. >> will have to leave it there for time. thank you very much to all our guests for joining us here. thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website , al jazeera.com. for discussion, go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. bye-bye for now. ♪

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