The campaign season for Israel's national elections was a sleepy affair, devoid of a galvanizing central issue and enlivened only by the determination with which right-wing activists controlled the debate. Ardent supporters of West Bank settlements essentially took over the Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while another pro-settler party surged in polls behind charismatic former commando Naftali Bennett. Netanyahu responded by moving further to the right, announcing plans for thousands more Jewish homes to be built on land that stalled peace plans say should.
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