The past week has seen the Israeli public treated to a spectacle of the absurd and the even more absurd. Even though, the main groupings had agreed to when and how the Kenesset would be dissolved, every hour seemed to close with the emergence of another snag.

In the end, we have learnt that:

• Israel’s election will take place on 1st November, over 120 days away.
• The parties could not find a way to approve key legislation, which everyone agrees is necessary.
• The new metro system is Tel Aviv will be further delayed – a big bonus for the pollution seekers and lovers of traffic jams.
• A tagging system for violent husbands has been postponed. Well, few party leaders are women.
• A visa procedure to enter the USA has been put on hold, even though the American ambassador almost begged the politicians to allow it. Politicians probably don’t need visas.

And to round it all off, the outgoing Prime Minister, Naphtali Bennett, will not be standing in November. In fact, due to a complex political arrangement negotiated last summer, Bennett has already been replaced by Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid (There is a Future) Party.

Who will win?

The country is divided in two. Are you prepared to allow Benjamin Netanyahu back in or do you want to support someone (anyone?) who will never form a coalition with him? The ex-PM is still facing 3 sets of charges in a long drawn out court battle.

Are you a betting person? The polls still reveal another hung Parliament, with Netanyahu in the lead by a neck., so to speak

I am conducting an official poll of my own, speaking to as many people as I dare. Everyone says the same thing – that they are disgusted by what is going on. After all in the week, when petrol prices have gone up again and the cost of electricity will around 10%, the funding of parties by the taxpayer will go up by about 12%.

But for all the despair, everyone is also saying that they will not be changing their vote from last time!

This leads me to wonder. Clearly, the messaging of the each of the parties will have to be very precise to get to the person who may change their mind or who may now actually decide to vote rather than to abstain.

I also wonder if there is a ‘post-corona’ effect. Who returned to Israel during the pandemic, but did not vote last time? Conversely, is there an opposite trend, as international travel is back on the agenda?

I suspect that this year more than ever, the successful party will be the one that finds a slogan that overcomes apathy, and that disgust.