Netanyahu Tries To Hold Back Far-Right Surge Before Israel Votes

[Purveyor]

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrambled on Sunday to hold back an opinion-poll surge by a far-right party, appealing in rare radio interviews for his supporters to stand by him in the January 22 election.

There is little doubt in Israel that Netanyahu's conservative Likud, running jointly with former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman's nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, will win the highest number of parliamentary seats in the coming ballot.

But surveys show the Bayit Yehudi party headed by Naftali Bennett, a high-tech millionaire and former Jewish settler leader who wants to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, steadily chipping away at Netanyahu's margin.

One poll last week showed Bennett coming in second in the vote after drawing support from Netanyahu's traditional power base.

MORE...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50377881#.UOnVN-RGAV0