THE ISRAELI election campaign is now under way in earnest, with the start of radio and television commercials designed to win over, the crucial floating voters ahead of the May 29th vote.
Pollsters give the Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, a 4-5 per cent lead over his only challenger, the Likud's Mr Benjamin Netanyahu. But opinion surveys, in Israel have a history of inaccuracy, and officials on both sides acknowledge privately that the election could go either way.
From its opening television and radio commercials, however, Mr Peres's Labour Party has made it clear that it intends to make maximum use of one definite election, asset: the ghost of the much mythologised murdered prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin.
Six months after a right wings extremist shot him dead at the end of a Tel Aviv peace rally, Labour's first radio commercial featured an excerpt from Mr Rabin's final speech, an emotional plea for the support of his countryfolk along the difficult path to peace. And the first TV spot showed Mr Peres and Mr Rabin happily on stage together at that last rally, minutes before the assassination.
Mr Rabin had been removed by opposition extremists, went the underlying message, but Mr "Peres, his partner, was still here to see the job through.
While Labour hopes the image of Mr Rabin will help Mr Peres to, victory, the Likud's sour response is that Mr Peres clearly knows he cannot win on his own merit.
Mr Netanyahu's Likud is focusing much of its advertising effort on devaluing Mr Peres portraying him as a naive dreamer, too ready to take the credit for the achievements of others, too willing to make excessive concessions for peace and, above all, far too enamoured of the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat.
Footage of Mr Peres and Mr Arafat walking hand in hand is featuring heavily in the Likud's TV ads, the assumption being that many Israelis will be offended by this display of friendship.
Mr Netanyahu has also been talking straight into the camera, from a studio designed to look as much like a prime minister's office as possible, delivering a message that plays on Israelis security concerns, by describing the country as being in a state of collective fear, grimly anticipating the next suicide bombing.
It is a stark choice Israelis face at the voting booths on May 29th, between Mr Peres's promise of comprehensive peace and regional integration and Mr Netanyahu's warnings of the need to stay on guard, retain territory, and maximise military control over the Palestinians.
The multi million dollar investments on television commercials will probably sway no more than a tiny percentage of the electorate. But a tiny percentage of the electorate may decide which world view, and which candidate, prevails in this bitterly divided country.
