As the deadline for the last public opinion polls approaches this Friday, politicians are making a final push to get voters' attention. Elections are scheduled for Jan. 22, and Friday is the last day poll results may be published according to Israeli law. On Sunday the Labor party launched a campaign print ad. featuring a long list of famous people endorsing the party, hoping to inspire ordinary citizens to follow suit. The celebrities include former ministers and MKs, as well as defense officials, intellectuals, artists, businesspeople, social activists and academics, all of whom signed their names to a letter titled, "Things can be better here." Among the signatories were Israel Prize winner and author Haim Gouri as well as novelists Eshkol Nevo, Yoram Kaniuk, and Eli Amir. Actors Moshe Ivgy and Lior Ashkenazi, as well as singers Dana International, Efrat Gosh and Arik Sinai all signed the letter. Former ministers and MKs also signed, including Yael Dayan, Ophir Pines-Paz, Moshe Shahal, Uzi Baram and many others. "This is an opportunity to embrace the many young people who joined Labor," the letter states. The signatories are lending their support "so as not to wake up the morning after knowing that we wasted our votes on a passing fad or false front." Another strategy employed by the Labor Party Sunday was a statement that 10 percent of Likud voters in previous elections are now wavering between Likud-Beytenu and Labor, as a result of Yachimovich's social justice platform. On Sunday night's election propaganda broadcast, one of the campaign ads rolled out by Labor states that "More than 80,000 Likud voters have come to the realization that Netanyahu must be replaced. They've switched to Labor." Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night took part in a conference of Likud-Beytenu activists in Netanya alongside Mayor Miriam Feirberg. At the event, Netanyahu received a shield of appreciation from Libyan Jews in Israel, for, as they said, "repairing a historical injustice, by defining Libyan Jews as also having been persecuted by the Nazis, and characterizing them as Holocaust survivors." During the event, Netanyahu spoke about the economy. "The Israeli economy is growing and unemployment here is lower than almost everywhere else in the West. I promise that [the competition and price reductions] we've effected in the cellular phone business, we will do with the price of housing as well." In the meantime, concerned over its lackluster poll numbers, Shas is bringing out its doomsday weapon: a campaign ad featuring Shas Co-Chairman MK Eli Yishai in his battle against African infiltrators. The party originally determined not to use the video, for fear it would stoke public criticism. The ad features a wide open Egyptian border, as well as homeless infiltrators living in Tel Aviv and frightened residents. The commercial cites data showing a dramatic drop in the number of infiltrators during the term of Interior Minister Eli Yishai. "Apparently they've understood that the issue of infiltrators brings votes, let's hope its not too late," an associate of Yishai told Israel Hayom. Meanwhile, after the prime minister failed to respond to Deri's call to meet and seal a deal over Shas joining a potential coalition, Shas' leadership triad issued a statement: "Likud- Beytenu has already made a deal with Lapid and Livni. Their evasiveness signals that there will be a Likud-Lapid government, as in 2003, one that does not include Shas."
