Bennett Tops Netanyahu in U.S.-Based Campaign Donations
by Dave Bender
Jewish Home Party Chairman Naftali Bennett has raised more election campaign funds from more private donors than Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and on the PM’s “home court” – the U.S., Israel’s Walla News reported Wednesday.
Recruiting 35 donors to Netanyahu’s 21, Bennett has raised just over a million shekels ($254.8k) to his rival’s 800 thousand shekels ($203.8k).
Meanwhile, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, Moshe Feiglin, is leading former Labor Chairman Shelly Yachimovich by a large margin in local campaign funding.
To date, Feiglin has mustered 309 thousand shekels ($78.7k) to Yachimovich’s 131 thousand ($33.3k), from public donations. Trailing the two in local campaign fundraising is the Likud’s Zeev Elkin, who has raised about 50 thousand shekels ($12.7k).
Three Likudniks, including Elkin, are also enjoying the generous support of a Russian oligarch, Vladimir Gusinsky, who is the most prominent contributor to the current election campaign so far, according to the State Comptroller’s statistics.
Gusinsky has donated 11 thousand shekels ($2800.00) each to the campaigns of Elkin, Yuli Edelstein and Silvan Shalom.
On the left side of the spectrum, in the Labor Party, prominent MK Omer Bar-Lev has raised thousands of dollars both from top attorney, Giora Erdinast, and leading ad man, Ilan Shiloah.