(Jpost).The Likud and Kadima parties intensified their attacks against each other on Sunday after the cease-fire took effect in the Gaza Strip, formally ending Operation Cast Lead and restarting the election campaign.
The first polls taken after the cease-fire took effect indicated that the Right in general and the Likud in particular had been helped by the war.
A Channel 2/Ma'agar Mohot poll predicted that the Right-Center bloc would win 65 seats and the Left-Center bloc 55.
The Channel 2 poll found that 36 percent of Israelis wanted Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu to become prime minister, 21% preferred Kadima leader Tzipi Livni and 14% Labor chairman Ehud Barak.
In an effort to build on its lead, the Likud announced Sunday night that it would begin a new campaign under the slogan, "Netanyahu: Strong on security, strong on the economy." The party will make a decision in upcoming days about whether to also renew its negative campaign with the slogan "Tzipi Livni: Out of her league."
But the Likud has already restarted its attacks on Livni on the airwaves.
MKs and other party spokesmen were instructed to praise the IDF's military victory while accusing Livni of leading a diplomatic failure as foreign minister.
"The military delivered the goods, but it was a missed opportunity diplomatically," Likud Knesset candidate Moshe Ya'alon said in a typical interview with Army Radio. "We restored our deterrence in the first week, but since then, two weeks were wasted. We didn't need a war to reach a deal with the US against smuggling into Gaza." Due to his experience as a chief of the IDF General Staff, Ya'alon will be featured in the Likud's campaign.
