May 13, 1999
Web posted at: 6:25 p.m. EDT (2225 GMT)

In this story: Another upset promised Trailing candidates urged to quit RELATED STORIES, SITES

TEL AVIV, Israel (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is rallying his Likud Party membership, urging them to disregard polls that show him trailing his opponent in next Monday's vote.

As he was three years ago, Netanyahu is running as an underdog. But after three years in power, he has to fight to retain some former loyalists whose enthusiasm for him has waned.

Wednesday night Netanyahu lashed out at Israeli journalists, accusing them of lining up with his main rival Ehud Barak.

The prime minister accused Israeli news outlets of trying to "brainwash" voters into supporting Barak and ignoring his campaign.

"I roam the country, places are filled with people, all filled with people," said Netanyahu. "You listen to the radio and read the newspapers, it's as if it (the crowd) doesn't exist."

	Top: Ultra-orthodox Shas Party leaders formally declare their support for Netanyahu; below: Religious Jews show support, but in smaller numbers than years past

Another upset promised

Barak leads Netanyahu in the latest poll, released Thursday -- but so did former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who Netanyahu beat in 1996. Those polls, Netanyahu told his Likud Party faithful, are wrong.

"What happened in '96 will happen again in '99," he said.

In 1996, exit polls showed Labor Party candidate Peres would defeat Netanyahu. But in final returns Netanyhu won by just over 29,000 votes. "They were wrong then. They are wrong now," he said.

But, in contrast to when he scored his upset victory three years ago, Netanyahu is mainly venturing into places where support is assured.

The ultra-Orthodox community has strongly supported Netanyahu in the past. On Wednesday, the ultra-orthodox Shas Party formally endorsed Netanyahu -- the first time that the party has publicly endorsed a candidate for prime minister.

But religious Jews are campaigning for him in smaller numbers than last time. And Barak, a former army chief of staff and foreign minister, is making an appeal to those voters himself.

"In my government, I want to see religious Zionism return to the center of action and influence in education, economics and policy, as a full partner with us," Barak wrote in a letter to be distributed Friday in thousands of synagogues.

Trailing candidates urged to quit

A poll broadcast Thursday on Israeli Channel 2 showed Barak, the candidate of the One Israel coalition, leading Netanyahu 46 percent to 34 percent. Center Party candidate Yitzhak Mordechai had 7 percent; Arab candidate Azmi Bishara had 2 percent; and Herut Party candidate Benny Begin had 3 percent, with 8 percent undecided.

Mordechai, who has come under pressure from three co-founders of his party to drop out in favor of Barak, said Thursday that he would continue in the race.

"Whoever wants to leave, let him get up and go," Mordechai told Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest newspaper. "My decision won't change. It's quite explicit. I have no doubts."

But if the polls are accurate, many are seeing Mordechai as the potential kingmaker who could give Barak the edge he needs to win the first round of the elections outright.

If none of the five candidates gets 50.1 percent in the first round, a runoff will be held June 1.

Bishara, who has said from the beginning that he was running to raise issues for the Arab community, told a reporter he would likely withdraw after negotiations with Barak's representatives.

Correspondent Jerrold Kessel contributed to this report.