The well-oiled system operating to replace Netanyahu is both unprecedented in Israeli politics, and controversial. It involves a new organization known as V15, a group with links to the U.S. State Department; a former Obama campaign strategist; and a significant infusion of foreign funds. It's no wonder that in a recent poll, 61% of Israelis thought that the Obama administration was interfering in Israel's elections.
Many Israelis also think that the White House is behind last week's leak of a 2013 Israeli-Palestinian negotiation document, which demonstrates the far-reaching concessions that Netanyahu was then prepared to make. There's no independent corroboration for it, but the timing of its publication--just after Netanyahu returned from his trip to DC--reeks of 'payback'.
Outside interference or not, if the Likud is trounced on Tuesday, it'll mostly be for the same reason that incumbents are defeated the world over--a mismanaged campaign in the final days of a hot contest.
