If you follow Israeli politics…
…you might want to read about this new development, which was highlighted at Drudge today.
Make of it what you will.
Israeli elections are particularly hard to predict because of the potential for various coalitions, as compared to a system such as ours. I also find that when the upcoming Israeli election is discussed on news broadcasts in this country, it’s usually treated as a far more simple matter than it is, as though it’s just a question of whether Bibi will win or won’t he. No one will “win” this time in terms of getting a majority; it’s the coalitions that count. And it’s not for Prime Minister that people vote—Israel’s is a parliamentary system.
This article tries to make some sense of the chaos, and offers a relatively reassuring picture of surprising stability:
A victory for the left-of-center alliance of ex-ministers Tzipi Livni and Isaac Herzog may change some, but not all, of the parameters of Israel’s regional and foreign policy. Some of their likely partners””the Yesh Atid party of the former celebrity newscaster Yair Lapid, Kulanu of ex-Likud minister Moshe Kahlon, and at least one religious party””are the same interlocutors that Netanyahu would court in his own efforts to form a coalition…
The upcoming elections are unlikely to usher in another upheaval. A victory for either the Likud or Herzog-Livni camps will more likely occur by the thinnest of margins, and will have to rely on a broad coalition of centrists and possibly religious parties to keep afloat. Gone are the days when Labor or Likud could, alone, win at least a third of Knesset seats. Whoever emerges victorious will have to strike deals with the plethora of small parties occupying Israel’s center, while accommodating their natural allies to their right and left.
Meanwhile, the US left is busy counting chickens and clucking about how the fickle and hypocritical Likud-loving US right will abandon Israel if Netanyahu loses. Do they not remember that the right has basically stood by Israel even when it had much more lefist governments? Probably not, nor do they care. It’s about the 2-minutes hate.
Indeed, and it’s gearing up to be a whole lot longer than two minutes…
Relentless, hysterical, insane.
File under: Been there, done that.
This system seems even more complicated than the German one. It’s hard here to know who to vote for because you have to figure in what terrible policies a minor coalition party might force the government to take.
This is why it is very likely that many voters will decide to “abandon” the smaller parties, for which they would have preferred to vote, in order to vote for either of the main two blocs.
A big surprise is likely to be the united Arab list. Formerly fractious Arab (and mostly Arab Communist) parties have been forced to find common ground and form a united party so as to try to obtain the necessary votes to get into the Knesset, the electoral threshold for Knesset representation having been raised just before these elections. The result will almost certainly be unprecedented electoral success for that demographic.
Never a dull moment….
They could very well bicker themselves to death.
But…. everyone will have a vote!
Pulled this off the sidebar at Ace of Spades HQ.
Chuck Norris has done a campaign ad for Netanyahu.
http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2015/03/chuck-norris-does-bibi-commercial.html
The hate and anti-Semitism are oozing out from all directions now. Focused on Bibi from the left, more general anti-Zionism from the tinfoil hat crowd.
From the right, the only occasional hints I get concern international entanglements.
The left is losing its freakin’ mind these days.
Could Neo be whistling past the grave yard here?
I smell wishful emoting on the part of the Barry’st media complex.
It’s hard to believe that Israel is swinging to the soft at the same time that ISIS and Tehran are on a rampage.
The Labor party — strangely — is now the party of unilateral concessions. (When negotiating with an absolutist Muslim ( PLA/ PLO/ Hamas/ ISIS/ Tehran) do keep in mind that there is absolutely no give coming from the other side of the bizarre // bazaar.)
So Bibi’s loyal opposition actually has a nothing-burger to sell — presumably it’s kosher.
&&&&&
MOST of the minor factions in the Knesset are even further to the right than Bibi.
So, naturally, the press is talking up the unification of the Muslim vote inside Israel.
Bibi is getting some major kick-back from within the Mossad. The crew does not like getting their hands dirty any more.
Rather incredibly, it was the Mossad that convinced Sharon to bail out of Gaza — over morality.
Look how that’s played out.
With Muslims, you don’t get to do what you’d want to do — morals wise. For they have a vote and they just won’t play the Westphalian game. Hence, their relentless unlawful warfare antics:
Children as soldiers and shields
Mothers as … ditto
On down the line.
America went through this with the Imperial Japanese, the ChiComs, the North Koreans, the Viet Cong…
And, more recently with the Muslim middle east.
For all these players, warfare is utterly feral.
Do I have to cite Sherman?
Israeli prime minister candidate Isaac Herzog says If elected, he says he wants to “reignite” the peace process and is prepared to negotiate with the Palestinians.
Isaac Herzog, 54, comes from one of Israel’s best known political dynasties. His grandfather was the first chief rabbi of Israel, his father served as president and his uncle foreign minister. Herzog works as a lawyer, has been a member of parliament since 2003 and has also held diverse ministry posts. Most recently, he served as social minister under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before resigning in 2011.
Sorry the link
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-israeli-prime-minister-candidate-isaac-herzog-a-1018502.html
hall:
“Reignite” is an interesting choice of words.
More likely it would go something like what happened after the Israeli election of 1999. See this.