1. Yes, as some posters noted, Israel has the same problem with left-leaning media, academia, and judiciary as the States. Bibi’s victory comes after attempts to use lawfare against him – after 30 years of going through his garbage cans, all they have is a gift of some cigars and a phone call in which he shmoozes with a newspaper editor to get better coverage. The Left attempted to spin this into a corruption scandal – and the public would have nothing of it.

2. The drafting of Ganz is a re-run of Rabin in some ways – the Left-labor axis has shrunk pitifully, and they recruited a general to disguise themselves. The Israeli public saw through this – and while quarantined at home, they saw Ganz’s hard-left partners engage in petty politics when leadership was required. The Labor movement that founded this country is now perceived as weak, unpatriotic, and unworthy of leadership.

3. Ganz himself? Skilled enough to navigate the army ranks, but a novice in this new kind of politics. He looks good – until he opens his mouth, and is ungraceful when forced off-script. He figured out what he had to do to save his one chance at politics. Now we’ll see if the public warms or cools after continued exposure.

4. As in the States, those of us on the conservative side are astounded that an empty balloon like Blue and White got so many votes. Their vacuous slogan was “it’s time to move on” – as if the nation were picking a brand of hair conditioner.

BlueWhite’s subsequent willingness to sit with the Arab parties was a slap in the face to the MOR non-religious Israelis who gave them their votes. Each time the Left tips its hand, more and more of these people are disenchanted (literally – they awake from their media-induced spell!) and move Right.

5. One mystery in all this was the political conversion of Ya’alon – the third leg of BlueWhite – who until recently was a straight-shooting hawk who supported the settler movement. Personal animosity towards Bibi – which motivated Liberman – cannot entirely explain his behavior.

And yet Israelis have somehow managed to keep Bibi in office all these years. It’s almost as if there’s a higher power looking after them.

As to the fringe parties, the always brilliant Carolyn Glick has argued that the higher threshold for parties to have representation in the Knesset backfired, in that different political factions were forced to unite under “ethnicity” rather than ideology, and that gave rise to the recent stalemate.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/269748

They aren’t.

As to Israel, it is doomed in the long term because its anti-semitic Arab Muslim citizens, 25% of the population, are out-reproducing Israeli Jews. They are 80% Sunni. The internal Muslim anti-Jew hostility is striking.

the percent that does perfectly matches the percent that marries out.
or to quote the meme
what’s the difference between Trump and Jewish liberals?
Jewish Grandchildren

Heh. That’s what Jimmy Madison said. Which is why the Israelis need to get their architecture right, as currently it stinks.

To be serious for a moment, this particular job is nothing short of monumental, one which, actually, is far beyond the capacity of Bibi Netanyahu’s skills and talents. Reflective too of our tremendous, stupendous good fortune in the birth of the US, having so many concerted, superb political thinkers and doers in one place at one time. A frigging miracle, truly. What a shame we’ve pissed it away on the ideas of the likes of W. Wilson, FDR, et alia.

Bibi will not always be King.