…because the budget work wasn’t done on time, I’ve read. Is this flu season, too?
Nu ?
I haven’t followed the antecedents in detail, yet it seems to me (a “hunch”, let’s call it) the “because” is related to quasi-defections from the Likud dominated coalition reported by Caroline Glick in a column sometime about a week ago. So . . . Blue and White see their main chance and opportunistically grab it, pressing every button necessary to get to an election.
No mention of Avigdor Lieberman, who has prevented the formation of a ministry several times.
The latest surveys suggest this election will see several milestones:
1. The Labor Party will disappear from parliament. It was the issue of two generations of mergers and descends from an organization founded in 1905. From 1930 to 1977 this party and its ancestors were the most consequential political force in Israel and it remained a vigorous competitor up until about 20 years ago. The residue of the Jewish left will be Meretz, formed in 1992 from a set of political parties which carried the strands of the old red, the green, and the hypersecularists.
2. The religious parties will win about 15 seats, but the most thorough exponent of religious zionism – The Jewish Home – will disappear from parliament. The Jewish Home was also the issue of two generations of mergers and can trace its pedigree back to a political party founded in 1901.
3. The social-liberal parties which have replaced Labor as Likud’s principal rival might win 20 (of 120) seats, a 40% loss.
4. The non-black-hat parties of the right will do something without precedent, win a clear majority. However, the right bloc will have four distinct caucuses run by competing barons, at least two of whom are at daggers drawn.
Oy Vey
We think our politics are complicated, this is what you get with a parliamentary system with proportional representation. I see that the Israeli electorate getting tired of Bibi. He has been around for over a decade. As Mark Twain said “Familiarity breeds contempt….and children.”
Oddly enough, these Trump enabled peace deals kind of make it easy to ease Bibi out the door. There is not the existential threat (sans Iran) which calls for resolute leadership like Bibi. Like the USA took a flyer on Clinton AFTER the end of the Cold War, so to are the Israeli’s looking for a fresh face. Like Churchill was sacked by the British before the end of WWII when Germany was defeated, the Israeli electorate could replace Bibi.
Now if Biden takes office and the his government promptly pivots away from Israel towards Iran, I would think that he would stay in office. He has been under investigation like Trump has by the Israeli left for years. It will be interesting to see how this next election shakes out.
Were I an Israeli politician, or at least one in the slightest interested in maintaining good relations with the USA, I would think twice about entering into campaign season just as Joe Biden is about to be inaugurated. Lay low and not make waves, would be my personal policy. But maybe they think this is just the time to rile things up?
So much for the vaunted Jewish I.Q. Faced with an existential, mortal threat they engage in wishful thinking. Add to the typical leftist delusions, the illusion of peace with countries whose populace is rampant with idelogical fanaticism.
“Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal.” R.A. Heinlein
So much for the vaunted Jewish I.Q. Faced with an existential, mortal threat they engage in wishful thinking. Add to the typical leftist delusions, the illusion of peace with countries whose populace is rampant with idelogical fanaticism.
You mean Saudi Arabia and Morocco are willing to offer courtesies unprecedented, and Israel should tell them to suck eggs.
Some random thoughts from a local expat:
1. This outcome was predictable: this coalition was always on chicken legs. The rotation agreement was a joke: one side or the other would have brought it down.
2. The political neophyte Ganz – a general drafted by the anyone-but-Bibi leftists – has proved underwhelming. Ganz and his partners join the list of quickly forgotton “centrist” parties that offer a mishmash of saber-rattling and socialist sweet talk, then acheive nothing and disappear.
3. As with the Donald’s collusion nonsense, the smoke-and-mirrors case against Bibi is now being exposed as it is finally brought to court – further fueling the consensus that the judiciary (unfettered by a constitution that mandates separation of powers) had extended its authority.
4. Hardline leftists have engaged in copycat rallies a-la BLM – which have further alienated the rest of the country.
5. If Biden is sworn in, Bibi will be our next Prime Minister. I should have put this one first to save you all some time….
6. As Art Deco pointed out, the parties representing my own community – modern, college educated religious zionists (as distinct from the more insular “ultra” orthodox) are in disarray. This represents a deep confusion about their aims, and was a long time coming. It’s sad because they have a lot to contribute to the country. They need clarity and backbone. Their big political star of the moment – Naftali Bennet – has neither.
Go , Benjamin!!!
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…because the budget work wasn’t done on time, I’ve read. Is this flu season, too?
Nu ?
I haven’t followed the antecedents in detail, yet it seems to me (a “hunch”, let’s call it) the “because” is related to quasi-defections from the Likud dominated coalition reported by Caroline Glick in a column sometime about a week ago. So . . . Blue and White see their main chance and opportunistically grab it, pressing every button necessary to get to an election.
No mention of Avigdor Lieberman, who has prevented the formation of a ministry several times.
The latest surveys suggest this election will see several milestones:
1. The Labor Party will disappear from parliament. It was the issue of two generations of mergers and descends from an organization founded in 1905. From 1930 to 1977 this party and its ancestors were the most consequential political force in Israel and it remained a vigorous competitor up until about 20 years ago. The residue of the Jewish left will be Meretz, formed in 1992 from a set of political parties which carried the strands of the old red, the green, and the hypersecularists.
2. The religious parties will win about 15 seats, but the most thorough exponent of religious zionism – The Jewish Home – will disappear from parliament. The Jewish Home was also the issue of two generations of mergers and can trace its pedigree back to a political party founded in 1901.
3. The social-liberal parties which have replaced Labor as Likud’s principal rival might win 20 (of 120) seats, a 40% loss.
4. The non-black-hat parties of the right will do something without precedent, win a clear majority. However, the right bloc will have four distinct caucuses run by competing barons, at least two of whom are at daggers drawn.
Oy Vey
We think our politics are complicated, this is what you get with a parliamentary system with proportional representation. I see that the Israeli electorate getting tired of Bibi. He has been around for over a decade. As Mark Twain said “Familiarity breeds contempt….and children.”
Oddly enough, these Trump enabled peace deals kind of make it easy to ease Bibi out the door. There is not the existential threat (sans Iran) which calls for resolute leadership like Bibi. Like the USA took a flyer on Clinton AFTER the end of the Cold War, so to are the Israeli’s looking for a fresh face. Like Churchill was sacked by the British before the end of WWII when Germany was defeated, the Israeli electorate could replace Bibi.
Now if Biden takes office and the his government promptly pivots away from Israel towards Iran, I would think that he would stay in office. He has been under investigation like Trump has by the Israeli left for years. It will be interesting to see how this next election shakes out.
Were I an Israeli politician, or at least one in the slightest interested in maintaining good relations with the USA, I would think twice about entering into campaign season just as Joe Biden is about to be inaugurated. Lay low and not make waves, would be my personal policy. But maybe they think this is just the time to rile things up?
So much for the vaunted Jewish I.Q. Faced with an existential, mortal threat they engage in wishful thinking. Add to the typical leftist delusions, the illusion of peace with countries whose populace is rampant with idelogical fanaticism.
“Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal.” R.A. Heinlein
So much for the vaunted Jewish I.Q. Faced with an existential, mortal threat they engage in wishful thinking. Add to the typical leftist delusions, the illusion of peace with countries whose populace is rampant with idelogical fanaticism.
You mean Saudi Arabia and Morocco are willing to offer courtesies unprecedented, and Israel should tell them to suck eggs.
Some random thoughts from a local expat:
1. This outcome was predictable: this coalition was always on chicken legs. The rotation agreement was a joke: one side or the other would have brought it down.
2. The political neophyte Ganz – a general drafted by the anyone-but-Bibi leftists – has proved underwhelming. Ganz and his partners join the list of quickly forgotton “centrist” parties that offer a mishmash of saber-rattling and socialist sweet talk, then acheive nothing and disappear.
3. As with the Donald’s collusion nonsense, the smoke-and-mirrors case against Bibi is now being exposed as it is finally brought to court – further fueling the consensus that the judiciary (unfettered by a constitution that mandates separation of powers) had extended its authority.
4. Hardline leftists have engaged in copycat rallies a-la BLM – which have further alienated the rest of the country.
5. If Biden is sworn in, Bibi will be our next Prime Minister. I should have put this one first to save you all some time….
6. As Art Deco pointed out, the parties representing my own community – modern, college educated religious zionists (as distinct from the more insular “ultra” orthodox) are in disarray. This represents a deep confusion about their aims, and was a long time coming. It’s sad because they have a lot to contribute to the country. They need clarity and backbone. Their big political star of the moment – Naftali Bennet – has neither.
Go , Benjamin!!!