Hamas War

Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Likud Needs Otzma LeYisrael in the Knesset Opposition

For those of us who are concerned with the future of the State of Israel and Jewish Civil and Religion Rights in the entire Land of Israel, it is of the utmost importance that there will be a Right wing parliamentary opposition.  Since the only Right wing, pro-Jewish Rights in the entire Land of Israel Party that is campaigning to be part of the coalition is Otzma LeYisrael, then we must do our best to make sure the party gets the required votes.

Magnet toy: Newton's Cradle
I think of it as physics, the laws of magnets.
  • Every magnet, whether large or small, has exactly two poles. At these poles is where the magnetic strength of the magnets is the strongest. Each pole is either north or north-seeking or south or south-seeking. Like objects (such as two north poles of two magnets) repel each other. Unlike objects (such as a north pole of one magnet and a south pole of another magnet) attract each other.
Read more: The Laws of Magnets | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5417270_laws-magnets.html#ixzz2GG7O6nfc

The opposition parties in Israeli government have a lot of power.  They function as a check/balance to make sure the government stays in the middle.  In Israel prior to the 1977 elections, the Leftist Labor Party ruled.  Menachem Begin's Herut and then GaHaL on the Right of the political spectrum kept them in check and prevented the destruction of Jewish communities.  The Leftist Labor could only go so far, because there was a strong Right Opposition.

Once Begin and his Likud were voted into power, the strong opposition was on the Left, and that is one of the reasons that the Israeli "Center" has pulled so far to the Left.  So called Right Likud Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's policies vis-à-vis the Arabs is far to the Left of what was once the Left here.

When Begin made his Peace agreement with Egypt's Sadat, there were a few breakaway MK's and others who formed Tichya and were a vociferous opposition for a short while.  Then they made the mistake of joining the cabinet and opposing Rabbi Meir Kahane's more extreme Right party from running.  They didn't pass the minimum vote threshold in the following elections.  The Moledet Party, further to the Right, did.  On the whole, over the past thirty-five years since Likud won its first election, the Right Opposition has been weaker than the Left.

from the previous elections
You can see the political spectrum from Left to Right

In a few weeks Israel is again having Knesset Elections.  Israelis do not vote for a Prime Minister.  We vote for parties running for seats in the Knesset, our parliament.  Once results are in, the Israeli  President polls the parties to see which party's "number one" has the best chance of negotiating a coalition government.  Then the President asks that MK to attempt to form a government.

Recent polls indicate that the Likud will get the largest number of votes/seats, so Netanyahu will most probably continue as Prime Minister.  Some of the other parties are campaigning that they either hope to make a deal with him or promise that they won't join the government under any circumstances.  Most of the Left wing parties are claiming that they would not work with Netanyahu, but that could just be their campaign, until he ups his offers and reminds them that they would just be forcing him to give the NRP aka Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) Party more power.

Recent polls keep showing that the NRP is getting more and more support.  Unfortunately, they and the Likud are trying to campaign in certain Right circles by telling people not to vote Otzma LeYisrael, because Otzma LeYisrael won't pass the minimum threshold. And if, G-d forbid, such a thing happens, there won't be a Right Opposition.  All of the ideological/political pull will come from the Right.  It will also mean that Netanyahu will look much further to the Right than he really is, which will cause him to move further Left as he chases the Center in that direction.  I wish I could make up an animation of that...

4 comments:

Lisa said...

Newton's cradle is not magnetic. It works purely by transfer of kinetic energy. Just saying'.

Batya said...

Lisa, so maybe you can help me find something based on the power of magnets, thanks.

Leah, Maaleh Adumim said...

I was going to say the same thing. "Newton's cradle" has nothing to do with magnetism, only conservation of momentum. if magnets were involved, then either the balls would all stick together, or the incoming ball would be repelled by the next ball as soon as it got close enough, and would never hit it.

also magnetism falls off pretty quickly over distance. i.e. unless a magnet is *very* powerful, it has to be pretty close to the other object to attract or repel.

so I don't think you would find anything with magnets that would be a good analogy for what you are trying to show.

Batya said...

ok, Leah, north and sout poles, which are magnetic, too, right?