Humor, Unintentional, On The Israeli Political Scene

Last night I caught one of those Israeli talk shows on politics.  From my perspective there was a lot of unintended humor by the participants who ranged from sinking Center to extreme la la loony Left.  There weren't any politicians I would vote for or trust with the future of the State of Israel.  Actually, there are very few sitting Knesset Members I trust or agree with about almost anything, bu that's another story...

First heard the consistently unrealistic MK Isaac (named for his esteemed grandfather) Herzog, who kept insisting that "the public will be surprised" at the voting results of his party after the next elections.  Herzog's party is the Labor Party, which although has a long history, may be history after the next elections.  Although the latest polls give Labor a couple more seats than now, it is no longer in the position and shows no signs of dramatic enough increase in voters to lead the country. Ynet Poll shows stable Likud, drop for Kadima and modest gains for Labour, Lapid

Respondents were asked how they would vote if Livni heads Kadima and if Mofaz heads Kadima, if elections were held today (expressed in Knesset seats): Current Knesset seats in [brackets].
13 — [28] Kadima headed by Livni
— 10 [28] Kadima headed by Mofaz
28 28 [27] Likud
15 16 [13] Labor
00 00 [---] Ehud Barak Independence Party
13 14 [---] Party lead by Yair Lapid
05 03 [---] Party lead by Arieh Deri
08 08 [11] Shas
12 13 [15] Yisrael Beiteinu
02 02 [03] Jewish Home/NRP)
06 06 [05] Yahadut Hatorah
05 05 [03] Meretz
04 04 [04] National Union
11 11 [11] Arab parties

Labor and Kadima will probably  be challenged by Yair Lapid if he enters as an independent before his flame goes out.  I have no doubt that both parties are busy courting him, since they all basically have the same aims/ideology.  Another potential Center-Left spoiler would be Arieh Deri, who has lots more political savvy and experience than Lapid.  But I can't see the super secular Labor or Kadima parties agreeing to compromise with Deri, even if it may give them more voters.  His religiosity may lose them just as many.

Another bit of humor, at least to my mind, were the statements from the (unrecognized by me) Kadima member of the panel, who kept talking about Kadima as if it has a long distinguished history.  It's the party of opportunists whose guiding principles is to get elected.  I once heard one of its founders, former MK and Minister Tzachi Hanegbi describe it as a "supermarket" of ideologies.  Everyone can find someone they agree with.  Well, when I vote, I want to vote for a group of reliable people I agree with and trust.  Kadima is the opposite.  Why should I or anyone else give their vote to a political party that is full of politicians on the opposite end of the spectrum and every shade in between, even if there may be one person I sometimes can agree with?

For the past three years, ever since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took over, the media and all those Labor, Kadima politicians have been predicting that Bibi's term won't last long.  So far he has outlasted all of their predictions and seems to have a good hold on his coalition.  It's not that I'm a fan of his, but I trust the others even less.