Hamas War

Monday, February 18, 2013

Instead of Picking a Logo for the Obama Visit, Bibi Should Construct His New Coalition

 Welcomelogo_zps35e4b2b3.png
From IMRA's photo page
Is this legitimate?  There was something that seemed a bit, let's say "screwy" so I searched further and found the source, Bibi's the Prime Minister of Israel's facebook page and a selection of possible logos:

 
 
But in all honesty, Netanyahu may be busy with a new election campaign when Obama is scheduled to visit.  He can't form a government coalition without NRP aka Bayit Yehudi and Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid.  The numbers don't work well without those two "large" parties.


The bad blood between Netanyahu and NRP's Bennett and his long time sidekick Ayelet Shaked seems to be a lot worse than anything I had originally imagined.  The foreplay is getting dangerous.
Photo credit: Miriam Alster/FLASH90
“During the campaign, [Jewish Home leader] Naftali Bennett promised his voters that he supported Benjamin Netanyahu, and even put his picture alongside a photo of the prime minister on billboards to highlight the level of cooperation he planned after the election,” the Likud source told Israel Hayom. “But immediately after the elections, Bennett entered an alliance with [Yesh Atid head] Yair Lapid.”
The source said Bennett’s move amounts to “voter fraud. Using his agreement with Lapid, Bennett is working to prevent the establishment of a nationalist government.”
As wily and experienced a politician as PM Netanyahu is, I wonder if he can break the Bennett-Lapid alliance well enough to get them to work for him.  According to NRP aka Bayit Yehudi's campaign, you'd think that Likud-Beitenu would be the best political partner and not more Left-secular Yesh Atid, but Bennett has been playing us for suckers.  OK, maybe not me, since I didn't vote for him. 

Lots of people voted for NRP because his party had strong pro-Jewish life in the Land of Israel candidates for Knesset.  They expected it to be like "Otzmah-lite."  They and Likud kept harping on the "certainty" that Otzmah LeYisrael wouldn't make get the minimal votes needed, which became a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Now we just have a "lame duck" government waiting to be replaced. 

Whose fault is it?  Does Bennett think he'll get more seats if elections are held soon?  Or will people be fed up with this egotistical brinkmanship?
In this game, someone has to blink first. On the one hand, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's associates say Likud-Beytenu will not agree to exclude ultra-Orthodox parties in the next coalition while inviting control of the next government by Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid.

Netanyahu's associates say he would rather call for new elections than answer to Bennett's obstinacy to stand by Lapid in his demand to exclude the haredim. On the other hand, Bennett's associates say that he will never break his alliance with Lapid, even if that means toppling Netanyahu. In order to prevent going to elections again if a government cannot be formed, someone needs to fold. The big question now is who.
I still think that the Israeli Government should have told the American one to freeze the idea of a visit until after coalition negotiations were completed successfully.

8 comments:

Shy Guy said...

How obsequious can we get!

Batya said...

Shy, nu? What are you complaining about?

Amihai said...

I think you let your own vision of the beyit yehudi overwhelm your critical sense !
You repeated that they will go on doing evrything just to get volvos, and just be the likud dog.

But they're doing exactly what they said : they're here to do something and they want to do it right.
It happen that on a lot of urgent things like army draft or economy they agree with Lapid.
And disagree with bibi and more with the haredim.

As one who voted for them, they're acting exactly like I hoped.
The "voters fraud" thing is just another nasty spin from the likud.

Now they're doing exactly what you thought they would never do, having turned down an important proposition, you, from all people, are complaining ?

Shy Guy said...

Batya said...

Shy, nu? What are you complaining about?
-----------------------------------

New lows.

Batya said...

Amichai and Shy, I refused to vote for NRP because I consider it extremely important for there to be an opposition. Bennett's aim is not to be opposition; he's playing hard to get and coordinating it with Lapid. If he wants to be more than a third wheel "yes, minister" character he should be building a much better relationship with Bibi.

I don't see Bennett defending principles. They're just palying Poker.

Shy Guy said...

I don't know why you're responding to me. I was referring to the new lows of stupid slogan's for Obama's upcoming visit.

As to your analysis of Bennet, I said the exact same thing consistently prior to the elections.

But here you are, still stuck on the importance of an opposition. You threw your vote away. I told you so.

We could have all had a much stronger opposition had we followed Manhigut Yehudit's plan. And I said all along that all you need to do is the math to come to that conclusion. You will find the equation in this Manhigut Yehudit update (in Hebrew). Scroll down a little more than halfway to the letter from Rav Elitzur Segal of Ofrah.

It's always been this way. We could have been on the way to leadership already years ago, with rotten politicians forced out of high places. Instead, it seems we prefer to suffer the battered voter syndrome we've gotten so used to over the years.

Batya said...

Shy, get real! Feiglin and "team" will never take over the Likud. You all should have joined forces with Eldad to make a strong showing.

Shy Guy said...

A strong showing of screaming and ranting and pounding fists on the Knesset podium. You are stuck on crumbs.

Try reading what I linked to and explain why something so within our reach won't work. Ask Eldad why it won't work.