Hamas War

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

The Israeli Political System, So Difficult to Understand

I just visited Caroline Glick's facebook page and joined the well-wishers hoping that she'll be one of those chosen for the "discretionary" places/numbers, that Likud party leader Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu can add to the list without the expense and gamble of going through primaries.
Likud voters gave Netanyahu the right to choose the candidates who will be in the 11th and 23rd spots on the Likud candidates list.
He decided to ask the public for recommendations on his official Facebook page.
Among the names suggested were Glick, former Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fisher, Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky, economist Shlomo Ma’oz, journalists Roni Daniel and Ben-Dror Yemini, television personality Avri Gilad, former Maccabi Tel Aviv star Tal Brody, former Shas MK Haim Amsalem and Shurat Hadin – Israel Law Center Executive Director Nitzana Darshan-Leitner.
“I’m very humbled that members of the public have put my name forward as their desired representative in the Knesset,” Glick said. “I don’t know if now is the right time for me and my family for a move into politics, but I do know that the people of Israel are the strongest, bravest people in the world and deserve equally valiant leaders.”



Duh? You may say. What sort of systematic democracy is that? I'm going to come clean and admit that I did vote against giving Bibi the right to add names.

I commented to Caroline, that although I would really like to see her in the Knesset, I still won't vote for Likud. I want Bibi to have to bring in a large more Right wing nationalist pro-Jews in all of the Land of Israel party into his coalition. I don't want him to feel that he has the "Right label" and Right vote, while pushing the Left's policies which he has been doing for years.

Of course there's then the obvious question, which I also asked yesterday:
Is there a reliably Right party in the Israeli political spectrum?
Sadly, I can't find it. Otzma Yehudit is not promoting itself professionally nor competently. It's more like an "underground group."

As I wrote yesterday, I may vote for the newly revamped NRP-Bayit Yehudi which seems to be evolving into what Likud should have been or should/could be if it hadn't gone so far Left.

I'm not afraid of Bibi's Likud getting fewer seats than Labor, because forming a government coalition is not a simple game of Arithmetic. It's advanced Mathematics and requires political skills that Bibi has way above Herzog and the political nymphomaniac Tsipi Livni, who has switched political beds too many times for anyone to take seriously.

And if the Mutt and Jeff team really pull it off, I'd love to see Bibi in opposition to teach him a valuable lesson. I can't imagine Labor's government lasting very long.

Just two more months until elections. Let's see what happens.

2 comments:

goyisherebbe said...

I think this will be Bibi's last term if he wins. If he loses, he's finished. Also take a look at Feiglin's FB page where he explains more about his reasoning for leaving the Likud. It would be a crime if we would waste our votes and let Labor come in. Unless some combination of Yishai, Ben-Ari and/or Feiglin would pull together, the only viable place to go is the Bayit Yehudi. If there is a major exodus from the Likud to the Bayit Yehudi so that they actually pass them as the largest party, that would be an even better comeuppance for Bibi. He would probably choose to retire rather than serve under Bennett. What if they came out a dead draw? Would they have to have a rotation? I'm sick unto death of coalitions. We need the Jews to get together in one large national party and form a majority government.

Batya said...

Interesting points, but don't forget that the ruling party does not need to be the largest, only the one who/that can craft a coalition. Bibi's 66; he may decide to do the lecture/writing circuit and retire from active politics.