As you know, I'm terribly undecided about which party to vote for in next week's Israeli Elections. After a couple of years of war, which is only on an elections vacation break*, as far as I can see, the risk of making the wrong choice is greater than ever. And please don't forget that I made aliyah in 1970, so this is far from being my first time voting in Israel.
After lots of thought, and experience in sorting through Israeli truth, history and legends, I had finally admitted that not a single political party fulfills my minimal requirements, which are demanding a complete, absolute total victory, meaning defeating our enemies so they surrender and cannot have been part of Israel's military and government establishment during the decade leading to October 7, 2023. I came up with a desperate and disparate "short list" of two political parties I had been debating between. Neither had ever gotten my vote or support before. Start the drum roll... they are Avigdor Liberman's, Yisrael Beitenu, Israel's Our Home, and Itamar BenGvir's, Otzma Yehudit, Jewish Strength.
Then Liberman came out with a doozy... saying he'd give Jordan responsibility for Arabs in Judea & Samaria aka PA... It's easy to guess that I quickly eliminated him from my short list. Not that the Jordanians could control them at all or would dare want to try.
So I was left with BenGvir... that is until he began groveling to Bibi when various sources said that weak woke Netanyahu had promised various foreign leaders that BenGvir would be personal non grata in his new coalition.
Once I realized that the choice was between someone so weak that he was terrified of losing Bibi's favor, Itamar BenGvir, versus someone whom Bibi fears, Avigdor Liberman who broke with him in 2018, destroying a large, stable coalition.
Obviously, there are still six days to go before elections, and I have absolutely now idea of what surprises await us. I can only take into account what I know now. Most probably, more to come. It's never dull in Israel, and the political situation is volatile.
In case you're wondering why I'm not seriously thinking about any of the newer political parties, I think that we don't have time for people to learn their way around the power bureaucracy.
What do you think? I'm interested in your opinions; don't be shy. That's why there are comments allowed here.
*It's clear to me that we're still at war, even though the government keeps pretending that we're back to peace mode, as if we've had true peace the past decade plus under Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu's rule. Every year or two, our enemies have attacked, and not just a border skirmish, not just the terrorism that most of the country tries to pretend is in "isolated" areas. Tel Aviv suburbs, close to the airport have been bombed on a regular basis, and the enemies who do it don't warn our innocent civilians like Bibi loves to brag about. Sometimes they target the south and sometimes the north. Bibi bombs a bit in response until they stop, and then he claims that "they won't try that again; we stopped them." The October 7th war has "ended" in the same sort of way. I hope you're prepared for the next round of attacks, because they will come. And I'm not even starting about Bibi's pathetic dependence on US President Donald Trump's approval.

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