Bibi's Still in The Saddle, Which is What Israelis Want

If you're interested in Israeli politics, keeping updated via Jeremy's Knesset Insider is a very good idea. Every week or so, Jeremy posts results of various political polls, which indicate how Israelis would most probably vote if elections were to be held "now." The only thing I can't stand about his blog is that the color graphics, white on dark green, make it very problematic to copy/paste on this blog. I have to change to colors.

One of my favorite poll questions is:

Who is most suited to be Prime Minister?

The Walla poll published on Nov 21 2018 asked it, and the results are:

36% Netanyahu, 14% Don’t know, 12% None of the above, 11% Gantz, 6% Saar, 6% Lapid, 5% Livni, 4% Bennett, 3% Gabbai, 2% Liberman

That means that both "don't know" and "none of the above" are more popular than the second most popular politician.

I've been following Israeli politics for half a century, and the very simple reason why Gantz did "so well," being number two albeit with only 11% of the vote is that he doesn't have a political track record. Even in Shiloh, where I've been part of the election committee for decades, the least known candidate frequently does amazingly well. "Familiarity breeds contempt" seems to be part of Israeli political culture, although the exception is Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

One thing you shouldn't forget is that here in Israel we don't vote for Prime Minister. We vote for Knesset lists in the form of political parties. To be Prime Minister, one has to be able to form/negotiate a coalition. That makes certain poll data most crucial:

the Right-religious/Center-Left numbers

The results have been pretty consistent, give or take a seat, for the longest time:

66 [66] Current Right-Religious Coalition
54 [54] Current Center-Left-Arab Opposition

They are the best reading of what Israelis want in a government. And the truth is that no matter when elections will be, whether this government lasts the full five years, or just close to it, the next Israeli Government will be very similar to today's.

Singing Naomi Shemer in Shiloh

Naomi Shemer, 1930 - 2004, was one of the greatest, if not the greatest Hebrew songwriters ever. Many of her songs are classics, including the iconic "Jerusalem of Gold," which has been proposed to replace Hatikva as the National Anthem of the State of Israel.

Well before my Hebrew was fluent, or even passable, I sang and danced to her songs. Unlike most modern music, Shemer's tunes are very easy to follow. And now that my Hebrew has improved over the decades, I can now appreciate the beauty of her Hebrew. That was one of the great unexpected bonuses from last night's Naomi Shemer Singalong, which I attended. For the first time I really looked at her lyrics and understood more than the superficial. Some are like prayers. She mentions Gd quite a bit, asking Him to intercede.

My first awareness that there was a composer-songwriter named Naomi Shemer was in 1967, when her song "Jerusalem of Gold" became an international hit. And a few years later, when I was an olah chadasha, new immigrant in Israel. we learned a few of her songs in ulpan, the Hebrew immersion course I took.

The Naomi Shemer Singalong was advertised as a 50+ social/cultural event, but it attracted younger neighbors, too. I suddenly noticed that among the attendees were neighbors who had taught my children Naomi Shemer songs, my children's classmates and my own former students.

We sang from modern versions of the "slides," from way back when.

אנשים טובים Anashim Tovim, Good People

I was surprised to discover that a song I used to dance to in New York, מחר Machar, Tomorrow is a Naomi Shemer song. It's one of the dances I remember dancing down Fifth Avenue at a Salute to Israel Parade.

There's no doubt in my mind that Naomi Shemer's songs are far superior in every way to modern music. Last night as I sang along with my neighbors, I really wanted to dance, too.