Israeli Elections 2019 Redo, I'm Bored & You?

I just can't get excited about the "redo" upcoming Knesset Elections.

For a "political junkie" like myself, this is an awful confession. I haven't a clue as to which party I should vote for. I don't want to "waste" my vote again, but I don't like the choices.

I'm not happy with a lot of what Bibi Netanyahu has done, but the competition is a gazillion times worse.

I can't stand those who control Mafdal, National Religious Party NRP-Jewish Home or whatever they're called now.

The thought of giving my vote to a party that has Moshe Feiglin turns my stomach.

Am I the only Israeli who feels like this? Please, tell me. Try to make me feel better.

It's Friday morning. Shabbat's tonight, and the pool should be open soon. Plus we have a busy family day today Gd willing.

It's summer, and even though I'm on a "full time vacation" now, it's the season to feel like "holiday mode."

Gd willing, it'll all work out...

Shabbat Shalom uMevorach

May You have a Blessed Shabbat

No idea what this is, just like no idea which party I'll vote for in the "redo" elections.

Politically "Homeless" Post Israeli Elections 2019

I've seen this term on the pages of a few facebook friends who, like me, had supported Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked's "The New Right" party. The New Right missed getting into the Knesset by a ridiculously small number of votes.

In response to those who suggest that we should "just return to the NRP/Jewish Home party," that's totally absurd and further proof that I've been orphaned yet again.

Why do they presume that I had a home in the Jewish Home?

I'm not of Bnai Akiva/NRP/Jewish Home. My Torah Judaism is a result of my years in NCSY, my Zionism is from Betar and it was coming to age during the 1967 Six Days War which drew me to live in Liberated Shiloh.

My Israeli political identification was more Yisrael Eldad than Menachem Begin, especially once Begin gave Egypt the Sinai and destroyed all of the Jewish communities that had been built there. As a result of the Camp David Accords, I aligned with the Techiya Party, but after about a decade, that, too failed to make the cut and enter the Knesset. Since then I find myself searching for a political party which I can trust ideologically.

One very important thing that keeps me from feeling "at home" in The Jewish Home is that I am ideologically opposed to parties based on religious observance. Here in the State of Israel we must look out for all Jews and citizens, what's best for the entire country, not just the "crocheted kippah" crowd.

The second recommended option for political affiliation is the Likud, but that, too isn't a good match for me. The Likud is too Centrist for my ideology, and I firmly believe that it is important that there be a strong Right party to pull the Likud Right.

The New Right was a good match for my requirements, and I like and respect some of the top people. I think there were two reasons they missed votes. One was in their control, and the other wasn't, though there's a connection.

1. Moshe Feiglin's mishmash/supermarket party with a conflicting/contradicting choice of ideologies, plus his past as a Right wing politician/wannabe attracted some voters who had been debating between him and New Right. Some of them refused to read the "fine print" of his platform and Knesset list; they voted for Feiglin.
2. I wasn't impressed by the campaign run by the New Right. I had been hoping that Caroline Glick would have been given free hand to produce and publicize a lot of Latma style campaign videos,which would have been more attractive and less strident. I have no doubt that the additional voters they would have attracted would easily have put the New Right into the Knesset.

Now I'm politically homeless, or more accurately orphaned. While my favorite politicians and political wannabes lick their wounds, recover, heal and plan for the future, I'll wait patiently. Really, there isn't much else for me to do. I won't be quiet. I'll blog and comment when I have something to say. That's what I do.

Gd willing Binyamin Netanyahu and his crew will build a ruling coalition that will pleasantly surprise me. Let's see if he really annexes all the yishuvim, which was his last minute campaign promise.

Gd willing next Knesset Elections results will be more to my liking.

Not enough people voted as I did, for נ The New Right
Knesset Elections 2019 Israeli Elections

Leadership Bankruptcy in NRP aka Jewish Home Party

One of the most veteran of Israeli political parties, those that predate the Establishment of the State of Israel, is NRP (Mafdal) aka Jewish Home Party. It's traditionally Center Left, religious, but not too extreme, Zionist and always in the ruling coalition.

In the early days of the State of Israel, their aim was to establish and strengthen the Mamlachti Dati, State Religious School system and add Jewish Tradition wherever possible to Israeli life and law. In many ways they seemed closer to mainstream Labor Party, because both had kibbutzim and moshavim to protect and coddle.

As time went on, and especially after Israel's totally miraculous victory in the 1967 Six Days War, the NRP began to change. Its first generation raised in the State of Israel became the most enthusiastic in Israeli society for settling the Land liberated in the war and Israel's increased security and prosperity enabled more and deeper Torah learning.

Children and grandchildren of old NRP leadership and graduates of the Mamlachti Dati, State Religious Schools began looking to emulate the heavy Torah learning of the chareidim, even establishing full-time Kollel programs and chareidi-like elementary and high schools for boys, where the graduates wouldn't be qualified to pass Bagrut tests for a high school diploma, which is necessary for university and certification in most vocational studies.

At the same time, in the political sphere, they've established numerous other political parties, more religious and Right ideology then the venerable NRP aka Jewish Home Party.

That's why  unlike Likud, descended from prestate Revisionist Herut, the veteran Labor Party and the chareidi parties, there's no internal competition or primaries for the leadership role in the NRP aka Jewish Home Party. There's a leadership bankruptcy; its graduates have moved on and away.

Every few years a new "leader" is recruited from various other occupations or parties. The NRP backroom mafia controls the party and all the property that has been in the "family" for probably close to a hundred years.

The words behind NRP are "national religious party." Honestly I, like Naftali Bennett and many others, some who vote Likud, are ideologically against a party that labels itself as dati, religious.

I believe that we all, no matter how many and how carefully we keep Gd's commandments, must work together to govern and steer the State of Israel. I look for a political party with vision and commitment to the Torah, Land of Israel and the entire Jewish People.

Gd willing, I'll be voting for the New Right, although I honestly don't like the name Bennett and Shaked chose. And it's reassuring to me that Caroline Glick has chosen to run for Knesset in the New Right. Gd willing, we'll see her in the Knesset soon.

Looks Like The End of The NRP National Religious Party מפדל

Way back when, even before the Establishment of the State of Israel, people chose their political party according to the Zionist Youth Movement they were active in. Betar voted Herut, Bnei Akiva voted NRP National Religious Party מפדל etc. A relatively high percentage of Israeli youth were in a youth movement, whether it promoted Leftist kibbutzim, religious moderation or שתי גדות לירדן Shtay Gadot Layarden, Two (Both) Banks of the Jordan.

In the days before internet, television and even a phone in every home, Israeli kids kept busy with their youth movement friends. One's youth movement ideology was one's politics, sick fund, school, address, bank and pretty much everything. Things have changed in Israel, and the political polls show it.

The last surviving and relatively strong ideological youth movement is Bnei Akiva, which has always been connected to the NRP aka Jewish Home Party. In recent decades, the strong ideologues graduating from Bnei Akiva haven't supported the NRP, finding it too weak and compromising on ideology and idealism. Those controlling the coffers and properties of the NRP found themselves in the embarrassing and risky position of having to recruit ambitious politicians from the outside. That's how Naftali Bennett and the more secular Ayelet Shaked ended up running it.

Bennett and Shaked did their staj, internship as party heads and then must have done a secret poll that showed that the NRP voters would vote for them without the label NRP, so they left it and have established the New Right, a name which I consider absolutely awful.

Ever since Bennett and Shaked announced their new political party, polls are showing that the NRP won't pass the minimum votes to get into the Knesset. Read the latest from Jeremy's Knesset Insider.

Israeli society has changed enormously in the half century we're in the country. It's very rare for a country and society to change so quickly.

Israel Elections 2019, 5779 Latest Polls

Two interesting polls are out on Jeremy's Knesset Insider, both hot off the press, meaning that they include both the New Right of Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked and Labor running on its own, sans Tzipi Livni.

The shocker for many is that Bennett and Shaked are correct in their guess that they had brought most votes to the veteran NRP (National Religious Party,) now called Jewish Home. The polls show that without them, Jewish Home may not even get into the Knesset. The NRP is doing worse than Livni, which even has me shocked.  And I'm pretty sure that the polls were done before Caroline Glick publicly joined the New Right. She should bring votes from Likud and NRP.

I'm just going to copy/paste from Jeremy's Knesset Insider and let you take a good look. What do you think? Of, course, we still have a while to go before the actual elections, but so far it looks interesting. Honestly, I love this stuff.

PS Please remember that these are just polls; they aren't election results.

Kan Channel Poll: Likud 28, Israel Resilience 14, Yesh Atid 13, Joint List 12, HaYamin HeHadash 9

TNS conducted a poll of 543 people for the Kan Channel that was broadcast on Jan 2 2018.

Current Knesset seats in [brackets]

28 [30] Likud
14 [-–] Israel Resilience (Gantz)
13 [11] Yesh Atid
12 [13] The Joint (Arab) List
09 [03] Hayamin Hehadash (Bennett & Shaked)
07 [18] Labor
07 [10] Kulanu
07 [06] Yahadut Hatorah/UTJ
06 [07] Shas
06 [05] Meretz
06 [01] Gesher (Orly Levy)
05 [05] Yisrael Beitenu
00 [06] Livni Party (close to the threshold)
00 [05] Bayit Yehudi (far from the threshold)
00 [–-] Telem (Yaalon), Zehut (Feiglin), Yachad (Eli Yishai), Eretz Chadasha (Eldad Yaniv), Green Leaf, Ofek Chadash (as other) under 3.25% threshold

62 [66] Current Right-Religious Coalition+Y.B.
58 [54] Current Center-Left-Arab Opposition+Gantz-Y.B.

Additional Questions:

Who is more suited for Prime Minister?

40% Netanyahu, 30% Gantz, 30% Don’t know

Who is more suited for Prime Minister?

40% Netanyahu, 36% Don’t know, 24% Lapid

******

Channel 13 Poll: Likud 31, Israel Resilience 12, Joint List 12, Yesh Atid 10, Labor 8

Midgam conducted a poll for Channel 13 that was broadcast on Jan 2 2018.

Current Knesset seats in [brackets]

31 [30] Likud
12 [13] The Joint (Arab) List
12 [-–] Israel Resilience (Gantz)
10 [11] Yesh Atid
08 [18] Labor
07 [06] Yahadut Hatorah/UTJ
06 [03] Hayamin Hehadash (Bennett & Shaked)
05 [10] Kulanu
05 [07] Shas
05 [06] Livni Party
05 [05] Meretz
05 [05] Yisrael Beitenu
05 [01] Gesher (Orly Levy)
04 [05] Bayit Yehudi
00 [–] (1.8% of vote) Yachad (Eli Yishai)
00 [–-] (1.3% of vote) Telem (Yaalon)
00 [–] (1% of vote) Eretz Chadasha (Eldad Yaniv)
00 [–] (0.4% of vote) Zehut (Feiglin)
00 [–] Green Leaf and Ofek Chadash (as other) under 3.25% threshold

63 [66] Current Right-Religious Coalition+Y.B.
57 [54] Current Center-Left-Arab Opposition+Gantz-Y.B.

Scenario Poll: Gantz + Livni

Current Knesset seats in [brackets]

31 [30] Likud
15 [06] Israel Resilience (Gantz) + Livni
12 [13] The Joint (Arab) List
11 [11] Yesh Atid
08 [18] Labor
07 [06] Yahadut Hatorah/UTJ
06 [03] Hayamin Hehadash (Bennett & Shaked)
05 [10] Kulanu
05 [07] Shas
05 [05] Meretz
05 [05] Yisrael Beitenu
05 [01] Gesher (Orly Levy)
04 [05] Bayit Yehudi
00 [–] (1.8% of vote) Yachad (Eli Yishai)
00 [–-] (1.3% of vote) Telem (Yaalon)
00 [–] (1% of vote) Eretz Chadasha (Eldad Yaniv)
00 [–] (0.4% of vote) Zehut (Feiglin)
00 [–] Green Leaf and Ofek Chadash (as other) under 3.25% threshold

63 [66] Current Right-Religious Coalition+Y.B.
56 [54] Current Center-Left-Arab Opposition+Gantz-Y.B.

*Note: Scenario poll total is 119 seats, not 120.

Additional Questions:

Who is more suited for Prime Minister?

37% Don’t know, 35% Netanyahu, 28% Gantz

Who is more suited for Prime Minister?

55% Don’t know, 38% Netanyahu, 17% Lapid

The Knesset can be seen in the background. Remember that Israeli Elections are for Knesset seats, not for Prime Minister.

2019, 5779 Israeli Elections, Party Time, Bennett-Shaked Shake Things Up

Tonight, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked announced that they were breaking away from the NRP (National Religious Party) aka Jewish Home Party and establishing a new political party that would be to the Right of the political spectrum and open to all shades of religiosity. Bennett and Shaked are calling their party the "New Right."

In all honesty, I'm not surprised. I'm more surprised that they managed to stay in the rather staid NRP for five years. When Bennett told the old leadership, the ones who handle the money and property of the venerable old party, that the secular and female Ayelet Shaked was an indispensable part of his leadership package, I have no doubt that they were more shaken up than the British Royal Family when Harry made his relationship with Meghan Markle public.

Just under forty years ago, the Techiya Party was established by legendary Geula Cohen and Yuval Neeman. It was a straight-talking Right party, which I supported and mourn its demise. In the 1992 elections, it didn't receive enough votes to pass the minimum threshold and ceased to exist.

My guess is that the New Right is a 21st century version of Techiya, and from what Bennett and Shaked said at the press conference tonight, they would be happy adopting something I heard Geula Cohen say at a Parlour Meeting in Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem.

Geula was asked:

"Is Techiya a religious party?"

Geula replied:

"Techiya isn't a religious party; it's a Jewish party."

I have never liked religion as a criteria for politics and government. We have to work together.

What do you think?

Will New Likud Government Fulfill the Right Promise or Be Another Leftist-Center Disaster?

So deja vu...

Only the Likud can so consistently disappoint its voters and not disappear from the Israeli political scene. From the time in 1977 when Menachem Begin shocked the polls and media by jumping out of the opposition into the Prime Minister's seat and then instead of offering the strong Right patriotic pro-Land of Israel for Jews policies he had been elected to do, there has never been a Likud Government that didn't disappoint its voters.

Only the Likud has destroyed Jewish communities and towns and schools and given our precious Land to our Arab enemies. Davka, it was the Leftist Labor Party that has done any better for us in many ways.

Likud leaders talk the talk, but the truth is that when it comes to policy, they are the most destructive in the History of the State of Israel.

• Who gave the Sinai to Egypt and destroyed Yamit, Ofira and the agricultural communities there?
• Who declared Disengagement making Gush Katif and part of Northern Samaria judenrein and ruled by Hamas?

Labor supported these terrible policies, but they were the initiatives of Likud!!

Evacuation and destruction of Sinai, Sadot,  1982

Neve Dekalim Synagogue after Disengagement

Now with the hardliner secular Ayelet Shaked, of Jewish Home (formerly National Religious Party,) as incoming Justice Minister people all over are expecting her to legalize controversial housing, neighborhoods and communities and approve all sorts of building permits that have been frozen for years. That's what we're hoping for and praying for. We'd like Jewish Israeli SOVEREIGNTY on all of the Land of Israel! That's the only way we'll have security.

Honestly, I'm jaded and cynical. I've been disappointed too many times. I really don't doubt that Shaken will attempt to correct all the wrong she can, but I have this nagging feeling that Netanyahu will do his usual hand-tying of his coalition partners. Bibi runs a tight ship, especially when it comes to disciplining those on the Right.

Prime Minister Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu has not yet presented us with his complete cabinet. He is trying to get a new law passed to allow him even more ministers than ever before to try to satisfy the demands of his sixty-one 61 MKs. Rumors still abound that he is hoping to expand his minimal coalition with the addition of some more Leftist MKs or parties.

Considering how little I trust Moshe Kahlon and Aryeh Deri to show coalition loyalty, things should be very rocky for Bibi this time around.

Bibi's All Time Worst Coalition

Only Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion crafted more Government Coalitions than Binyamin Netanyahu, but take into account that the country was young and terribly unstable at that time. I checked the complete list of Israeli PM's in Wikipedia. Besides Ben-Gurion, nobody comes close to Netanyahu, who is about to enter his fourth term as Prime Minister of Israel, or am I missing one.

You'd think he'd be better at it with so much experience, but he isn't. This incoming government has brought him to an all time low. Left, Right and Center, I doubt if anyone other than fanatic Deri-Shasniks could be pleased or neutral about having Arie Deri in charge of the Treasury.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signed a coalition agreement with Shas on Monday night, giving the ultra-Orthodox party control of the economy and religious affairs ministries and moving one step closer to building a government. (Times of Israel)

How could anyone forget or ignore the fact that Deri served time for corruption?

After Deri was convicted of taking $155,000 in bribes while serving as Interior Minister and given a three-year jail sentence in 2000, he was replaced by Eli Yishai.^[1][2] Due to good behavior, Deri was released from Maasiyahu Prison in 2002 after serving 22 months.^[3]Despite the corruption scandal and legal troubles, he remains very popular with the religiously traditional and Mizrahi Haredi public. (Wikipedia)

Having the cat guard the cream is not a good idea and certainly doesn't teach the Israeli public that "crime doesn't pay."

There isn't all that much in ministries left over for Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home party and even less for Bibi's own Likud. But that is what frequently happens when the Likud forms a government. All the important positions are given out to bribe encourage other parties to join or to make the government Center rather than Right. Menachem Begin established that template in 1977 when he shocked everyone by bringing in Leftist Moshe Dayan.

And about Avigdor Lieberman's ripping up his agreement with Bibi? I'm not surprised. Lieberman has officially opened the next Knesset Elections campaign.

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman predicted on Monday night that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s new coalition will be short-lived.
Speaking to Channel 2 News’ late night edition, hours after he dropped a bombshell and announced he would not join the coalition, Liberman predicted that there would be new elections in Israel by 2016, if not later this year. (Arutz 7)

Netanyahu will keep trying to sweeten the deals with his "partners" to postpone the next round of elections.

Israeli Election Campaign 2015, 5775, Comedies, Likud and Bayit Yehudi Entertains

Israeli Elections this year offers some good comedy. And I'm not talking about the unintended type that can destroy a career. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Likud, and Economic Minister Naftali Bennett, Jewish Home/Bayit Yehudi, both seem to enjoy being in front of the camera and making fun of themselves.

Here's Bibi:



And here's Bennett:

Israeli Elections, 2015, 5775, Movement Within Blocs, Predictions/Pundit #3

Again, I'd like to say that I'm enjoying the ease of checking Israeli Election, 2015, 5775, polls on Jeremy's site, which is most helpful for getting a good view of voter opinion trends with minimal opinion.

As I see it there are a couple of steady (taking into account the accepted margin of error, which is generally 3.5-5%) blocs of Israeli voters debating between two parties.

One of the interesting and predictable voting blocs in the upcoming Israeli Elections consists of those who had voted for Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid, which was the "vote for a newbie" success story two years ago. This is a very predictable Israeli election phenomenon which we see in almost every Israeli Knesset Election results. There's almost always a new vaguely "Center" party which gets a surprisingly high amount of votes, even though it's list is generally full of people without any real political experience. Two years ago Lapid won twenty 20 seats. Now, most of the polls are showing that those twenty seats are being split between his party and the newbie Koolaid, oops Koolanu headed by the disgruntled former Likud MK and minister, Moshe Kahlon. It's not quite clear what he really stands for other than returning to power, making him a suitable recipient for the fickle voters who had formerly voted for Lapid, at least two years ago.

Another bloc of voters is those who are debating between Likud and Bayit Yehudi. In pretty much all of the polls, their grand total makes up just under forty 40 seats. They are the Center Right of the Israeli political spectrum. What makes it hard to decide for many is that they, the voters, are more to the Right, though they know that their politicians are more Center and even Left in the Likud. Even if the election results give that bloc a total of forty 40 Knesset seats, they still need another twenty plus 20+ to form a coalition government. And that's where things get difficult.

Who can be Bibi's coalition partners?

Even though Yair Lapid's first government experience ended badly, remember that he and super-fickle opportunists Tsipi Livni were booted out of the government forcing Bibi to announce new elections, he's acting more diplomatic/political this time, carefully hedging his bets and refusing to refuse sitting with anyone. He has tasted power and the comfort of a "Volvo" including its government paid driver and wants another chance, not voicing an opinion about who should be Prime Minister.

Kahlon is another power wannabe. He wouldn't have started this campaign if his aim wasn't to return to the cabinet.

None of the polls so far gives those four parties a comfortable sixty-plus 60+ total.

The next post, bli neder, in this series will discuss the religious/chareidi parties and Avigdor Lieberman, and how they can fit in the next Likud government.

Yes, I think it will be a Likud led government yet again. There are two main reasons for that.

1. I don't think there are the potential numbers of predicted MKs willing to sit comfortably in a Herzog-Livni led Leftist government coalition. 
2. Neither Herzog nor Livni is politically skilled and capable of orchestrating and controlling a government coalition. 

Of course, this entire post should be prefaced with IMHO, In my humble opinion....

Knesset Elections 2015 Update, Choice of Benny Begin, Bad News for Likud

Benny Begin

In a sense I'm not surprised that Bibi took former MK and Minister Benny (son of Menachem) Begin out of the "boidim*," storage space, and gave him the very safe #11 that had been rumored for Caroline Glick. I had no doubts that Netanyahu was planning on using the spot for a strong vote-getting Right wing candidate.

Tzachi Hanegbi

Benny Begin's strong ideological credentials make up for his lack of charisma. He avoids the spotlight, rather anti-political, but his task is to reel in traditional Likud Revisionist supporters. He can do that, at least with pensioner crowd, but in all honesty, I don't think he'll attract anyone under the age of fifty or maybe even sixty. As I had written a number of times before, all the talk of giving that spot to Caroline Glick was so that she'd bring in the ideological Right. Caroline would have done a better job, being female and young; I guess Bibi didn't have too many people to choose from. He needs to counteract Tzachi Hanegbi who was actively involved with Disengagement and was a stalwart founder of Kadima.

The choice of Benny Begin shows that the Likud, is hurting and Bennett's Jewish Home is getting more attractive to young Right wing activists and potential MKs. Now that Naftali Bennett has really opened up and changed the NRP to the Bayit Yehudi, Jewish Home, even recruiting/welcoming non-Jewish Israelis, more and more of your everyday "man in the street,"  "amcha" Israeli will feel more at home in the Jewish Home.

Remember that demographics are very important in predicting political trends, and not only are the Jewish Home supporters young, but they do have relatively large families. That's why the future is in the Jewish Home rather than in Yair Lapid's "Yesh Atid," "There's a Future" Party.

Now that the political parties have had to finalize their lists, I'll have more to say.

Shabbat Shalom uMevorach,

May this be a Peaceful and Blessed Shabbat.

*boidim-storage space made by lowering the ceiling. It was/is built into Israeli apartments.

I May End Up Voting for Jewish Home, Because It's Nothing Like The Old NRP

For many years decades I've said that I wouldn't vote for the NRP for two basic reasons:

1. I don't think a political party should revolve around the issue of religion.
2. Traditionally there was something very "apolitical" about the NRP. It found ways to join almost all the coalitions whether Left or Right to protect its institutions. 

There was also something so terribly homogeneous about it. 

Today I watched and listened to one of the top Bayit Yehudi, Jewish Home leaders, Ayelet Shaked, and she said something rather revolutionary for that party. She said that it wouldn't be the end of the world if they were to find themselves in the opposition. I was overjoyed. If you check my posts from two years ago before the previous elections, you'd see that one of my complaints about Naftali Bennett was that he had announced, before even beginning negotiations with Netanyahu that they'd be in the government. 

I use my vote to support an ideology, not for anything else. I want the MKs I've voted for to be able to tell the truth and speak out on every issue. As you probably know, I don't see MKs as having too much power, and coalition MKs have even less. 

One thing I really like about Bennett's Jewish Home is that it is getting further and further from the old NRP. And I think that Bibi's Likud is getting further and further from Menachem Begin's Herut, Gahal and Likud. One of the latest surprises is that Betar Jerusalem's former soccer star Eli Ohana may be joining up with Bennett and Shaked.

See, I've been saying for quite some time, usually as facebook comments, that the Jewish Home is becoming what the Likud should or could have been!!

Likud, Bayit Yehudi/NRP/Jewish Home Primaries Miscounts?

One year we had to start outside since
we didn't have a key to  the building
where the voting was to take place.

Vote counting isn't easy. I've been running our local Shiloh Mazkirut "Town Council" elections almost every year for the past thirty years or so. We certainly have fewer votes to count than in the various Knesset polling stations (which I've also been part of here in Shiloh) or the party primaries. But I can certainly sympathize with those entrusted with the actual counting. First of all, it all happens late at night, when few of us are sufficiently alert to do a good job. And few people actually know what to do. I have my systems, which generally work in our small town.

inside the Likud Primaries polling booth

In Shiloh the elections are for voluntary posts which demand a lot of time, efforts and nothing much but public complaints in exchange. The party primaries are to give people the chance to be Knesset Members, a position with an above average salary, granted for some people it's a reduction, but for others it's more money than they had previously earned, and another aspect of the job is the chance to give other people jobs on the MK staff. And that's besides the actual status and chance to try to legislate change from the inside, rather than ranting from outside the government.

I may be wrong, but I think that the numbers of possible voters in the Likud and NRP aka Bayit Yehudi, Jewish Home are probably the most of any Israeli political party. That means that it is complicated and mistakes my be unintentional. Each polling station does its own count, and then the totals (and ballots) are brought to a main center where it's all calculated for grand totals. When recounts are needed. all the papers are there for a staff to do the job.

A lot has been in the news about both the Likud and Bayit Yehudi having impossible to be accurate results:

Bayit Yehudi to re-count primary votesand
Likud judge decides in favor of Hotovely

I wouldn't dare to guess whether something crooked really happened in either party's primaries. Since it's all done by "hand," the human factor means that it's easy to cheat and also easy to make an honest mistake.

If there was cheating, let it be proven and have the guilty, tried and punished.

And I also wish that political and elected government leaders be punished for saddling us with policies they campaigned not to rule by!

It's Bibi's Likud, Not Feiglin's

OK, about the results of the Likud Primaries. I was right about one thing. Feiglin hadn't a chance. His supporters kept trying to convince me that he was increasing his power in the Likud, but the truth is as shown in election results, that he's just a postscript in Israeli politics.

Naftali Bennett's success in changing the NRP and remaking it proves that Feiglin was barking up the wrong tree, trying to remake the wrong party. If you know anything about sewing or fabrics, it would be like trying to make a formal tuxedo out of chiffon. Chiffon just doesn't hold its shape, and the Likud isn't going to be the ideological party that Feiglin claimed it could be. And to be honest I think that Bennett may be  opening up his NRP aka Bayit Yehudi, Jewish Home too much. I'm not quite sure what it stands for. It reminds me, lehavdil--to differentiate-- how Tzachi Hanegbi campaigned for Kadima, calling it a "Supermarket," where you can find all sorts of opinions.

It's late at night, and I just came home from work and must work again tomorrow, so...

Jewish Press

I think that Bibi Netanyahu must be pretty pleased with the results of the primaries. He's the undisputed leader and many of his more reliable followers got high placements. That's the good news for him. The bad news for him is that the pro-Feiglin voters will look for another party, either NRP or further Right or Chareidi. He and his team must find replacement voters. It's going to get harder and harder to present themselves as Right, because after so many years of Center-Left policies, even many die-hard Likudniks (and the Feiglin supporters) realize they've been had!