How Did the Yesha Communities Vote?

The result of the voting in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley (source: Moetzet Yesha)

Number of Residents in the Jewish Communities: 456,865.

Number of Eligible Voters: 241,403 (52.8% of total population)

Percentage of State of Israel Voters: 3.78%

Percentage of Voter Participation: 76.8% (vs. 69.7% overall; 1.6% drop from April)

Voting Results per party (in percentages) :

Yamina: 24.4%

Likud: 22.4%

UTJ: 20.4%

Shas: 9.9%

Blue and White: 9%

Otzma: 6.9%

Yisrael Beiteinu: 3/6%

Labour: 1.7%

Democratic Camp: 0.6%

Other Parties that did not pass the threshold: 1.1%

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Peres, Arabs and Voting - and Netanyahu

In this week's Matzav HaRuach weekly, Hagai Huberman reprints two pages from the book "The Suicide", a recounting of the failure of Shimon Peres' 1996 election campaign in which he started out, after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, with a 20% lead over his contender, Binyamin Netanyahu of the Likud.  The book was authored by Ben Caspit, Hanan Kristal and Ilan Kafir, subtitled "A Party Abandons Government", and published by Avivim Press. It contains on pages 279-280, a description of Peres attempting, in desperation, to get out the Arab vote after he realizes the Likud is, surprisingly, doing well in voter turn-out in its areas.

He did so to point to the hypocrisy of the critics of Netanyahu's call this month on election day.

Here is the original Hebrew of Netanyahu's call which rankled US President Obama:

In translation:

"The rule of the Right is in danger.  Arab voters are moving in large numbers to the voting booths.  Left-wing NGOs are transporting them in buses.  We don't have a V15, we have an Emergency Call-up #8, we have only you.  Get out to vote, bring friends and family.  Vote Likud to close the gap between us and Labour."

Going back to Peres, here are the two most relevant sections:

a)

Peres calls up heads of Arab councils in a special personal effort and tells them "every vote is important, every vote in critical, it's a close contest".

b)  

Peres gets himself interviewed by Kol Yisrael's Arab affairs reporter who informs the country that Peres said, "Get out and vote, every vote is important."  And he yells at the Justice Minister David Libai, "we're losing the elections, get out to Baqa Al-Garabiya, get the people out into the streets."

In addition to what I wrote, here and here, I emphasize that the voting in Israel is via proportional representation which can favor an organized voting pattern as there are no constituencies.  The country is itslef one voting district.

But whatever you think of Netanyahu, think the same of Peres.

______________

UPDATE

Check out what Bibi said later that day and what did Arab MKs say, too.

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The V15 Clip and Its Message

Here's a screen snapshot from the new V15 clip, captioned "people like you":

Hoodies?

Is that an import from the U.S.?

What does the campaign want?  Change:-

And who is the object of the campaign?

And they claim they are not political?

________________-

You can complain to the American IRS about their activity.


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Running for Knesset on the Back of a Bus

Oztma is a new party list running in the elections for the 19th Knesset.

The Ichud Leumi list split and Arieh Eldad and Michael Ben-Ari seems to have found no choice but to run together in an independent list.  The next two candidates are Baruch Merzel and Arieh King.

Their first bus advert I've put here.

It reads:

 

الضرائب



(taxes)

 

Because without obligations

there are no rights.

 

OZTAMA LEYISRAEL

 

 

 



One poll has them passing the threshhold, just.  Another awards them 4.

Election day is January 22, 2013.

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And the results will be here.

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About the Jewish Vote in the Upcoming US Elections

Found in Sh'ma magazine:

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If Weprin Is With Soros, Then I'm Not With Weprin. But Is He?

In previous expressions of mine about the Congressional race in New York for District 9 in Brooklyn and Queens, David Weprin seemed to be the better choice based on a better commitment ot Israel as well as specifically the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.  And, yes, loylaty is a value of mine and I do know David since before his Bar Mitzvah.

In the NY Post, as I was alerted by a senior Republican Party contact, it is reported that Weprin is the recipient of big-bucks - more than a half-million bucks:-

Are DC’s donkeys scared? Uh, ya think?

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent $483,500; the Democratic Super PAC House Majority, another national group (funded by radical lefty moneyman George Soros), rushed in with another $100,000 --

I would, of course, go along partially with this thinking: as regards Soros

The electorate of the 9th district needs to know that casting their votes for Weprin is approval for Obama and his hostile to Israel agenda and for Soros and his support for Palestinian causes and his mission to destroy America, Israel and the West.

To my mind, though, it would be more of a leverage to have within the Democratic Party a potential anti-Obama member although, true, I am not sure of Weprin's backbone on this.

It took me some time but I finally found this source which identifies House Majority PAC as the 'guilty party'. This source notes that that PAC received $75,000 of Soros money.

Now, it would seem to be convoluted and quite distanced to associate Weprin, who is of course viewed as belonging to the very liberal wing of the Democratic Party, to that money but nevertheless to actually be connected with Soros?  The link is, at present, indirect.  That news above is just a bit misleading. 

As noted here:

The Democratic super PAC House Majority PAC has also bought advertising time in the district as well.

"Has also".  In other words, for their own ideological reasons and perhaps, I am not sure, because Weprin aksed for it and identifies with their own ideological slant.

I know, and we all know, that politics is politics and a lot passes under the ethical wire during a hotly contested election campaign. Nevertheless, this phrasing - "another national group (funded by radical lefty moneyman George Soros), rushed in with another $100,000" - does not directly support a claim that Weprin received Soros money and is not exactly the whole truth.

You can look at this election as one of internal American politics, as one on American foreign policy and as combined. If so, much has to be taken into account. Including Israel.

As I noted here, Weprin

....opposes President Barack Obama’s position that Israel go back to its pre-1967 boundaries. “On this issue, I feel [Obama’s] very wrong,” Weprin told the seniors at the center at 71-25 Main St., saying that Israel’s security “would be in danger” if it went to its original borders. “I hope to be a strong voice … speaking out when the president is wrong.” “I don’t think you can find a member of the House that has a stronger record on Israel than I do,” Weprin said.

In his Jewish Press piece, Weprin wrote:

An issue especially close to my heart is Israel. I have led a number of missions there and also traveled as part of a delegation during the Lebanon War in 2006 to help raise soldiers' morale and transfer food and clothes to shelters. We actually came under rocket attack ourselves while helping out.

As a Democrat, I was very outspoken against President Obama's suggestion that Israel use pre-1967 borders to come to an agreement with Palestinian negotiators. One of the missions I've led to Israel was to Beitar Illit, a city of over 40,000 people. I have seen first hand the communities that would be displaced if Israel would return to pre-Six-Day War borders.

Senator Joseph Lieberman, when he endorsed my candidacy for Congress a few weeks ago, stated clearly and unequivocally that the best way to send a message to President Obama in disagreement with his Mideast policies is through me, not a new member of the Republican majority whose criticism would be dismissed as partisan politics.

I believe Jerusalem is and will always be the capital of Israel. I believe Israelis want peace and are ready now, as they have been for years, to negotiate with a willing partner - but I am unsure that such a partner exists.

It is in America's interest to have Israel as a secure ally in the region, and I will be passionate about explaining that to those in Washington who are uninformed or have been fed lies by Israel's enemies.

Back in July, this is how Weprin was talking:

Democratic Congressional candidate David Weprin criticized President Barack Obama over his Middle East policy and defended his own record in support of the state of Israel.  He accused the president of striving to seem impartial in the long-running dispute between Israelis and Palestinians, especially during Obama’s speech earlier this year in which he called for a return to the pre-1967 borders for Israel.

“I think it was done to send a message to the Arab world that ‘I am trying to be fair,’ that kind of thing,” he said. “I don’t think you can equate the two because it’s not a question of being neutral. It’s a question of Israel is the only ally we have had for so many years. I don’ t think it is a moral equivalent.”

Weprin said that he thought it was untenable for Israel to retreat to its pre-67 borders, noting that the country has had those boundaries for more years than it had its previous borders...“I wouldn’t want to give credence to some of the adjoining countries that haven’t even officially recognized the state of Israel,” he said. ”Israel voluntarily gave back the land and what happened right after that? There were Kaytusha rockets being shot from the very homes that they gave up on Greater Israel...I thought it was outrageous the way he treated Prime Minister Netanyahu when he was at the White House,” he said...if Weprin were to win, he would be the only Orthodox Jew in Congress, and he hit back over the notion that he was not a strong supporter of Israel or that he would be unwilling to challenge the leader of his party.

And this:

Weprin added, “I don’t think we should be going back to the pre-’67 boundaries. It’s clearly been part of Israel for many, many years.” That’s a distinct break from President Obama’s position, but one many Democrats — especially those from New York — have also made.

So, where does all this information leave me?

I would wish that David announce that the politics of George Soros are not his politics and his outlook is certainly not his. I do not need a strong supporter of Israel in Congress who might be influenced by the radical anti-Zionism that is at the base of Soros' thinking, which has been, for all intents and purposes, almost anti-Semitic.

I do think Weprin is a better candidate for Israel and that the fact that many of the opposition from within the more Orthodox Jewish constituency is centered on his pro-gay marriage vote indicates for me a less-than-enthusiastic orientation to judge Weprin over his Israel position, I am reserving any pro-expressions of support until he clarifies those Soros links.

If the Soros money item and Weprin's pro-gay say is what makes you decide, so be it. But there are other considerations.


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Ben Smith Errs

Writing in his Politico column, Ben Smith reviews Mike Huckabee's Israel positions and especially his pro-Yesha stance.

However, he does make an error in writing

"Huckabee isn’t getting any votes in Israel"

Both Democrats and Republicans have "Abroad" organizations in the country.

I would guess there are tens of thousands of American voters in Israel, and in Judea and Samaria alone approximately 10,000. And if we include those who are sympathetic to the rights of Jews in their historic homeland in the rest of Israel and, importantly, in America, both Jewish and non-Jewish, - those who would make that issue an agenda item for their vote - I would say there are millions.

So, who knows how many votes Huckabee mighty garner here.

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Photoshopped Election Results

What Would We Do Without the Neturei Karta?

If you don't know, every election time there is a concerted effort made by the non- and anti-Zionist Jewish elements in the ultra-orthodox communities to prohibit, ban and otherwise prevent voting in the elections.

No Messiah from God, no participation in Zionism or the state of Israel. It's paganism, it's really a bad thing.

They are mainly, but not exclusively, from the Neturei Karta elements.

Here are a slew of the posters that I caught (except for the first two in English) in my lens:

A Campaign Story

For those you can't read this Hebrew and understand it:

אנשי ש"ס, הוא מספר, הגיעו אפילו לסבתו של מנהל הקמפיין שלהם, ואיימו עליה שאיווט יביא רוסיות בלונדיניות שייקחו את בעלה. היא הודיעה להם בצער שהוא מת ר לפני עשר שנים.

let me translate and explain.

George Birnbaum was Israel Beiteinu's campaign strategist. A successful man.

Interviewed by Politico.co.il, he was quoted as relating a funny story of how small Israel is by this illustration:

"People from Shas even got to the grandmother of the manager of the election campaign and threatened her that Evette (note: that's Avigdor Lieberman's nickname) will bring blonde Russian girls that will take her husband (unfortunately, young blonde Russian women are considered whores among certain religious sections of the population as well as thousands of others you use their service when they actually are engaged in prostitution). She told them, painfully, that her husband had been dead for the last ten years."

"If You Don't Vote, You Vote Left"

This was the poster up during the last week of the election campaign imploring rightwingers who felt alienated from the system and assumed they didn't need to vote, either to 'punish' the system or whatever, neverthteless to go to the polls and put the slip of paper in, any slip of any nationalist party:

Behind The Scenes

Here it is, the Israel polling station.

See all the slips.

Those carry each party's identification.

One, and one only, must be placed in an envelope.

A bit daunting, no?




(Picture credit: My wife)

Not Yet Final

Some Post-Election Day Observations

First, the Likud really is the biggest faction in the Knesset.

There's the Likud of Bibi Netanyahu, and the Likud of Avigdor Lieberman (he was Likud Director in the 1990s) and the Likud of Tzipi Livni (almost half of her MKS dropped out of Likud with Sharon).

Second, the Left in Israel has drastically dwindled. The Leftist hardcore camp is Labor with 13 and Meretz with 3. True, Kadima is viewed by the Right as Left but see above. If you add the Communists with 4, since, unlike the Arab parties, they have some Jews, the total then is 20.

Third, as Nadia Matar points out, it doesn't seem that the National Union and Jewish Home/NRP took away votes from Likud in a major fashion. In the outgoing Knesset that had nine MKs and today, seven. So, two mandates went to Likud or to Lieberman.

Fourth, Shas has begun to lose those voters who in the 1980s and 1990s, fled Likud for something more traditional.

Fifth, the new "roadmap" of Left, kadima and Right:






That's all for now folks.

The Faces of Elections

Minister Fears Rise of Fascism

No, not in Israel.

England.

I've Voted

I've voted in the elections for Israel's 18th Knesset.




Since 1973, I've voted in all the elections except in 1977, when we were in England and that makes, er, 11 elections, I think.

And this is the ballot committee, overseeing the democratic process at the Shiloh Ohel Rachel School:

The Oddities of Israeli Politics

Yuval Rabin, son of assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, said that he would support a unity government headed by Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

In a press conference held Monday Rabin said that although he planned to vote for Labor head Ehud Barak, "the opportunity for a strong Right wing government exists."

Meretz activists responded by telling Rabin that his father would be turning over in his grave and that "the Left is ashamed of him."

How Complicated Can Israeli Politics Be?

Very complicated.

Try this on. Received it via email. It's in two parts:

I.

A number of people who were not able to hear Bennie Begin in Sheinfeld this past Wed. night asked me to summarize what he said.

Bennie Begin is a much different speaker than his father, Z”L. He is not a spectacular orator. Rather, his presentation was more like that of a scientist delivering a paper at a conference. Indeed, before returning to the Likud and politics, Begin was the Director of the Geological Survey of Israel.

Begin presented a series of ten assumptions, starting with those made by Sharon, Livni and Olmert in the period leading up to the “Disengagement” and continuing through today by the Olmert-Livni-Barak team. Every one of these assumptions, Begin showed, has been proven wrong. Begin noted that the odds of getting ten straight assumptions wrong, assuming a 50-50 chance each time, are over a 1000 to 1. Begin estimated that the odds of getting ten assumptions wrong when there’s an intellectual thought process taking place before each assumption is made is probably around one million to 1. Rational, thoughtful people, Begin continued, whatever their good intentions might have been, who see that every assumption they have made has proven to be wrong with disastrous consequences, would realize that it’s not just a fluke and would change their approach. But not Livni and Barak. They continue with the exact same thought process, making the same mistakes over and over again.

Re Bibi, while he can’t issue any guarantees, he has trust and confidence in him and in the key members of the party, people like Ruby Rivlin and Boogy Yaalon. When asked how we can be sure Bibi won’t disappoint, brought in the Talmudic concept of a 'surety' and a 'perhaps'. The only real race is between Livni and Bibi. There’s a surety that Livni will do disastrous things if given the leadership of the country. We know that because she’s already announced it. He referenced her recent interview on 60 Minutes when she told Bob Simon that for the good of the country she would have to move tens of thousands of people from their homes. Bibi has spoken in opposite language. Is it guaranteed that he won’t ever do things differently? No, said Begin, there are no guarantees in life, but he is confident in Bibi and the Likud leadership. That is why he came back to politics and the Likud Party.

________________________________


II.

Some personal observations.


1. Many people in the so-called “right wing” camp retain much animosity for Netanyahu. I think a lot of it is unwarranted and misdirected. While I could talk about each of the issues that engender such negative feelings, let me just suggest that we all remember that Mashiach is not running for Prime Minister, nor, of course, have we ever had Mashiach as our leader.

2. We’re constantly complaining – where is the politician that will place the welfare of the country ahead of their own self-interests? Well with all his warts, that’s something Binyamin Netanyahu did. When he became finance minister in 2003, desperate and painful measures were required in order to save the economy. Netanyahu knowingly committed virtual political suicide in order to do just that.

3. The contrast in leadership and in a vision for the country at one of the most critical points in our history is gaping. Remember this contest is not between Bibi and Ketzeleh. It is a contest between Netanyahu, Livni and Barak. It is a choice between the continued דשדוש , missed opportunities and contentment with mediocrity represented by Livni and Barak and someone with a deep appreciation of our treasured past and a soaring vision for our future and for excellence. It is a choice between Livni and the Haim Ramons of Kadima who have a vision of Israel as just another European country, who believe time is against us and that our future is dependent upon the creation of another Arab state and people Bibi, Begin and Boogie Yaalon, who believe that we shape our own destiny, that we can make Israel a country that will truly be an אור לגויים and a magnet for Jews all around the word, including Jews from the West who will make Aliyah by choice in huge numbers.

4.Nor is this a contest between the Likud and Ichud Leumi or Habayit Hayehudi. The contest for leadership of the country is between Likud, Labor and Kadima. That’s where it’s at. Let’s look at the candidates of the 3 major parties. The no. 4 spot – Likud - Ruby Rivlin. Kadima - Tzachi Hanegbi. Labor –. Avishai Braverman; No. 5 spot – Likud – Benny Begin. Kadima - Roni Bar-On; Labor - Sheli Yachimovitz . No. 8 spot – Likud - Boogie Yaalon; Kadima- Ruchama Avraham; Labor - Biyamin Ben Eliezer. No . 9 spot – Likud – Yuval Shteinitz, Labor Yuli Tamir. No 10 – Likud – Leah Ness – Labor Amir Peretz. Last example – No. 15 - Likud – Gen. (Ret.) Yossi Peled; Labor – Ralab Madjale – who announced that he doesn’t sing the Hatikva and who boycotted the cabinet meeting where the government voted, after 8 years, to respond to the bombing of our southern cities.

5. If you agree with Labor and Kadima and with Meretz that because we have a demographic problem we should withdraw from parts of Jerusalem – even control of Har Habayit - then it makes perfect sense to vote for Lieberman. What’s more, Leiberman is so tough, he will also throw in parts of the Galil for the same price so that, if he has his way, we can come to the end of Highway 6 and be looking at signs for the Palestinian authority. And remember, the same way some parties can be bought for money, Lieberman has shown that he can be bought by Livni with a fancy ministry –It was Lieberman who prolonged the disastrous Olmert-Livni-Barak government by 2 years in exchange for Minister of Strategic Threats. He really stuck it to Iran in that time.

6. For those contemplating voting for Shas, remember that Shas did not oppose Oslo I. They were instructed by Rav Ovadya Yosef to abstain. Indeed, it was Shas’s very presence in the Rabin government that allowed Oslo to go forward in the first place. Rav Yosef similarly instructed the Shas MKs to oppose the call for a national referendum on the Disengagement. The main reason Shas didn’t support the “disengagement” is because they were not invited by Sharon into his government.

On the other hand, they were in Olmert’s government and stayed in it even as Olmert offered Abbas nearly all of Yehuda and Shomron, including East Jerusalem, and parts of pre-1967 Israel as compensation for the few percent of Yehuda and Shomron that Israel would keep. And if there was any doubt, Ariel Attias, one of Shas’s leading MKs, said last week that Shas would not rule out supporting future withdrawals from Yehuda and Shomron. So if you favor that and you like everything else that Shas stands for, Shas would be a good vote.

7. While it is important that Ichud Leumi and Habayit Hayehudi cross the electoral threshold, it will do us no good if Ichud Leumi and Habayit Hayehudi do great, but the country is led by Zipi Livni or a Livni-Barak-Lieberman combination. In the critical battle for the leadership of the country, there is only one real alternative. But for those who, come what may, are voting Ichud Leumi and Habayit Hayehud, my suggestion is that sometime before Tuesday, you call a family meeting – many of us now have kids of voting age so we have 3 and 4 votes per family – and agree to allocate your family votes in such a way that at least some go to the Likud.

8. Finally, two comments on Ichud Leumi vs. Habayit Hayehudi:

(i) If the polls are accurate, Habayit Hayehudi might need more help right now than Ichud Leumi. (ii) Ironically, Ichud Leumi is probably better off getting three seats than four. I would bet in their heart of heats, some of the Ichud Leumi’s top leadership may even be hoping for only 3 seats and that Dr. Michael ben Ari, the no. 4 guy on the list who is Baruch Marzel and Rabbi Wolpe’s guy, does not get in. Like it or not, Kach and Baruch Marzel are dismissed as, at best, irrelevant by most of Israel. T be more precise, they are seen as beyond the pale. Rabbi Wolpe also is viewed less than positively by most in the Dati Leumi camp. Ketzele, Uri Ariel and Arye Eldad can be a very positive force and if Bibi is able to form the government, he’ll have no problem integrating them into the coalition. However, a 4th seat provides the left with a ready-made opportunity to delegitimize Ketzele and the entire party and complicates Bibi’s ability to bring the National Union into the coalition.

DK

And here, in Hebrew, you are informed that Rabbi Aviner permits voting despite if one is sitting shiva for a close relative.

Political Satire on Israel Elections

In this short video clip, a housewife seeks to make eggs for breakfast but, despite the appeals of the three eggs in the fridge, Bibi, Ehud and Tzipi look-alikes, she is put off and selects a yoghurt.

Each egg trumpets its better capabilities while putting down the other.

In Hebrew.

Here.