What right do Obama, and the leaders of Europe have, to decide what happens in our neighborhood? We are the ones most directly affected; why shouldn’t we be the ones making the decisions?
It’s like this: Imagine if Israel suddenly decided that anyone living in New York who wanted to own a weapon had to pass Israeli security standards. No one else would be allowed to own weapons, not even police officers. Only people that Israel chose would have weapons, and only they would be allowed to make decisions on the subject. How would New Yorkers feel? How would America feel? What right does Israel have to decide who is allowed to bear arms in a country that isn’t theirs, and is so far away from them?
Yes, it’s true that guns in New York could possibly hurt Israel, or Israelis abroad. It’s also true that Iranian nuclear missiles can (and will, if Iran gets the chance) hurt Americans and Europeans. However, they are not the ones facing the greatest, and most immediate danger: a radical Muslim country, in their neighborhood, with nuclear weapons and no common sense or humanity to match.
Tell me, world: What right do you have to decide what goes on in our neighborhood, without consulting us, and against our wishes? Note that not one of the P5+1 is actually a Middle Eastern country. Not one.
What right do America and Europe have, to make our decisions for us?
Not just sick of it, scared of it. Like there would be any place to move to. Europe is filled with rising anti-Semites, Canada has had over 1,600 anti-Semitic incidents last year alone, and in America – oh, America. All you need to do is look in this past week’s news. Wonderful, isn’t it?
And why is Boston allowed to execute a terrorist, but Israel isn’t? I think the answer is this: Jewish blood is cheap. Always has been. And unfortunately, probably always will be. I feel like we’re dealing with a repeat Holocaust, just slower; this is frustrating for two reasons: 1. The world claimed to have learned its lesson, and we claimed to have learned ours. 2. Hello, nutcases! We have our own state, our own government, our own army. Yet it is a little state, and little states need to keep big friends. Those big fiends like to tie our hands. Yes, sir. Unless we stand up for ourselves soon, and do what needs to happen instead of playing along with what the world wants to have happen, we will all be in the sea in record time. (Muslims aren’t smart enough to build gas chambers, but you have to ask what’s better – to die quickly and painlessly in a gas chamber, or to be shot or knifed the middle of the street, or to be drowned at sea. Honestly, not sure. I think I’d prefer the gas chambers. And I kid you not.)
Rockets, yeah. That’s the smaller of the problems. Tunnels, that’s a much bigger problem. People walking around with knives, Molotov cocktails, metal rods, rocks; terrorists driving cars, trucks, and sometimes buses – those are much bigger problems. And the guns, too. But luckily guns are more controlled; except that we have allowed the PA “government” to own guns and are now paying for it. Oh, and Iran. Yeah, Iran. Big problem. Not that big, if Israel is allowed to deal with it efficiently and the world either supports us or turns a blind eye.
Guys, this is scary. I haven’t written too much this past week because I just don’t know what to say. What am I supposed to say? Let’s ship all the Muslims off the Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia? Well, I wish I could say that, but no one would listen, and I kind of feel like saying it is counterproductive. Again, maybe if the attacks were criminal in nature, we could make the terrorists’ lives better and that would be the end of the story. But when 43% of the Arab population wants to conquer all of Israel AND kill all the Jews, it’s not criminal, it’s nationalistic. And there is no choice but to kill the terrorists and potential terrorists, and nothing that we can do to better their lives will help us save our skins.
The world’s Jewish population has just returned to pre-Holocaust levels, 60 years later. I wonder what it’ll be in another sixty years. I wonder if Israel will still exist then, or if the world will be partying because they managed to create a world without Jewish communities in other countries and without a Jewish state.
Here are some of the nationalistic terror incidents from [just] this past week:
A farmer was beaten to death in the field, by Arabs who came in illegally from the PA looking for “work”;
I knew that the coalition would probably look about the way it does (I was counting on Lieberman, though), but I didn’t think that the agreements would be this bad.
The ministry of religious affairs is in Shas’ hands. They will not do anything good with it, and will probably do much harm.
Shas has Bibi’s consent to build cheap housing for the chareidim – which will mean that the housing crisis for everyone else will just get worse.
More money will be given to schools that do not teach the curriculum; I assume that this includes Arab schools, not just chareidi schools. Bad, bad, bad.
They want to reinstate the draft exemption – bad.
The only maybe-good thing that Shas wants to do is get rid of the 18% tax on basic food items. But why does pasta count as basic?
And we forgot that they want to raise the child stipends – something that costs the government blllions, takes responsibility off the parents, and worst of all, people use it to give themselves a salary for having kids. Yes, that’s right. With each cut to the child stipends, birth rates of groups that have children just to get money drop – and big time. It’s not just a demographic war; it’s a war against people who try to live off the public pocket, with laziness as their only reason.
Shas got all of its demands, even at the expense of Bayit Yehudi. And it makes me sick, especially since Shas is so corrupt.
I can’t blame Lieberman for not joining, but I am kind of peeved that he didn’t.
I don’t think that this coalition is going to last too long, though. I think that Shas is going to get annoyed at something and bolt, giving us new elections. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing, especially if it’s Shas’ fault.
Herzog is acting like Livni did a few years back – having a temper tantrum that Bibi managed to make a coalition. Of course, Herzog himself probably wouldn’t have been able to do it, because there are not enough people willing to sit with him AND with each other.
But enough of this. We have a right-wing coalition, shaky as it is.
Ayelet Shaked is justice minister, and this is good. The left, of course, is calling her the injustice minister, as if Tzipi Livni had been better. Yaakov Litzman is not the world’s best health minister, but neither was Yael German (I think she was awful). We will finally have a sane education minister, instead of the crazy Shai Piron. And hey, for all of Obama’s interference, we managed to outsmart him in the end.
I, along with the majority of Israelis, am not completely happy with the new coalition, but on the other hand, it’s quite obvious that this was our only choice. I’m just sorry that there were so many unreasonable demands made, and given in to. It reminds me of a three-year-old who screams for candy until his parents get sick of hearing the screaming and give in. Short-term gain, but long-term loss, and big time.
This past Thursday was Holocaust Memorial Day. Outside of Israel, it falls on a different day (I don’t remember which anymore); in Israel, Holocaust Memorial Day is right after Pesach – on the day that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began. Calendar-wise, it’s not the best day, but okay, it works.
At 10am, the Home Front Command (Pikud Ha’Oref) sounds the sirens all over Israel. It starts off like an air-raid siren, but keeps going “flat” instead of up and down. However, the first five seconds sound the same, and I have to admit, even though I was expecting the siren, my heart still dropped when it started. Obviously, we told Shlomo that the siren would sound, and thank G-d, Shlomo took it well. When he got back from gan, he told me, “In two days (holding up 2 fingers) there will be a siren, okay? I’m not scared, it’s not a woo-woo. In two days there will be a siren, Mama. Okay? In two days and I’m not scared of the siren, it’s not a woo-woo.”
The soldiers in charge of sounding the siren invited a Holocaust survivor to be their guest, and to be the one to activate the siren. It’s a very, very sweet video.
As a kid, and as a teenager, I read a lot about the Holocaust. Maybe because there was so much material, maybe because it was so recent, and maybe just because it is so, so, horrendous, it was the period of history that I learned most about. At some point, I grew up, and shortly after that, I found that I just couldn’t stomach it anymore. It’s just too awful. But what is most important, as one survivor told Netanyahu, is to prevent another Holocaust.
Unfortunately, the world hasn’t yet learned its lesson. To be honest, the world may never learn. But even more unfortunate is that we, as Jews, refuse to learn the lesson. The “rabbi” (more like principal) of our school gave a speech during the school Holocaust ceremony that I really didn’t like.
The first part was about the fact that we need to realize that this is not in the past, and that not only can the Holocaust happen again, we are seeing the warning signs right now, and that if we don’t do something, it WILL happen again. He quoted what Netanyahu said about Iran’s goal being to wipe Israel off the map. Yeah, duh.
I wonder if these cute kids survived . . .
He said that one day, our great-grandchildren will say, “Wow, you actually saw Holocaust survivors? You heard them speak, in person?” and that what we are seeing and hearing is not just for ourselves but for all future generations. Okay, fine.
The next part was not so fine – in an attempt to make everyone feel better, he said that no one will ever be able to annihilate us – they always try, and always fail, and then they try again. The only thing we can do is add light to the world, and strengthen our connection to Torah. We must pray, we must become stronger, and only through this will our nation survive. We need to make sure that the life we live is true life, that we make the most of it, and the way to to make sure that we live to the fullest, and to make sure that we preserve our nation’s legacy, is by keeping Torah and strengthening ourselves spiritually.
Now, I am a religious person. I agree that we need to keep the Torah, and that we need to add light to the world; I agree that we cannot lose faith and that the core of our nation’s existence is our belief in G-d. BUT, first of all:
a. His first part and second part are complete non sequiturs. There is no connection between them – he jumped from one topic to another with no bridge between them.
b. The people who believed in G-d, strengthened their connection to Judaism, and did nothing else – DIED. Yes, they all died. Entire communities, who chose to play Ostrich, died. Those who saw the warning signs, including great rabbis, and decided, in addition to their learning, praying, and belief, to pick up and leave – and aid anyone else who would agree to leave – they all survived. Because G-d doesn’t want us to sit and do nothing but pray and keep Torah. G-d wants us to do what we can to save our own skins.
Now, I don’t believe that leaving Israel will help – after all, if Iran gets a nuke, the entire world is at risk of being nuked. Even Antarctica will suffer the consequences. But that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing we can do – and saying that there is nothing to do but pray does two undesirable things: It causes hopelessness and helplessness by tying everyone’s hands behind their backs, and it says that there is nothing that can be done. Both are harmful. People who feel trapped become trapped, and depressed Plus, there is lots that can be done:
We can fight propaganda with propaganda.
We can get the other 2 senators to override Obama’s veto (turns out not to be necessary, but still).
We can write on the Facebook pages of Israel’s leaders, American leaders, and others, pressuring them to fight Iran.
We can push politicians to give Israel the green light to nuke Iran before they can become dangerous.
There are lots of things to do – but no one will do anything if they feel trapped and useless.
Last Thursday, as I was walking out of the classroom with some of my tenth graders, two of the students asked me, “Teacher, what happened to your family in the Holocaust?”
I smiled and said, “My father’s parents are from Russia. My mother’s father was put on a boat of orphans (even though he wasn’t an orphan) and came to Israel; later, by some miracle, his entire family came to join him. My mother’s mother’s family immigrated to Israel at the start of the war.”
And they said, “Wow. That’s a real miracle.” And I said, “Yes, it was definitely a big miracle.” And it was. Still is. That’s not to say that my grandparents didn’t have aunts and uncles that died in the Holocaust – of course they did. But they and their immediate families were spared – because they saw what was coming and left.
If we are ever going to be able to prevent another Holocaust from happening, we will have to look it in the face before it hits full-on. Unfortunately, there are many countries in the world who would like for Iran to do their dirty work for them, and there are many countries who don’t really care either way.
The problem is, Islam is Islam, and the idea is to take over the world. First they want to kill the Jews; then they will go after the Christians, and then the other “heathens”. Anyone who is left will either convert or die. Those who convert will live the oppressed life that many Muslims already live. Gone will be feminism, gone will be freedom of speech, and gone will be democracy. Islam isn’t a fun religion, and living under Muslim extremists is not what any of the Western world really wants to be doing.
But, if the world doesn’t wake up, that is what will happen – and while it’s true that the Jews will probably be first, it’s also true that the Christians will be second.
I promised I would get back to the elections, and I am.
Truth to tell, I’m disappointed in Bibi. He promised to take Bayit Yehudi as one of the first, if not the first. He promised to remember that we gave him 4 entire mandates. He said he was indebted to the national religious, as he should be. He even made his first post-election phone call to Bennett.
And now? Nothing. He had a meeting with Bayit Yehudi, but it was just general talks, with nothing concrete. He is sucking up the chareidi parties, who want him to give them billions of shekels for their institutions, and want to reinstate the draft exception favor that they had until two years ago. And Bibi will suck up to them, because as long as they have their money, you can sell half of Israel for peanuts and they won’t say boo. It feels sick. It feels completely wrong. Give them money and they let you do what you want. Blackmail? Bribery? I don’t know. But it’s free votes for whatever you want, as long as they have money.
Deri as Interior Minister? Here I have to agree with Lapid, even though I can’t stand him. G-d save us, the guy got put in jail last time he was Interior Minister, for corruption. The guy shouldn’t be allowed to represent anyone religious, and shouldn’t be allowed to sit in the government. Both he and Zoabi should be in jail. The stupid thing is that because of anti-Jewish racism in Israel, Deri is more likely to sit in jail than Zoabi. Even though Zoabi is the wose of the two. And Deri, again, shows his maturity level. Yes, Lapid was a huge failure as finance minister. But he didn’t bring thousands of families to starvation, sorry.
Bibi is smart, though. Kachlon, who has been threatening to refuse to join the coalition if he didn’t get what he wanted (finance), has finally reached an understanding, or unofficial agreement, with Bibi. I believe (I could be wrong, though) that Kachlon should get Finance and that he would do the job fairly and well. However, UTJ has insisted on chairmanship of the Finance Committee, and so the two parties are “fighting” over the post. Bibi very cleverly solved the issue, by giving Kulanu (Kachlon’s party) the final word on budgetary demands. So, as it looks now, Kulanu is in the coalition.
It looks like UTJ (Aguda) is also in. Shas – I would hope not, except that they’re necessary to form a coalition. I hope Bibi finds a way to get them to join without landing us a corrupt Interior Minister, reinventing the draft favor, or putting us all in debt by paying for too many people to sit in yeshiva. I’m all for people in yeshiva being paid. I really am. But I don’t think that every single chareidi man should be in yeshiva – that’s not what G-d wanted, it’s not what most Israelis want their tax money to be doing, and most importantly, it’s not good for the vast majority of yeshiva students.
But I think that Bayit Yehudi will be stuck with the leftovers. The question is, will they take the leftovers, or will they insist on sitting in the opposition? Somehow I think that they will take the leftovers. Yitzchak says that they will get deputy minister of every important ministry. I don’t know. But I hope that Yitzchak is right and I am wrong, or I will be very, very disappointed. Part of what makes Yitzchak so certain is that Bibi knows that a lot of his mandates came from Bayit Yehudi, and that he will lose them if he doesn’t make up for it. I think he’s right. The question is if that’s what Bibi will do in the end, or if he’ll get too heady with so many mandates. I said Bibi was smart, did I? He is. Let’s hope Yitzchak is right and Bayit Yehudi gets richly compensated for their loss of mandates.
Bennett seems to think that Bibi is looking to form a unity government. Maybe yes, and maybe no. There are two reasons Bennett would keep insisting on this: a) he really thinks this is going to happen, b) if he says it enough, people will be more aware of it and not allow it to happen.
Speaking of which, Deri is a disgusting and self-serving. Only. He makes me puke. “You only have 8 mandates and we have 13?” Really? If Bayit Yehudi hadn’t donated four mandates to Likud, they would have 12 on their own – compared to Shas and Aguda’s 13 when they are put togther. Besides, Deri, are you a kindergartener? Nananakishka, I have a bigger cupcake than youuuu! Nanabanana, nanabanana! Real maturity, huh?
What I think about the PA, Iran, and international stupidity, I will save for another post.
P.S. – I just realized that while here in Israel it is a regular [matza-eating] weekday, all of the Jews outside Israel are still observing a second day of chag. Oops. But hey, for me it’s a regular day. One seder, that’s it.
Seriously, Mr. President? Grow up. You’re acting like an elementary school kid. I should know, I’ve taught them. What was your point in letting the world’s worst-kept secret out of the bag?
Israel is not a nuclear power. We have no nuclear reactors, no nuclear bombs. We never always have. What’s your point?
I mean, of course we don’t have a reactor. Well, duh. Why would we?
Why would we? Because, if you will recall, we are the only democratic, free, state in the entire area. We are surrounded by hostile nations, and we need to keep them in fear of us, for survival’s sake. That’s something that you seem to like to forget, with your two-state solution garbage and refusal to let us kill terrorist murderers.
Yay, so you proved that Israel does have nukes. Wowee. We are all impressed, Mr. Obama Bin Laden (or, as Grunt likes to call you, OBozo).
Obama, I believe that you are worse than McCain, by far. I would’ve loved McCain for president, and I voted for him, despite Palin. I believed that you were better than Romney, though I didn’t get to vote in those elections. But now, I’m not sure. Because however bad Romney may be, he’s not a ten-year-old out to get revenge on Netanyahu, and all of Israel, simply because we didn’t vote the way he wanted. Boo-hoo, Obama. A democratic state didn’t vote the way you wanted. Would you be taking revenge on Romney if he had won the elections? Would you be taking revenge on America?
Get over it. And leave Israel alone. It’s enough that you tried to interfere with our democratic elections. We beat you, because we don’t believe, justly, that the “Palestinians” want a two-state solution. If they did, we would sign a deal with them. They don’t. All they want is to push us into the sea. In their words, not mine.
Now, please explain: What was your point in declassifying only the section on Israel, in this report from 1987?
By the way: We have a Fisher-Price plane that comes with a luggage thing, a skateboard, and two people: a white kid with a helmet, and a black captain. The luggage thing is used as a podium. The black captain stands on the podium, and Shlomo says, “I’m Obama-rama making a speech. Pchhh,” and pops “Obama” off the podium. He learned this from us, with our warped sense of political humor, obviously. I think I started doing it because I was frustrated with his kvetching and wanted to distract him. But right now, I feel like it’s really appropriate. Obama-rama, stop making speeches; get off the podium and stop trying to run Israel. You’re president of America. Not prime minister of Israel.
But I promise, if anyone pushes you off the podium, we will make sure that they go sit in the corner. Pushing isn’t okay, and it counts as violence. We just ask you to step down, of your own accord.
Do not think that we voted for you, and gave you such a huge margin over Hertzog, because we like you.
We do not necessarily like the way you lead.
But we voted you in, because the thought of Hertzog leading a leftist government, that possibly included Arabs, sounded like the beginning of Israel’s demise.
And we love Israel. We love our country, and would like to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) knowing that unless someone nukes us, or the sun blows up, we will probably still be around to celebrate next year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut. We do not want to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut, in about two months, knowing that by next year, Israel will be no more, because half will be given away and the other half will be so bombarded with rockets that normal life will become completely impossible.
And therefore, Bibi, we voted you in, to lead a right wing government that gives us a chance at a future; a government that does not mean complete suicide by giving in to terrorists, murderers, by pretending to be their friends.
Bibi, you owe the religious, and nationalists, a lot. Because so many of us wanted to keep you strong, to ensure that you would lead the government and not Hertzog; because of this, you lead the biggest party by far, and the rest of us are small in comparison.
You would not be this powerful without it. We gave you our votes, and we did it happily, because we love our country – and not because we love you.
Bibi, if you prove that you love our country less than we love it, you will be out of office. We ask that you stick to your word and keep a two-state suicidal solution off the table. Stand tall, let us defend ourselves, stick up for what we, as nationalists, know is right. And do not give in to world pressure.
Because otherwise, you will soon find yourself with no coalition, headed for primaries that you will not win, and another election that you will definitely not win – because we helped you out, in our communal time of need – we helped you, because you were the one who had the power to help us – and you cheated us, by going back on your word and becoming a leftist, and by compromising our integrity, our identity as a Jewish State, and our security.
Stick to your word, and do not cheat us, the nationalists, millions of whom are religious nationalists, who voted you in.
Likud came out six mandates ahead of Avoda ((Labor;) or rather, Hahitachdut HaTzionit (Zionist Union)).
Hertzog, unless Kulanu (“Together”, headed by Moshe Kachlon) will sit with the Arabs, will not be able to form a coalition.
In order to form a coalition, you need 61 mandates.
Hertzog has 24; Yesh Atid has 11; Meretz has 4. 24+11+4=39
If he takes Kulanu, which has 10 mandates, he will get 49. The Arabs have 14 mandates; if Hertzog takes them in addition to Kulanu, then he will have 63 mandates, or, in other words, a coalition. If Kachlon doesn’t agree to sit with the Arabs – and being a former Likud member, and whose voters are right-wing, he very possibly may not agree – then Hertzog has no coalition. Yay!!
The chareidi parties, Shas and Aguda (UTJ) will not sit with Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), because he is the one who spearheaded the campaign to force chareidim into the army. Technically, the chareidim are more worth it than Lapid, because together, they have 14 mandates, while Lapid has only 11. But Hertzog’s natural partner is Yesh Atid, and he will take the chareidim (some of whom will probably agree to sit with Arabs, some of whom will probably not) only as a last resort – unless a miracle occurs and they agree to sit with Lapid, which is highly unlikely.
Let’s take a look at Bibi. I was right last time, and maybe I will be right this time. Last time I said, why not just take Lapid and Bennett? With Likud, Lapid, and Bennett, we already have a coalition, and because it is only three parties, it was expected to be stable (less demands, less zigzgging, less chance of it toppling over stupidities; Lapid proved stupider than I thought and therefore the potentially stable coalition was very unstable).
At any rate:
Bibi has 30 mandates; Bayit Yehudi has 8; Shas has 7; Yisrael Beiteinu and Aguda (UTJ) have six each. 30+8+7+6+6=57. It’s still just short of a coalition, but if Kulanu joins them, then they will have 67, which is a good coalition. Will it happen? Actually, it’s very likely.
What does it depend on? A few things:
1. That Kulanu refuse to sit with Arabs, and agree to join Bibi.
2. That the chareidim not insist on changing the draft law, and agree to sit with Bibi without making completely unreasonable demands.
3. That no one else on the right make completely unreasonable demands or refuse to sit with each other.
4. That Netanyahu and Hertzog not agree to a unity government.
If any of the first three happen, we are headed for new elections. If the last one happens, we are in big trouble.
I am also very frustrated that 3+ mandates of right wing votes went to trash. Like in previous elections, a lot of right wing votes went to a start-up party that no one was entirely sure would pass the threshold. Last time, it was Otzma L’Yisrael, and 66,775 votes went down the drain. This time, it was Yachad, and 118,368 votes went down the drain. Also remember that last time, the minimum was 2 mandates; this time, the minimum was raised to 4 mandates. Especially during these elections, when every right wing vote mattered, losing that many votes is a huge frustration and loss. Wherever you would’ve put them – Shas, Aguda, Bayit Yehudi – they would have done something. If they had all gone to Bayit Yehudi, then they would have 11 mandates instead of 8. Let’s say some were taken from Shas and some from Aguda, as well as those from Bayit Yehudi – Bayit Yehudi would have 9, Shas would have 8, Aguda would have 7. And possibly one of those would have gained two extra seats, because it’s not just 3 mandates – it’s 3+, which means that Yachad’s extra, plus someone else’s extra, might’ve added a second mandate to one of those.
Remember we said that a right-wing government, without Kulanu, had 57 mandates? If we had those 3+, we might very well have had a coalition right there, even without worrying about who Kachlon will join. Isn’t that a shame? I, and many other right wing voters, think it is.
Again, because we had elections two years ago (I think).
It’s good, because Lapid and his party[-ruiners] have caused a lot of upheaval, and a lot of problems.
It’s bad, because the reason for these elections is that Lapid stepped over the line and got kicked out of the Knesset – toppling the government. In other words, the prime minister toppled the government with his own hands. And after Tzuk Eitan was stopped prematurely, a lot of people are disillusioned with the right. Which is stupid, because it’s Obama’s fault that we stopped Tzuk Eitan, not Bennett’s or Bibi’s. At least, not directly.
On the other hand, the left is even worse. Arabs in the Knesset? Peace process? Dividing Israel up? Give me a break. Why? So that there will be no place in all of Israel that has more than 30 seconds to run to the bomb shelters? Thanks, guys. Herzog as prime minister is the beginning of Israel’s demise, or rather, suicide. Ugh.
For the first time, though, Yitzchak and I debated what we should vote. In the past, I voted Ichud Leumi (National Union); when they joined with Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home), I voted for Bayit Yehudi. Yitzchak, too, voted Bayit Yehudi, simply because it was the obvious choice for both of us. We care about security, and we want a party whose members have heads on their shoulders, and will take care of our security concerns, along with all the other issues (like economics, religion, education).
But Bennett made a few mistakes in Tzuk Eitan and afterwards; I think he let the power go to this head. On the other hand, he’s a good guy, and he listens to his rabbanim (rabbis) when they tell him that he’s being stupid. He also listens to the public. And he’s a pretty good economics minister. He also is STILL head of the only party except for maybe Yoni Chetboun (Yachad) who cares about security the way I do.
I considered voting Yachad because I really like Yoni Chetboun (he used to be in Bayit Yehudi, and many people, myself included, think that it is a real loss to Bayit Yehudi that he left; again, mistake of Bennett’s). But I just can’t bring myself to vote for Eli Yishai, who is number 1 on Yachad’s list. I just can’t.
And while Bibi is a better option than Buji (Herzog) for prime minister, I can’t stomach voting for him, either.
So I am sticking with Bayit Yehudi, and after weeks of debating, I am finally happy with my choice.
Yitzchak is voting Likud, because he is afraid of what will happen if they don’t get enough votes. I can’t say I blame him,
And the left?
They are underhanded. The way you vote in Israel is that you show your ID card, they give you an envelope, and you go to the stand and choose a piece of paper to put in your envelope. If you put two pieces in, your vote is discounted.
The left has been putting up signs and advertisements everywhere, “We are stronger together! Vote for both [Machal (Likud) and Tav (Bayit Yehudi)]! Place two slips in the envelope.” There is also a picture of both notes in an envelope.
This is the banner that the left is using to try to disqualify right wing votes.
In other words, if right wing votes are discounted because we misguided them, then the left will win. The reason this desperate, underhanded tactic may work is that there were a few times when there was a direct vote for prime minister AND a vote for which parties – meaning, two slips in the envelope. And I think that when you vote in municipal elections there are also 2 slips of paper.
And that’s not even mentioning the fact that many polls that show Likud as stronger than Avoda (Labor) aren’t shown to the public . . .
All we can do at this point is pray. There is a good chance that if Likud and Avoda are close, even if Avoda gets more, Bibi will be given the first chance at a coalition, simply because he has more people willing to work with him.
One year from the day that the Malaysian Airlines plane went missing. It still hasn’t been found, or heard of.
During this year, another Malaysian Airlines plane crashed.
And another Asian plane, albeit from a different company, was hijacked.
Kind of makes me never want to fly to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, or anywhere else in that area. I guess it’s good that we have no plans, or interest, in doing so.
But doesn’t it sound kind of funny, that three planes went down, two under very suspicious circumstances, in the same area, within less than twelve months?
But of course, we are playing Ostrich. The same game that kept us happily in the dark, until the morning of September 11, 2001, when we woke up with a jolt and realized that terrorism isn’t a game.
Israel has already realized that terrorism is for real. The problem is, that Israel’s realization gives the rest of the world somewhat of a guilty conscience and messes up their game of Ostrich. And so, the world continues to suffer, and Israel especially continues to suffer.
Good day, world.
I beg your pardon for interrupting your game again.
Regarding Iran, suddenly I realized something. Most non-Shiite countries in the Middle East, most prominently Saudi Arabia and Israel, are mad about the deal that P5+1 have signed with Iran. It’s not just us. And what I realized today was this question:
Little Duckies 