16 Adar I 5779
21 February 2019
Picture of the Day:
Where do you think this beautiful shot was taken? Switzerland? Norway? Sweden? This picture of skiers going down a mountain was made at Israel’s Mt. Hermon yesterday.
The News on the Israeli Street
Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .
On the Gaza border:
More and more explosive devices are landing in southern Israel after being launched by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.
The above “balloon” landed in the Eshkol Region this morning. Note the large explosive device attached to it it. Imagine what would have happened if this had landed at a kindergarten–as so many others have.
In Judea and Samaria:
Hawara, Kiryat Arba, Luban A-Sharqiya, Road 465, Tekoa, Peduel, Hizma, Efrat, Shiloh, and Road 443 were just 10 out of some 30 locations yesterday where Palestinian terrorists assaulted Israelis with Molotovs and “rocks.”
TODAY’S BLOG:
The Election Season Begins With A Bang!
It is now 47 days until the election on April 9. All political parties finalized their election lists today in a last minute burst of frenzy.
Oddly enough, 47 different political parties are running for the Knesset!
47 parties . . . and critics of Israel love to say there is no democracy in the country.
What is the bottom line that has emerged?
The fight is going to be between the Blue and White Party and the Rightist Block.
On the center-left we now have the newly formed “Blue and White” Party–which looks amazingly like the old Zionist Camp of Bougie Herzog and Tzipi Livni.
From left to right: Moshe Ya’alon, Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, and Gabi Ashkenazi.
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Cloaked in blue and white of the Israeli flag and proclaiming itself to be on the right, it is composed of Benny Gantz’s new party (Resilience), Yair Lapid’s Party (There is a future), and Moshe Ya’alon’s new party (Telem).
None of them had a chance of overtaking Netanyahu and Likud if they ran separately, so they have all banded together–and like Herzog and Livni are amusingly running on a security platform. To bolster their security credentials (Gantz and Yaalon are former IDF Chiefs of Staff), Blue and White also added another former Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, at the last moment.
What does the Blue and White party have going for it? Even if it is led by old faces, it is something new on the Israeli political scene. More than this, it is likely to be further bolstered in the coming days when Attorney General Mandelblit finally reveals which cases he is going to recommend that Netanyahu be indicted for. That decision may be revealed as early as tomorrow.
So what is Blue and White up against?
A block of parties led by Netanyahu’s Likud.
First, there is the New Right party led by Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked which has been steadily sinking in the polls as of late.
Second, there is the new coalition of Jewish Home, National Union, and Jewish Power. None of these would have probably even passed the 3.25% threshold had they not banded together. The fact that they did is a tribute to Netanyahu; however, Netanyahu is already being roundly condemned by the leftist Israeli media for finding a spot for Jewish Power–which the media is fond of calling “Kahanist” in reference to the hard-line stance of Meir Kahane, the prescient rabbi who was assassinated some 25 years ago but whose ideas inspire the Party.
Third, there are other small parties that may or may not join a rightist block should Netanyahu be asked to form a coalition. Would Avigdor Lieberman bring his Yisrael Beiteinu into the group? The likelihood is that he would probably be just as likely to link up with Blue and White. And the Ashkenazi orthodox party United Torah Judaism? Its leaders are on record as saying they could join Blue and White or Likud. Only the Sephardic Orthodox party Shas has declared that it would never join Blue and White.
What about the other parties that are supposedly not aligned with Likud or Blue and White? Neither Blue and White nor Likud will join forces with the Arab parties, but the Labor party would be the first to jump on the Blue and White bandwagon if given the chance.
The first preliminary polls are already out, and they show a huge bump for Blue and White which seemingly has a lead of between 5-10 seats. Nevertheless, these same polls show the likely Blue and White Coalition running dead even with the Rightist Block.
In the next 47 days, we can expect to see support for Blue and White drop as its shine wears off. However, your humble servant is having a very difficult time seeing how the Rightist Block will be able to cobble together 60 Knesset seats.
Let’s hope that the Israeli public comes to its senses as it did in 2015 when polls had Herzog and Livni sweeping to victory, only to see them suffer a devastating defeat on election night. A Gantz-Lapid-Yaalon government would be a disaster for Israel because of its impact on Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.