Current Affairs Israel is an apartheid state
- Thread starter Billy Dean
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BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
Final election results - I've included the seats won and % of vote.
Netanyahu Bloc
Likud (Netanyahu) 32 23.41
RZ (Smotrich) 14 10.83
Shas 11 8.24
UTJ 7 5.88
Total 64 48.36
Lapid Bloc
Yesh Atid (Lapid) 24 17.78
Nat. Unity (Gantz) 12 9.08
Yisrael Beiteinu 6 4.49
Ra'am (Abbas) 5 4.17
Labor 4 3.69
Meretz 0 3.16
Hadash/Ta'al 5 3.75
Balad 0 2.90
Total 56 45.86
The biggest gains were by RZ, due to ben Gvir, with a gain of 8 seats and 5.71%, and Yesh Atid (Lapid) with 7 seats gained, 4.85%.
Ra'am increased their vote and seats and were again the biggest Arab party - an encouraging result for Mansour Abbas and surely a lesson for the traditionally larger parties Hadash and Ta'al. The turnout for Arab voters was in the low 50s, much higher than predicted. Balad's vote was their highest ever - a sympathy vote as most voters felt they were betrayed by the other two Arab parties
The leftish bloc lost the election because they made too many mistakes, notably the refusal of the Labor Party leader to run jointly with Meretz, costing 4 seats - she will not be leader for much longer.
In addition the bickering which saw the smallest Arab party, Balad, split from the Joint List cost between 2 and 4 seats.
There were no dramatic shifts in the balance between the two blocs, just a 0.3% swing to the right. The country remains almost evenly split between those who support Bibi and those who do not. Organisation, not popularity, determined the results. The right united, and the centre/left did not. Eradication of those basic mistakes would have ensured that Netayanhu did not get a majority.
Netanyahu Bloc
Likud (Netanyahu) 32 23.41
RZ (Smotrich) 14 10.83
Shas 11 8.24
UTJ 7 5.88
Total 64 48.36
Lapid Bloc
Yesh Atid (Lapid) 24 17.78
Nat. Unity (Gantz) 12 9.08
Yisrael Beiteinu 6 4.49
Ra'am (Abbas) 5 4.17
Labor 4 3.69
Meretz 0 3.16
Hadash/Ta'al 5 3.75
Balad 0 2.90
Total 56 45.86
The biggest gains were by RZ, due to ben Gvir, with a gain of 8 seats and 5.71%, and Yesh Atid (Lapid) with 7 seats gained, 4.85%.
Ra'am increased their vote and seats and were again the biggest Arab party - an encouraging result for Mansour Abbas and surely a lesson for the traditionally larger parties Hadash and Ta'al. The turnout for Arab voters was in the low 50s, much higher than predicted. Balad's vote was their highest ever - a sympathy vote as most voters felt they were betrayed by the other two Arab parties
The leftish bloc lost the election because they made too many mistakes, notably the refusal of the Labor Party leader to run jointly with Meretz, costing 4 seats - she will not be leader for much longer.
In addition the bickering which saw the smallest Arab party, Balad, split from the Joint List cost between 2 and 4 seats.
There were no dramatic shifts in the balance between the two blocs, just a 0.3% swing to the right. The country remains almost evenly split between those who support Bibi and those who do not. Organisation, not popularity, determined the results. The right united, and the centre/left did not. Eradication of those basic mistakes would have ensured that Netayanhu did not get a majority.
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
Better edit!
Final election results - I've included the seats won and % of vote.
Netanyahu Bloc
Likud (Netanyahu)......32 ...................23.41
RZ (Smotrich)...............14 ...................10.83
Shas.................................11 ....................8.24
UTJ.....................................7 .....................5.88
Total.................................64 ..................48.36
Lapid Bloc
Yesh Atid (Lapid).........24 ................17.78
Nat. Unity (Gantz)......12....................9.08
Yisrael Beiteinu............6...................... 4.49
Ra'am (Abbas)..............5..................... 4.17
Labor................................4......................3.69
Meretz.............................0......................3.16
Hadash/Ta'al..................5.....................3.75
Balad................................0......................2.90
Total................................56...................45.86
The biggest gains were by RZ, due to ben Gvir, with a gain of 8 seats and 5.71%, and Yesh Atid (Lapid) with 7 seats gained, 4.85%.
Ra'am increased their vote and seats and were again the biggest Arab party - an encouraging result for Mansour Abbas and surely a lesson for the traditionally larger parties Hadash and Ta'al. The turnout for Arab voters was in the low 50s, much higher than predicted. Balad's vote was their highest ever - a sympathy vote as most voters felt they were betrayed by the other two Arab parties
The leftish bloc lost the election because they made too many mistakes, notably the refusal of the Labor Party leader to run jointly with Meretz, costing 4 seats - she will not be leader for much longer.
In addition the bickering which saw the smallest Arab party, Balad, split from the Joint List cost between 2 and 4 seats.
There were no dramatic shifts in the balance between the two blocs, just a 0.3% swing to the right. The country remains almost evenly split between those who support Bibi and those who do not. Organisation, not popularity, determined the results. The right united, and the centre/left did not. Eradication of those basic mistakes would have ensured that Netayanhu did not get a majority.
Final election results - I've included the seats won and % of vote.
Netanyahu Bloc
Likud (Netanyahu)......32 ...................23.41
RZ (Smotrich)...............14 ...................10.83
Shas.................................11 ....................8.24
UTJ.....................................7 .....................5.88
Total.................................64 ..................48.36
Lapid Bloc
Yesh Atid (Lapid).........24 ................17.78
Nat. Unity (Gantz)......12....................9.08
Yisrael Beiteinu............6...................... 4.49
Ra'am (Abbas)..............5..................... 4.17
Labor................................4......................3.69
Meretz.............................0......................3.16
Hadash/Ta'al..................5.....................3.75
Balad................................0......................2.90
Total................................56...................45.86
The biggest gains were by RZ, due to ben Gvir, with a gain of 8 seats and 5.71%, and Yesh Atid (Lapid) with 7 seats gained, 4.85%.
Ra'am increased their vote and seats and were again the biggest Arab party - an encouraging result for Mansour Abbas and surely a lesson for the traditionally larger parties Hadash and Ta'al. The turnout for Arab voters was in the low 50s, much higher than predicted. Balad's vote was their highest ever - a sympathy vote as most voters felt they were betrayed by the other two Arab parties
The leftish bloc lost the election because they made too many mistakes, notably the refusal of the Labor Party leader to run jointly with Meretz, costing 4 seats - she will not be leader for much longer.
In addition the bickering which saw the smallest Arab party, Balad, split from the Joint List cost between 2 and 4 seats.
There were no dramatic shifts in the balance between the two blocs, just a 0.3% swing to the right. The country remains almost evenly split between those who support Bibi and those who do not. Organisation, not popularity, determined the results. The right united, and the centre/left did not. Eradication of those basic mistakes would have ensured that Netayanhu did not get a majority.
Mad that the Overton window in Israel is so far to the right these days that the fascist Yisrael Beiteinu are now part of the left-ish bloc.
Perhaps the "anyone but Bibi" bloc might be more appropriate.
Perhaps the "anyone but Bibi" bloc might be more appropriate.
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
That's why I called it the Lapid bloc. Same story with Gideon Saar's party which merged with Gantz in an attempt to lure centralist voters - it failed because Saar isn't a good politician! YB are certainly to the right but they were willing to sit in the same government as an Islamist party, which is to their credit. They were also keen to drag the state's treatment of Haredi into the 21st century. They lost votes at this election btw.
Doesn't alter the fact that the left/centre/YB/Ra'am (!) group lost the election through ego and stupidity, throwing away around 300,000 votes which would have seen Netanyahu unable to form a government. Lapid or Gantz would likely been able to put together a coalition, this time unencumbered by the presence of Bennett's Yamina.
In contrast the right were persuaded by Netanyahu's argument to put aside their differences and merge, hence they all past the threshold.
Even the one that didn't that I mentioned in a previous post, Ayelet Shaked's new party, were apparently persuaded to stay in the race despite having no chance of passing the threshold, simply to bump up the overall turnout and raising the bar for the threshold. Look out for her returning alongside Bibi in the future! Without that trick Meretz would have had 4 seats.
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
So it's farewell to the Change Coalition formed by Yair Lapid.
It was an unlikely coalition that brought together representatives of the religious, Arab, liberal and right-wing public with the aim of saving Israel from the constitutional danger of endless transitional governments and the deliberate instability of those who tried, and are still trying, to escape the threat of judgment.
It made important changes in areas that had been stuck for years, including in the field of education, transport, fighting crime and Jewish-Arab equality. Much more needs to be done in all those fields, but it made a start.
It reached out to Arab neighbours, thawed the glacial relationship with Jordan and held the historic Negev Summit which, while in its early stages, could yet form a route to peace with the Palestinians. It signed a historic agreement with a hostile state, Lebanon. If it failed to broker peace with the Palestinians it was because that was an impossible task, especially for such a fragile, diverse coalition. It did achieve some small things in that field - with much of the credit due to another Palestinian minister, Esawi Frej of Meretz - had others rejected, and even held direct talks with Mahmoud Abbas, both in Ramallah and Israel.
It's greatest achievement, though, was that it finally broke the taboo that blocked the way for Arab parties to take part in Israeli governments.
For that, enormous credit is due to Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas for his courage, wisdom and determination. It is also due to Yair Lapid for his vision, and also to Naftali Bennett, who is firmly on the right but demonstrated a remarkable and even surprising level of statesmanship. The path wasn't easy for anyone and nobody got everything they wanted. All, though, were prepared to compromise until Bennett's failure to spend time reassuring his party brought it all to an end.
The move made by Mansour Abbas - to take a Palestinian party into government - is irreversible. There will not be another non-right coalition in Israel that does not have an Arab partner - and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that this will also be true in a right-wing coalition at some point in the future. After all, Netanyahu has already tried to tempt Ra'am once before.
It was an unlikely coalition that brought together representatives of the religious, Arab, liberal and right-wing public with the aim of saving Israel from the constitutional danger of endless transitional governments and the deliberate instability of those who tried, and are still trying, to escape the threat of judgment.
It made important changes in areas that had been stuck for years, including in the field of education, transport, fighting crime and Jewish-Arab equality. Much more needs to be done in all those fields, but it made a start.
It reached out to Arab neighbours, thawed the glacial relationship with Jordan and held the historic Negev Summit which, while in its early stages, could yet form a route to peace with the Palestinians. It signed a historic agreement with a hostile state, Lebanon. If it failed to broker peace with the Palestinians it was because that was an impossible task, especially for such a fragile, diverse coalition. It did achieve some small things in that field - with much of the credit due to another Palestinian minister, Esawi Frej of Meretz - had others rejected, and even held direct talks with Mahmoud Abbas, both in Ramallah and Israel.
It's greatest achievement, though, was that it finally broke the taboo that blocked the way for Arab parties to take part in Israeli governments.
For that, enormous credit is due to Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas for his courage, wisdom and determination. It is also due to Yair Lapid for his vision, and also to Naftali Bennett, who is firmly on the right but demonstrated a remarkable and even surprising level of statesmanship. The path wasn't easy for anyone and nobody got everything they wanted. All, though, were prepared to compromise until Bennett's failure to spend time reassuring his party brought it all to an end.
The move made by Mansour Abbas - to take a Palestinian party into government - is irreversible. There will not be another non-right coalition in Israel that does not have an Arab partner - and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that this will also be true in a right-wing coalition at some point in the future. After all, Netanyahu has already tried to tempt Ra'am once before.
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
While all eyes have been on the Israeli elections and the formation of a new governing coalition, some might wonder what the Palestinian governments have been up to in the past two weeks.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad met President Assad in Syria, and Hamas held talks with the Taliban in Qatar - the latter a case of friends reunited.
Hamas sentenced three men to death by hanging for 'collaboration' with Israel.
Islamic Jihad fired a barrage of missiles into Israel, Israel responded by bombing an underground Hamas missile site. Hamas responded by arresting those who fired the missiles.
Hamas arrested a journalist, and raided the homes of families of journalists based abroad, for publishing online articles exposing Hamas corruption and criminal activity.
The PA arrested two activists taking part in a conference demanding political reform - “perpetuating division” amongst the population was the excuse.
Another photographer was arrested - this time for taking photos of PA security arresting Hamas activists at a peaceful rally.
Doctors in the West Bank have for weeks been protesting about corruption in the health sector so President Abbas scrapped their trade union and set up another led by four of his cronies. 4,000 doctors then went on strike and six days later Abbas backed down and reinstated the union. Talks are ongoing.
President Abbas continued his dismantling of the Palestinian Basic Law by appointing himself the head of the Supreme Judicial Council. Critics said, "All countries are run based on the policy of separation of three powers: The executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. But President Abbas is trying, through this policy, to keep the three powers under his command and control.”
The PA officially mourned the death of 83 year old Fatima Bernawi. Her claim to fame dates back to 1967 when she planted a bomb in a West Jerusalem cinema. Luckily the bomb was discovered, she was arrested and spent 10 years in prison. Television hailed her as a role model for "honourable and fighting women" and Abbas called her "the great national fighter Fatima Al-Bernawi, the first captive of the contemporary Palestinian revolution." He had awarded her the Military Star of Honor Medal in 2005.
The PA announced that the Lions' Den are funded by Hamas. The spokesman added that the group is "virtually finished in Nablus."
At COP27 Prime Minister Shtayyeh was reported to have shaken hands with Israel's Environmental Minister Tamar Zandberg, an incident hastily dismissed by Shtayyeh. Then this photo emerged.
It might be advisable for the photographer to steer clear of the West Bank for the foreseeable future.
For obvious reasons not too many of these items made the news headlines - they were grabbed by the terrible fate of the Hebron dogs, the commemorations of the anniversary of Arafat's death, and the tale of the scantily clad woman cavorting in a private Jericho swimming pool.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad met President Assad in Syria, and Hamas held talks with the Taliban in Qatar - the latter a case of friends reunited.
Hamas sentenced three men to death by hanging for 'collaboration' with Israel.
Islamic Jihad fired a barrage of missiles into Israel, Israel responded by bombing an underground Hamas missile site. Hamas responded by arresting those who fired the missiles.
Hamas arrested a journalist, and raided the homes of families of journalists based abroad, for publishing online articles exposing Hamas corruption and criminal activity.
The PA arrested two activists taking part in a conference demanding political reform - “perpetuating division” amongst the population was the excuse.
Another photographer was arrested - this time for taking photos of PA security arresting Hamas activists at a peaceful rally.
Doctors in the West Bank have for weeks been protesting about corruption in the health sector so President Abbas scrapped their trade union and set up another led by four of his cronies. 4,000 doctors then went on strike and six days later Abbas backed down and reinstated the union. Talks are ongoing.
President Abbas continued his dismantling of the Palestinian Basic Law by appointing himself the head of the Supreme Judicial Council. Critics said, "All countries are run based on the policy of separation of three powers: The executive, the legislative, and the judiciary. But President Abbas is trying, through this policy, to keep the three powers under his command and control.”
The PA officially mourned the death of 83 year old Fatima Bernawi. Her claim to fame dates back to 1967 when she planted a bomb in a West Jerusalem cinema. Luckily the bomb was discovered, she was arrested and spent 10 years in prison. Television hailed her as a role model for "honourable and fighting women" and Abbas called her "the great national fighter Fatima Al-Bernawi, the first captive of the contemporary Palestinian revolution." He had awarded her the Military Star of Honor Medal in 2005.
The PA announced that the Lions' Den are funded by Hamas. The spokesman added that the group is "virtually finished in Nablus."
At COP27 Prime Minister Shtayyeh was reported to have shaken hands with Israel's Environmental Minister Tamar Zandberg, an incident hastily dismissed by Shtayyeh. Then this photo emerged.
It might be advisable for the photographer to steer clear of the West Bank for the foreseeable future.
For obvious reasons not too many of these items made the news headlines - they were grabbed by the terrible fate of the Hebron dogs, the commemorations of the anniversary of Arafat's death, and the tale of the scantily clad woman cavorting in a private Jericho swimming pool.
Wow. Giving the Treasury to Aryeh Deri is something akin to leaving a Catholic Priest in charge of an orphanage.
Mick, what is your situation here? Do you live in Palestine/Israel?
BigMick
Player Valuation: £20m
Not now - retired to the Peak District
Wife still has family there and we both have friends there and in Israel who keep us informed. Also several organisations we support that provide us with regular news, podcasts etc. And one of us will check the news from there every day - more interesting for us than the UK news!
Cool, that explains your insights. Always a good readNot now - retired to the Peak District
Wife still has family there and we both have friends there and in Israel who keep us informed. Also several organisations we support that provide us with regular news, podcasts etc. And one of us will check the news from there every day - more interesting for us than the UK news!
Charlie Sweet
Player Valuation: £35m
Totally uncalled for bigotry.
How so?
Do you know anything about that guy's history? He's done time for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and then later on been forced to resign from the Knesset for tax offences. He's as bent as a 9 bob note. The last person in Israel anyone sane would want in charge of the Treasury.
If you thought that comment was motivated by him being an orthodox Jew then you're the bigot, pal.
Get bent.
Charlie Sweet
Player Valuation: £35m
Congrats you've missed my point entirely. I objected to your demonising the entire Catholic church for a cheap joke. Bigot.
Oh [Poor language removed], I'm from a Catholic background myself. Confirmed and raised in the church, was even a bloody altar boy.
Perhaps the church ought to stop covering up child abuse.
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