Blog/November 2022/Nov 4th

Nov 4th

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I apologize in advance, but the next couple weeks there will be more Israeli politics content than usual.

So! We had our election. The official results are over here (Hebrew only). A couple articles from TOI explain who the main parties as well as the minor parties running are. You do need a score-card, in fact.

For those of you who don’t care (or don’t have the time) to read through all the official stuff, TL;DR: The real Israel Left got spanked really badly (the Meretz party didn’t make it, for the first time since its founding in 1992). The Labor party barely made it in, with the minimum 4 seats. The Arab parties also lost representation, since the anti-Israel Balad party didn’t make it. I can’t honestly say I’m terribly distressed by any of this.

Likud increased its lead. The final results show Likud with 32 seats (up from 29). Next is Yesh Atid which made a large leap, going from 17 to 24. Third (and what’s making the news everywhere) is Religious Zionism with 14 (was 7). Shas 11 (9). And so forth. Basically, Bibi has the opportunity now to make a firm majority coalition in a few ways:

First, what everyone on the Right thinks he’ll do: join with RL, Shas, and UTJ for 64. Then, if he can convince Gantz to “walk back” his promise not to sit with him, he might join with National Unity, Shas, and UTJ for 62. Or if he really wants a “center unity coalition”, he can try to convince both Lapid and Gantz, and join with Yesh Atid and National Unity for 68. This latter is extremely unlikely, IMO. The second choice is a possibility, but most people are betting on the first option…

… which has lead to a great deal of teeth-gnashing, panty-twisting, and rivers of tears from all sorts of people. However, much of the criticism is hyperbolic and misses the point; which is, in my opinion, “how did we get here?”. Understanding that is important. I’ve unrolled an excellent thread from Twitter on that very topic, written by a person who doesn’t support RL, for your perusal.

And of course, until Bibi is tasked with forming the government (which I think will happen today or Sunday), and actually gets a coalition formed, we won’t know anything concrete. I can predict, however, that he will make a concerted effort to ensure RL doesn’t have any real power (nor, in fact, will any of his coalition partners whoever they may be). That is predicated on his past performance as leader, and is in fact key to his longevity at the helm. Time will tell.

And now for something completely different:

• An excellent article (from 2018) on The Theology of Foreign Policy, which gives insight into how the Left in the US is anti-Zionist while the center and Right is pro.
• Another article from 2018 explaining that Bolsonaro is not, in fact, a fascist, and how branding everyone as such is a problem.
• Kisin explains how you won’t stop climate change by consuming less.
• Mallen Baker on the most dangerous decade.
• Walsh interviews Tulsi Gabbard. She comes across as a reasonable adult: an endangered species, that is!
• Texas GOP house candidate pens a book about Anne Frank becoming Christian. Gevalt!
• And last but not least, my hometown of Los Angeles never disappoints! A $2 million bike-lane to nowhere.

Home news: not much really. We did have the contractor we spoke of last week come by. Now the outside storage unit has a serviceable door. He also started painting the entrance to our house: something we’ve considered doing for the past fifteen years. Well, better late than never! I also made another release of 8th. Both of us were trying to work, as usual.

Our weather was cool and pleasant all week, getting warm around noon but not overwhelming. More of the same for shabbat, with rain coming somewhere around the start of the next week.

This week’s shabbat menu includes:
homemade ḥalla, chicken soup, meatballs with okra, rice, various salatim, and date-walnut loaf.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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