Blog/April 2019/Apr 12th

April 12th

What a week!

Israel’s parliamentary election was held on Tuesday, after a months-long campaigning period which was even more “exuberant” than usual for our rough-and-tumble political scene. The polls leading up to the election showed a number of the smaller parties on the “right” gaining a lot of traction. The “New Right” was thought to get 6 or 7 seats, the upstart “Zehut” party was thought to get between 4 and 8, and was being considered the “king-maker” party.

Well: the polls were full of BS.

In the end, it was a nail-biter. Literally a few thousand votes decide the final results (the certified final results won’t be available until next week). But the current, almost-final results were surprising for those of us voting for small parties. Neither “New Right” nor “Zehut” even placed, let alone became “king-makers”. So much for pundits!

As you can see from the above link, the end result is that Bibi is well-placed to become the Prime Minister again (for the fourth consecutive time, the fifth time over his career). He can make a “bloc” of 65 “right-wing” seats, while his opponents, the “Blue and White” party, can at best make around 50 (excluding the Arab parties, who almost never join in a coalition). And that’s how it goes in Israeli politics: it’s not really the biggest party which wins, it’s the party which can forge a bigger coalition which wins. So Likud it is, almost certainly, as I predicted all along.

That said, there were some interesting things to note here:

First, the “Blue and White” party, which literally came out of nowhere, got nearly as many votes as Likud. Considering their lack of a platform, lack of eloquence, lack of charisma, and the fact that only one of the top four on their list had any prior political experience, I’m reading their impressive success as a big “FU” to Bibi. That’s a lot of people who voted “anyone but Bibi” (as I read it).
Second, polls don’t translate into votes. I believe the polls did accurately describe how people on the “right” felt they would have liked to have voted. But when they got to the ballot-box, they made the decision to go with the “stronger horse” instead of possibly “wasting” their vote on a smaller party.
Third, the death-knell of the Left can be heard. The “Labor” party dropped from 18 to 6 seats; you’ll recall that they once ruled the roost in Israel. The farther-Left “Meretz” also dropped, from 5 to 4 seats. The “Blue and White” party sucked away a lot of their voters, which goes to show that their base isn’t very strong.
Fourth, the ḥareidi parties’ base is very strong, and growing inevitably. That should be a concern for those of us who want to see less “welfare-state” in our government. The fact that a significant number of Arab Muslims also vote for “Shas” tells you something, I think.
Finally, don’t ever underestimate Bibi! Whether you like him or hate him (I’m more inclined to the latter), you have to agree he’s extremely adept at politics. He’s managed to sideline both Feiglin and Bennett (both of whom he hates viscerally), while increasing his political power, even while under threat of indictment. Amazing stuff, you’ve got to give credit where it’s due.

Israel on the moon!

Last night, Esther and I watched the live feed as the “Beresheet” lunar lander made its final approach to the moon. It was really cool to see — I remember watching the Apollo 11 landing, and this was just as exciting to me, but with much better pictures. Anyway, during the landing sequence, the main motor stopped for a number of seconds and the lander landed, but not in one piece. Space is tough, man; just a few meters per second above the maximum landing velocity, and you’re screwed. Nevertheless, it was an amazing achievement, especially for a (mostly) privately-funded enterprise. To the moon, Israel!

So Israel made it to the moon, but parked on it Israeli-style.

Other news:

Sarah’s adopted a cat, a cute little thing she’s named “Hermione”. Since she lives in a one-bedroom small apartment, she’s got to train the kitten carefully and well. So far, the kitten’s adopted her successfully and Sarah’s enjoying the ball of fluff.

Granddaughter Naomi is on the verge of walking. She skipped over the whole “crawling” thing; not because she’s terribly fastidious, but rather because she apparently didn’t see any need. Her brother does enough crawling for the two of them. But Big Sister will be walking (and talking) before her brother, I think.

Anyway, the weather is pretty delightful. Or rather, if there weren’t clouds of pollen it would be delightful. We’re looking forward to a warm to hot shabbat, with cold and rain appearing mid-week.

Last shabbat before pesaḥ this year, so we’re cleaning out the non-pesaḥ remnants! We’ll have:
freezer rolls, turkey soup, meat-loaf, grilled chicken breast, various salatim, and some kind of dessert.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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