2021 Israeli Elections IV: Now Without Netanyahu

[Angleter]

Netanyahu to consider legalising cannabis.

[Shrillland]

Netanyahu to consider legalising cannabis.

This is just desperation on his part. He knows he has to find some way to bring voters back to him, so he's going to try appealing to the young.

[Bear Stearns]

lol it's kind of funny how American politicians condemn racism in the U.S. but support the Likud party which promotes aggressive ethnoreligious nationalism.

[Novus America]

Netanyahu to consider legalising cannabis.

This is just desperation on his part. He knows he has to find some way to bring voters back to him, so he's going to try appealing to the young.

Also he knows his coalition (assuming it survives) would never pass it anyways.
It is promising something he cannot deliver.

[Novus America]

lol it's kind of funny how American politicians condemn racism in the U.S. but support the Likud party which promotes aggressive ethnoreligious nationalism.

It is not like all American politicians like Likud.
No doubt many want Likud to lose. Netanyahu has not been a great friend of the US.
In his foreign minister’s stupid and counterproductive insult fight with Poland the US supported Poland. No doubt most politicians would want a more stable and reliable PM.
But the US is not going to openly pick sides in Israeli elections.

Simply try to work with whoever wins.

[Len Hyet]

lol it's kind of funny how American politicians condemn racism in the U.S. but support the Likud party which promotes aggressive ethnoreligious nationalism.

Isn't funny how politicians realpolitik.

[Angleter]

Rockets fired from Gaza towards Tel Aviv.

[Shrillland]

Rockets fired from Gaza towards Tel Aviv.

That's not exactly anything new, and I doubt Netanyahu will be able to use this to turn it around now.

[North German Realm]

Rockets fired from Gaza towards Tel Aviv.

That's a common occurrence at this point. It's not likely for anyone to use it as a publicity stunt, though the Pro-Muslim groups may find themselves losing some support -though I doubt it.

[Bahktar]

Just curious, how are ratings coming up?
I heard that, for now, it is a toss up between Likud and Kachol Lavan?

[Militarized Algerstonia]

We can’t let the COMMIES win folks

[Shrillland]

Just curious, how are ratings coming up?
I heard that, for now, it is a toss up between Likud and Kachol Lavan?

Well, Kavhol Lavan's still leading the overall polls, but Likud has the larger coalition so far. 56-59 seats for the current Likud-led coalition versus 42-48 for Kavhol Lavan's planned coalition.

[Angleter]

Just curious, how are ratings coming up?
I heard that, for now, it is a toss up between Likud and Kachol Lavan?

I've just updated the polling average in the OP. Kachol Lavan are polling slightly ahead of Likud. However, Netanyahu and his usual allies are currently projected to get a slim majority.

---

I've added some possible blocs to the polling average in the OP, but they are very much subject to change. We don't know, for example, whether Kulanu would support Netanyahu again.

[CrvenaParsa]

Here's is to hoping that Hamas wins lol.

Any White Person who supports Zionism but is against White Nationalism should be shot.

[The Feylands]

Netanyahu to consider legalising cannabis.

Have to say I sort of agree.. at least on a medical basis. My own country is jailing sick people and ruining young peoples lives for no good reason. Substance addiction should be treated as a medical issue.. really.

That being said, if I was Israeli, I'm not sure I would trust Likud. They've been way to liberal and naively accommodating in the past. Let's not forget that it was Ariel Sharon who ordered to make Gaza "judenrein" and even had people dig up Jewish graves to accomplish that.

I have a quite close friend who is an Israeli citizen and she has always supported Naftali Bennett, And I trust her judgement.

[Angleter]

Michael Ben-Ari, leader of the extreme-right Otzma Yehudit (running as part of the United Right-Wing Parties) has been banned from running in the elections by the Supreme Court, on the grounds of incitement to racism. This is the first time that the Supreme Court has used this power since 1992, when the extreme-right Kahane Chai party was banned from running, and the first time ever that a specific individual has been banned.

Ben-Ari had previously been allowed to run multiple times, and even served in the Knesset between 2009 and 2013. However, the Supreme Court based their decision on more recent comments. The other Otzma candidate on the United Right-Wing Parties list, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is allowed to run, and since he's now moved up to 7th on the list, he could still be elected. Ben-Gvir is a lawyer best known for defending his fellow extremists in court.

It's quite common for the Central Elections Committee to ban both Kahanist parties like Otzma, and Arab nationalist parties like Balad (as they did this year), but the Supreme Court almost always overturns these rulings, and it's rare for someone to actually be banned. Balad were banned by the Central Elections Committee on the grounds that they allegedly oppose Israel as a Jewish state and support terrorism (one former Balad MK is in prison for smuggling phones to jailed terrorists, and another fled to Qatar to avoid charges of spying for Hezbollah), but the Supreme Court has allowed them to run.

The fact that Ben-Ari has been banned, but Balad and all of its candidates have been allowed to run, will no doubt upset right-wingers who believe that the judiciary has a left-wing bias. Ayelet Shaked of the New Right, who was Justice Minister in the last government, has blasted the decision, which you'd expect – but then, she's spent the last four years claiming to be correcting the judiciary's alleged bias, and it's not clear whether this will help or hurt her and her party.

[Bienenhalde]

Here's is to hoping that Hamas wins lol.

Any White Person who supports Zionism but is against White Nationalism should be shot.

But the Jews are a specific ethnic group with a specific culture. White is a broad pseudo-scientific, pseudo-biological category that includes many different cultures and ethnicities.

[The Feylands]

(and what's wrong with Rabbi Meir Kahane......? the man was the freaking inspiration behind Magneto in X-Men... ☼.☼)

Eh. All right. I certainly wouldn't want to live in a Jewish theocracy. I'm against violence in general. But still... I'd enjoy some kind of thoughtful and nuanced discussion about the man... one more so than just screaming "waaaa this or that guy is a dangerous kahanist!!". Kahane really loved his people in a honestly quite inspiring way (look him up on Youtube) and didn't want the Jewish people subject to random torture, mutilation and death in their own land. And I don't think anyone has seriously been able to answer his question on whenever non-Jews would be allowed to become the majority (peacefully) and vote Israel out of existence?

People don't want to hear this... but I don't think any sort of peace can be reached apart from one that includes a population transfer of most so-called Palestinians out of the former mandate of Palestine. The same happened when Serbs created a state in Croatia during the Yugoslav wars and expelled nearly all the Croats. In the end, they got booted out in a matter of weeks. Was that "fair" to every individual in that group? Probably not. But the conflict was over and never to return, and I presume that the Croatian state felt a duty to protect the future of the Croatian people.

Sadly... most other western countries do not feel the same. Including Israel. Sadly. No matter what the tinfoil hats claim.

It's even more sad considering that the genius of the Jewish people is never left alone after all they had to go through back in X-tian Europe. Think of all the potential wasted there...

(funfact: I'm like 1/8 of a German Jew myself )

[Angleter]

In 'parties releasing weird election ads for attention' news, the New Right have made a perfume ad for fascism.

The idea behind it is that Ayelet Shaked, the Justice Minister and New Right co-leader, has been accused by centre-left parties of 'fascism' for her proposals for judicial reform. Shaked believes that the Israeli judiciary is an overly powerful, unaccountable institution which left-wing judges abuse to promote their agenda despite voters repeatedly rejecting it in elections; and therefore she wants to limit the judiciary's power, make it more accountable to the Knesset, and appoint more conservative judges. One of her recent proposals is having Supreme Court judges approved by the Knesset, like the Senate does in the USA. Centre-left parties see this as a replica of what right-wing populist governments have done in Poland and Hungary, and believe that Shaked wants to pack the judiciary with conservatives and kneecap its ability to challenge government policies.

So the video has Shaked listing her policies while spraying herself with a perfume bottle labelled 'fascism' for 30 seconds, before the big twist at the end where she says 'smells like democracy to me'. Which is all well and good, but the video still does consist of 30 seconds advertising fascist perfume. And the only thing international viewers will pick up from it (without subtitles) is the bit at the start where Shaked is standing next to the massive words 'FASCISM by Ayelet Shaked'.

Anyway, it appears to have succeeded in getting the New Right some of that precious, precious, attention, so there we go.

---

Kulanu, who are even more desperate for attention as they're on the verge of losing all their seats, have released an ad with farting hippos, made-up English words, and a typo that I think is probably unintentional. And another one saying everyone else is crazy, with other candidates mocked-up as cheerleaders and in straitjackets (the whole 'changing attitudes to mental health' thing doesn't appear to have reached Kulanu HQ yet). Kulanu's slogan is 'the sane right'.

[Bahktar]

In 'parties releasing weird election ads for attention' news, the New Right have made a perfume ad for fascism.

The idea behind it is that Ayelet Shaked, the Justice Minister and New Right co-leader, has been accused by centre-left parties of 'fascism' for her proposals for judicial reform. Shaked believes that the Israeli judiciary is an overly powerful, unaccountable institution which left-wing judges abuse to promote their agenda despite voters repeatedly rejecting it in elections; and therefore she wants to limit the judiciary's power, make it more accountable to the Knesset, and appoint more conservative judges. One of her recent proposals is having Supreme Court judges approved by the Knesset, like the Senate does in the USA. Centre-left parties see this as a replica of what right-wing populist governments have done in Poland and Hungary, and believe that Shaked wants to pack the judiciary with conservatives and kneecap its ability to challenge government policies.

So the video has Shaked listing her policies while spraying herself with a perfume bottle labelled 'fascism' for 30 seconds, before the big twist at the end where she says 'smells like democracy to me'. Which is all well and good, but the video still does consist of 30 seconds advertising fascist perfume. And the only thing international viewers will pick up from it (without subtitles) is the bit at the start where Shaked is standing next to the massive words 'FASCISM by Ayelet Shaked'.

Anyway, it appears to have succeeded in getting the New Right some of that precious, precious, attention, so there we go.

---

Kulanu, who are even more desperate for attention as they're on the verge of losing all their seats, have released an ad with farting hippos, made-up English words, and a typo that I think is probably unintentional. And another one saying everyone else is crazy, with other candidates mocked-up as cheerleaders and in straitjackets (the whole 'changing attitudes to mental health' thing doesn't appear to have reached Kulanu HQ yet). Kulanu's slogan is 'the sane right'.

Hilarious. I wish my country had some hilarious electoral ads.
Though I guess it's a bit funny that in the 1990s we almost elected a German as Prime Minister who bribed his voters with bananas.

I'm not really sure on the stance of Israeli parties, but the only thing I'm personally certain is that Likud needs to go out, especially Netanyahu. The advertisement by Kulanu is especially hilarious and I think it just makes them even more a joke than a serious party vying for power. I suppose the ad by Shaked isn't meant for foreigners, but I still find it pretty hilarious. I suppose Shaked is apart of the Likud-aligned political parties and is probably even more rightist?

Having Supreme Court judges appointed by the Knesset.. yeah, let's turn the Supreme Court into a political body which is losing it's trust just like the USA. Not a good idea.

[Phoenicaea]

the post and the argument is good, so no fault of the author i haven t understood. i send condolensence to you for the fatigued health of your political model that you denounce.

a thing. that reminds me of the italian parliament, few years before the 'Berlusconi regime'. the political right of voting not in a farse, was then abolished, as representatives are listed.

the country has never gained heatlh since, and nowadays representatives are picked from a list, so that you know them elected before the election, and vote can t reasonably count.

the suggestion is you should riot soon, or this mess will be the school-case to reshuffle the republic in a grotesque middle-east 'leaderistic' elective monarchy.

[The Feylands]

In 'parties releasing weird election ads for attention' news, the New Right have made a perfume ad for fascism.

The idea behind it is that Ayelet Shaked, the Justice Minister and New Right co-leader, has been accused by centre-left parties of 'fascism' for her proposals for judicial reform. Shaked believes that the Israeli judiciary is an overly powerful, unaccountable institution which left-wing judges abuse to promote their agenda despite voters repeatedly rejecting it in elections; and therefore she wants to limit the judiciary's power, make it more accountable to the Knesset, and appoint more conservative judges. One of her recent proposals is having Supreme Court judges approved by the Knesset, like the Senate does in the USA. Centre-left parties see this as a replica of what right-wing populist governments have done in Poland and Hungary, and believe that Shaked wants to pack the judiciary with conservatives and kneecap its ability to challenge government policies.

So the video has Shaked listing her policies while spraying herself with a perfume bottle labelled 'fascism' for 30 seconds, before the big twist at the end where she says 'smells like democracy to me'. Which is all well and good, but the video still does consist of 30 seconds advertising fascist perfume. And the only thing international viewers will pick up from it (without subtitles) is the bit at the start where Shaked is standing next to the massive words 'FASCISM by Ayelet Shaked'.

Anyway, it appears to have succeeded in getting the New Right some of that precious, precious, attention, so there we go.

---

Kulanu, who are even more desperate for attention as they're on the verge of losing all their seats, have released an ad with farting hippos, made-up English words, and a typo that I think is probably unintentional. And another one saying everyone else is crazy, with other candidates mocked-up as cheerleaders and in straitjackets (the whole 'changing attitudes to mental health' thing doesn't appear to have reached Kulanu HQ yet). Kulanu's slogan is 'the sane right'.

Felt a little jealous. Shaked is like two decades older than me but have the looks like she could be my big sister... who is about 2,5 years older than myself.

I knew it! Jews really have superpowers.

Seriously though... that was kind of fun. It's good to see someone on the right not drop to her knees and beg for mercy over such accusations. Which is a really bad thing to do because you can never appease a bully enough.

[Angleter]

Hilarious. I wish my country had some hilarious electoral ads.
Though I guess it's a bit funny that in the 1990s we almost elected a German as Prime Minister who bribed his voters with bananas.

Which country is that?!

[Bahktar]

Hilarious. I wish my country had some hilarious electoral ads.
Though I guess it's a bit funny that in the 1990s we almost elected a German as Prime Minister who bribed his voters with bananas.

Which country is that?!

I was incorrect, but the guys' coalition member was one shy vote of Prime Minister. He had really crazy proposals and, well, it was silly.

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/17/worl ... A9&gwt=pay
https://books.google.lv/books?id=wXxaCw ... as&f=false

I'm not sure how much of this true and I mean, some of it is probably biased. But more or less, I think the nineties, Latvia was done with the USSR and was easy prey to populist cause and seemed to think anything foreign is a good thing.
Of course, it didn't happen thankfully.

Either way, back to topic.

It seems to me that either it's going to be a Knesset with a coalition hard to form or a Likud coalition victory, at the way the projections look now. Shame.

[Angleter]

Trump has announced that it's time the US recognised the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. This just happens to come less than three weeks before the election, and a day after Netanyahu asked Mike Pompeo to recognise the Golan as Israeli.

The Golan is a strategic strip of mountainous territory that Israel gained from Syria in the Six Day War. Prior to that it was used by Syrian-backed fedayeen as a base to attack or bombard the Israeli towns below. Israel annexed the territory in 1981 and it's pretty much a consensus issue in Israeli politics (for everyone right of Meretz, at least) that Israel will hold onto it forever.

The fact that Trump has decided to do this now strongly suggests that he wants to help out Netanyahu in the elections, and it may well work. This wouldn't be the first time that a US President has interfered in Israeli elections - in 1996, Bill Clinton unsuccessfully attempted to stop Netanyahu, although he was at least relatively subtle about it.