On the 15th anniversary of Israel's flight from southern Lebanon, Arutz Sheva discusses the role of former radio broadcaster and current Labor party MK Shelley Yachimovitch in bringing about the order to surrender.
Yechimovich, who grew up in a communist household and admitted to
having voted for the communist party in at least one national election,
started her journalistic career as a reporter for now defunct radical
socialist newspaper Al Hamishmar.
She ascended to dominance as an activistic journalist who became
known as a leading spokesperson for radical feminism – a creed also
referred to as genderism, and defined by neo-conservative Professor Ruth
Wisse as “if not the most extreme then certainly the most influential
neo-Marxist movement in America” – which was imported into Israel in the
1970s and 80s.
Yechimovich's genius was the framing of demands for withdrawal from
the IDF's self-styled security belt in Lebanon as products of a
"feminine wisdom" that was lost upon Israel's “macho” decision-makers.
By doing so, she brought the considerable power of Israel's genderist
journalists into play, and these were joined by male journalists, too,
in a uniform chorus clamoring for a swift retreat.
Another editor in Kol Yisrael's newsroom, Dr. Hanan Naveh, would later disclose in a public speech that three editors in Kol Yisrael's
newsroom had decided to bring about the withdrawal of the IDF from
Lebanon. He mentioned Yechimovich and her colleague, Military Affairs
Reporter Carmela Menashe, as spearheading the effort. Naveh made clear
that Kol Yisrael amplified reports on casualties and setbacks
suffered by the IDF in southern Lebanon. This reporting sapped public
support for the war effort.
Through near-daily interviews, Yechimovich and Menashe succeeded in
turning a tiny group of four peaceniks from northern kibbutzim – the
Four Mothers – into a hugely influential movement. This campaign began
in 1997 and kept going until the withdrawal from Lebanon.
Israel Radio has behaved in this manner regarding other issues. It's no secret that Israel's government-funded broadcast media is particularly Leftist. For that matter, so are other parts of the Israeli media. And while Yachmiovich gets a lot of 'credit' for keeping the 'Four Mothers' campaign in the news, she's far from the only one at fault.
At the end of the day, Israel's media makes the news rather than reporting on it and displays an extreme left-wing bias. While Yachimovich was guilty of giving the Four Mothers far more exposure than they deserved, she was far from the only one at fault. Many others had the opportunity to stop the bias or to give alternative explanations an opportunity to be heard.
Labor party says it's going to opposition, Netanyahu may already have a coalition
More tweets from Israel Radio's Chico Menashe.
@Syechimovich ל@perez_esty : לו היה תיקו הייתי שוקלת ללכת לאחדות. משזה לא קרה- העם אמר את דברו ורוצה את נתניהו בראשות הממשלה.
— chico menashe (@chicomenashe) March 23, 2015
Translation: Former Labor party leader (and Israel Radio broadcaster) Shelly Yacimovich says that the people have spoken, that they want Netanyahu to be the leader, and that her party will be going to the opposition.
A similar announcement came this morning from Yair Lapid regarding his Yesh Atid party.
In the meantime, Prime Minister Netanyahu may already have enough MK's for a coalition.
Kahlon rejects Herzog offer & nominates Netanyahu for Phase 2. BB clinches with 61. Liberman could bring him to 68.
— Jeremy Man Saltan (@TheJeremyMan) March 23, 2015
Of course, he'd still have to get them all to agree on ministries....
In any event, it sounds like President Rivlin's push for a national unity government is already a failure. And that's good news for Israel.
Massive entitlement slash for Haredim, massive tax increase to help keep socialism running
Just when you thought that Israel could not get any more incompetent than having a finance minister who is a former television host who admits that he knows nothing about economics, Yair Lapid actually gets to implement his policies. After announcing last week that he is increasing spending on the socialist enterprise to make sure the Haredim fall further behind economically, he's now announcing that he's increasing taxes because that increased spending has to be paid for.
Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s draft budget will increase income taxes by
1.5% starting in 2014 and boost 2013 spending by 7% in real terms, the
largest budget increase of all the OECD countries.
The draft
budget, released Monday, took extraordinary measures to allow greater
spending and a large deficit in 2013 due to its late passage and “the
resultant limited ability of the government to make necessary
adjustments to spending and revenue,” but pegged 2014 as a year for the
return to fiscal responsibility.
For the 2013 budget, Lapid set
the deficit limit at 4.65% of GDP, and stretched the allowed growth over
the previous year (NIS 9.5b) by an additional one-time 2.2% splurge
(NIS 6.5b), which alongside an increase in prices (NIS 3.8b.) brought
the overall budget to NIS 304.5b. In real terms, that growth amounts to a
7% increase over 2012, the highest in Israel in the past decade and
among all OECD countries for this year.
At the same time, Value
Added Tax (VAT) will increase one percent to 18%. The 2013 budget also reduces
exemptions, simplifies the tax mechanism for retirement savings, adds
taxes on cigarettes and alcohol and installs new housing taxes.
Reintroducing “fiscal restraint” with a 3% deficit in 2014, however, required further tax hikes.
That
year, income taxes will increase 1.5% across the board, bringing the
highest rate to 49.5%. Corporate taxes will also increase one percent to 26%.
What you all don't realize is that the 49.5% rate kicks in at about $4,000 per month, which makes us one of the highest taxed countries in the world. And that's without counting Bituach Leumi (like social security but a lot more people get paid small amounts) and the health tax (for our socialized health care). For once I find myself agreeing with Shelly Yacimovitch.
Opposition leader Shelly
Yacimovich on Tuesday criticized Lapid for the
draft budget, saying the proposed cuts represent "cruelty, backstabbing
the public and mainly a bitter economic mistake which does not bring a
single shred of good news."
The Labor leader called the plan one of "depression and hard hits and not a growth plan."
She stated that Lapid was continuing the mistake which had led to the budget deficit, failing to sufficiently tax "big capital."
Yacimovich
slammed Lapid for contradicting his campaign rhetoric which slammed
"the old politicians" for raising taxes on the middle class.
The biggest companies in the country pay almost no taxes because the government is 'afraid they'll leave,' so instead we have a brain drain of high tech geniuses moving abroad.
Why successive Israeli governments have feared a referendum on a 'peace treaty'
The Prime Minister and much of the Likud component of Likud-Beiteinu favors a public referendum on any agreement that turns land over to the 'Palestinians.' The usual suspects are opposed, and the 'Jewish Home' cannot make up its mind.
"I support and respect the process, because if we reach a diplomatic
agreement, it can't pass with a happenstance majority [in the Knesset],"
Netanyahu said at a Likud faction meeting.
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman, however, said that he is not
a proponent of the idea, but would support it if the coalition does.
"A referendum is a way of running away from making decisions," he stated.
The
issue of a referendum on a peace treaty rose earlier this week, as
Economics and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett hopes to turn the existing
law into a basic law, giving it constitutional status.
The current
law, proposed by coalition chairman Yariv Levin (Likud Beytenu)
requires a referendum on any treaty that includes giving up land under
Israeli sovereignty. This means that a referendum would not be necessary
to give the Palestinian Authority control over more of the West Bank,
but would be required to authorize land swaps.
In addition, the
Bayit Yehudi has yet to submit a bill on the topic and has not clarified
whether making Levin's bill a basic law would suffice for the party, or
if they would want to expand it.
...
"A referendum only gives the nation veto power. It doesn't let
citizens overturn the Knesset's decision if it rejects a peace treaty,"
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said.
Livni added that she believes the public will support a peace treaty, and if not, it can vote in a new government.
"I don't fear the public, but it's [the government's] job to make decisions," she stated.
Leader
of the Opposition Shelly Yacimovich (Labor) pointed out that Israel is a
representative democracy, and that every few years citizens vote for
parties they support, which are supposed to make decisions.
"There
is not a hint of democracy behind the idea of a referendum specifically
about a diplomatic treaty," she said. "The opposite is true. The
selectiveness [in referendum topics] speaks for itself."
These are precisely the issues. With all that Israelis supposedly 'want' a 'two-state solution,' when you get specific, very few actually are willing to pay the price that 'everyone knows' we would pay - which is not enough to satisfy the 'Palestinians' anyway.
Saying that we could vote out the government if it made a peace deal Israelis didn't like is meaningless; it would be shutting the barn door after the cow has escaped.
And calling Israel's government representative is questionable at best and farcical at worst, given that you can only vote for a party into whose slate you have no input.
The three parties together have two more MKs than Likud
Beytenu, and will not join the coalition if their demands are not met. However
if they receive two of the three top-tier portfolios, they will support Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for a full, four-year term, according to the source.
Netanyahu is holding the Foreign Ministry for Yisrael Beiteinu's Avigdor Lieberman.
Those two extra seats could be significant, because they raise the possibility that if Netanyahu cannot form a government, President Shimon Peres could ask Lapid, Bennett and Mofaz to form a government instead, rather than going to new elections.
I don't believe that the three could form a government. To form a government without the Likud, you would have to take in either the Haredim or the Arabs. Lapid will not sit the Haredim. And if Bennett were to agree to sit with the Arabs, his party will be eviscerated in the next elections. There has never been an Arab party as part of Israel's governing coalition (there have been Arab MK's the coalition as members of Jewish parties, but that's different).
Might Netanyahu try again to turn to Shelly Yacimovitch and the Haredim? Well, yes, but Yacimovitch (Labor) seems unlikely to respond favorably.
Meanwhile,
Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein said on Wednesday that there is nothing
barring Netanyahu from reserving the portfolio for Yisrael Beytenu chairman
Avigdor Liberman until the trial against him is resolved.
A prime
minister can hold additional portfolios at his will and even without an
“arrangement,” the prime minister could give Liberman any post at any time
(presuming he is found innocent in the trial against him), the attorney-general
said. Weinstein added that all of the issues involved in the portfolio question
were political and not legal, giving him no reason to get
involved.
Further, he rejected any concern that Liberman “hovering” over
the future of the Foreign Ministry would pressure ministry workers into changing
their testimony against Liberman, out of concern that he might retaliate in the
future.
Weinstein announced his position on the issue, in response to a
request from Labor MK Merav Michaeli and OMETZ watchdog group head Aryeh Avneri
to rule on the issue and demand a commitment from Netanyahu not to follow
through with the alleged backroom agreement.
I'd be surprised - okay not astounded but surprised - if Labor agreed to go into a coalition where the Foreign Ministry was being held for Lieberman.
By the way, Lapid is denying that he issued an ultimatum. But JPost reporter Lahav Harkov has him figured out.
Yesh Atid
leader Yair Lapid denied Wednesday night that Yesh Atid and Bayit
Yehudi had given Netanyahu an ultimatum over portfolios.
In a
Facebook post, Lapid wrote that "it is not true and not
honorable...Netanyahu is the one forming the government and neither of
us would give an ultimatum to the prime minister."
Lapid has a penchant for dealing in semantics. Last week, the Yesh
Atid leader said he does not boycott any person, including haredim, but
that he refuses to sit in a government with Shas or UTJ.
Here we go: Haredi UTJ party proposes law to disband Knesset
There isn't a coalition yet and already someone wants new elections. United Torah Judaism MK Uri Maklev has introduced a bill in the Knesset calling to disband the Knesset and go to new elections. The bill has been co-sponsored by his entire seven-member faction. The bill states that the reason for its introduction is that "upon the opening of coalition negotiations, Jewish Home and Yesh Atid announced that they were boycotting the Haredi parties" (link in Hebrew).
The article states that Maklev's argument is that Netanyahu is being forced to establish a coalition he doesn't want, that Bennett and Lapid are inexperienced (which is true) and that they are acting out of hatred (which is also probably true) and in disregard of minority rights.
"This government will act as a government within a government and will not be able to deal with the burning issues on the agenda... and will endanger the country's economic and national security future...."
You might view this bill as a protest bill, but if it's brought to a vote and fails, no similar bill can be reintroduced for six months.
Israel HaYom, the Adelson-owned free daily newspaper that is close to Prime Minister Netanyahu, is reporting that the Prime Minister may be about to pull a rabbit out of his hat in the coalition negotiations. The rabbit is named Shelly Yacimovich.
But not everyone shares these
assessments. The haredi newspaper "Mishpacha" reported on Monday that
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his coalition negotiating
team to make huge efforts to bring Labor's Shelly Yachimovich into his
coalition. "Hamishpacha" reported that Netanyahu told Yachimovich that
she had until the end of this week to present her positions for entering
the government, and that the Labor party chairwoman is apparently
drawing up such a document. Should Yechimovich enter the government,
Netanyahu could form a government with Labor [15], the haredi parties
[18], Tzippi Livni's Hatnuah [6], Kadima [2] as well as the
Likud-Yisrael Beytenu list [31], to give him 72 Knesset seats. With
that, Netanyahu could leave both Yesh Atid and Habayit Hayehudi out of
the government.
According to the paper, Netanyahu told the three heads
of the Shas party at a meeting on Sunday that "I am meeting with you for
one purpose, and that is to get your help in getting Yechimovich into
the coalition."
Nevertheless, Netanyahu and Habayit Hayehudi
Chairman Naftali Bennett met on Sunday amid inter-party tensions that
have mired the most recent coalition negotiations. Both the prime
minister and the Habayit Hayehudi chairman, who have often been
described as at odds for personal and political reasons, described the
meeting as "pleasant and practical."
Bennett has requested the Finance Ministry
portfolio, while Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid will likely insist on
becoming the next foreign minister.
Habayit Hayehudi did not disclose the details of the meeting.
Netanyahu has a pact with Avigdor Lieberman that he will hold the Foreign Ministry for the Yisrael Beiteinu chairman until the latter's legal problems are resolved. Will he give the ministry to Lapid anyway? Not if he has another alternative.
In the meantime, the Haredi daily Yated Neeman (Hebrew edition) reports in Tuesday's editions on a threat by the Degel HaTorah faction of United Torah Judaism to expose where the billions really go if the yeshivas are harmed by the new government. They are in a position to make a credible threat like that. Degel MK Moshe Gafni has been the chair of the Knesset Finance Committee for some time now. It is widely believed that among those billions are some of the smaller 'outposts' in Judea and Samaria. However, the billions also likely include several pet projects of the Left. After all, 'socialism' is still not a dirty word in this country.
So watch Netanyahu pull a rabbit out of his hat, but remember that Trix are for kids... and sometimes for silly rabbits.
In an earlier post, I reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu is fearful that Yair Lapid will undermine or topple his government from the inside, and that is why he is trying to exclude the Haredim from the government. Lapid asked Netanyahu on Monday night to trust him.
“We will not undermine you or topple you,” Lapid told Netanyahu. “We
want the next government to serve out its term. We have goals to reach
and accomplishments to achieve. Do not worry.”
A source connected
to Likud Beytenu’s negotiating team downplayed the message from Lapid
and said it could not be taken seriously if it was delivered via the
press. He said he did not know whether the prime minister had also
received it directly.
Earlier, Lapid complained to his faction
that no negotiations were taking place with his party. He expressed
frustration that Likud Beytenu wanted to talk about ministerial
appointments rather than the government’s principles.
“What
matters is not portfolios but where Netanyahu wants to lead the nation,
to what goals, and according to what values,” Lapid said.
“Once he knows that, it will be easy to form a government.”
Bayit Yehudi party leader Naftali Bennett, who also faced Netanyahu’s wrath in his talk with Likud ministers, joined Lapid’s complaint about the lack of negotiations.
...
A senior Likud official responding to Bennett said that there have
been negotiations with his party on all the key issues, including
equalizing the draft, the peace process and security. The official said
Bayit Yehudi was offered to be the first party to join the government
but it rejected the offer and said it would not join a coalition without
Yesh Atid.
Likud officials maintained hope that if Yesh Atid and
Bayit Yehudi were left out of the coalition, Labor could join instead,
perhaps with Yacimovich becoming finance minister and acting Knesset
Speaker Binyamin Ben-Eliezer maintaining his current job. But Labor
leader Shelly Yacimovich said unequivocally that joining the government
was not an option for her party.
“There is a huge gap between us and Netanyahu,” she said.
Labor party leader Shelly Yacimovich has apparently been offered the Finance Ministry if she brings her Labor party into the coalition according to a report in the Jerusalem Post which is not being denied by the Likud.
When Dana Weiss, host of Channel 2’s Meet the Press,
asked Ya’alon if Netanyahu wants the haredim in his coalition so badly that he
would offer Yacimovich the Finance Ministry despite their opposing economic
opinions, he responded: “It’s not about the haredim. It’s so we can have the
widest coalition possible.”
Labor declined to comment on what Netanyahu
offered Yacimovich at their meeting, saying only that the prime minister invited
her to his home and that despite the meeting taking place in a pleasant
atmosphere, the gaps between their worldviews are too great, and Labor will
remain in the opposition.
Well, maybe. But giving Labor the Finance Ministry would be a disaster for the country.
In the meantime, the 'widest coalition possible' is looking more and more like 61 (Likud 31, Jewish Home 12, Shas 11, United Torah Judaism 7).
Ya’alon continued his party’s
efforts to break up the agreement between Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett
and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid in an attempt to bring the former into a
coalition with the haredim and leave the latter out.
Although the vice
premier denied reports that he is part of a team appointed specifically to meet
that goal, he listed reasons that he thought the pact between the parties was
“strange,” as he described it.
“Equality in the burden [of national
service] is what unites Yesh Atid and Bayit Yehudi against the haredim? That
sounds totally strange,” Ya’alon commented.
“They have a treaty that does
not reflect their basic interests.”
“Bayit Yehudi is the only party, as
far as I know, to get a serious offer [in coalition talks],” Ya’alon said, in
reference to Likud Beytenu offering Bayit Yehudi four portfolios, including
Education and a deputy defense minister, last week.
At the time, Bayit
Yehudi said it had originally heard about the offer on the news.
A day
later it was received through official Likud Beytenu channels, and Bayit Yehudi
turned it down. The party said it wants to deal with issues before
portfolios.
“If, in the end, Bayit Yehudi is out of the coalition despite
all we offered them, who will really have paid a political price?” he
asked.
Ya’alon repeated that his party is seeking the “broadest, most
stable coalition, which is what the prime minister wants,” and is not counting
out any party.
“There can’t be talks where people say ‘we just don’t want
haredim,’” he said.
“Likud Beytenu doesn’t leave anyone out.”
And who wants to leave the Haredim out? Why that lover of Haredim, Yair Lapid, of course.
On
Thursday, Channel 10 quoted Lapid as saying his political career would be over
if he were in the same government as Shas.
In the end, I would bet on the Haredim being out and on Netanyahu going in with Lapid and Bennett. It won't last long. And any attempt to forcefully draft the Haredim will end in disaster.
Must see: Shimon Peres on the elections and the campaigners behind the election ads
His objective Excellence Shimon Peres in an official interview and the
Tribal Update's cameras go behind the scenes to the inner sanctum of the
election campaigns: the parties' ad agencies.
Let's go to the videotape.
Come on - wasn't it great watching Shimon Peres pee in the pool? :-)
Yuval Diskin tells all and the Left's game of trust
This week on the Tribal Update, Yuval Diskin exposes Netanyahu's true
character, we bring you a behind the scenes look at the attempted
unification between the three competing leftist parties, and Habayit
Hahyehudi's advertising campaign is revealed.
Could President Peres foil the will of the Israeli voter?
Israel's Presidency is supposed to be a ceremonial, non-political position. But Ezer Weizmann, who was President until 2000, often intervened in politics, and during the past seven years, Shimon Peres has only made matters worse. Now, with Peres' term ending this spring, he has one last ceremonial task to perform: To name the Knesset member who gets the first chance to form a government.
Traditionally, that role has always gone to the head of the slate that garnered the most seats in the elections. But four years ago, it was obvious that Tzipi Livni, the head of Kadima, would not be able to form a new government, despite having the largest party by one seat, and so the task was placed on Binyamin Netanyahu. So the President does have some discretion.
Now, with Likud-Beiteinu showing up as the largest party by far in the polls, Peres is being accused of trying to encourage the formation of a Center-Left bloc on whom he could bestow the first chance of forming a government.
Two newspapers on Sunday quoted unnamed senior Likud ministers on their front page, who claim that President Peres is driving the recent moves toward greater coordination
between leaders of the three main center-left parties – which
culminated last night in a three-way meeting between Shelly Yacimovich,
Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid. The anonymous Likudniks believe that Peres
is trying to create a situation where immediately after the elections,
Labor, Hatnuah and Yesh Atid join forces to create one parliamentary
bloc larger than Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu. This will allow Peres to give
the bloc's leader, rather than Netanyahu, the first chance to form a
coalition. Such a scenario currently seems less than feasible. But no
one has denied that Peres met with the three leaders separately in
recent days though his spokeswoman vehemently denied that he was
involved in politics in any way.
The denials, of course, are rather disingenuous. This is Peres' second
election campaign as president. During the previous campaign, he seemed a
lot more sanguine about Netanyahu's inevitable victory and spent the
months leading up to the vote in talks with world leaders, trying to
persuade them that Bibi had changed and he was much more moderate than
he was during his first term in the 1990s. I remember during his state
visit to Britain in November 2008, Peres' aides were very open about how
he was promoting Netanyahu at Downing Street, months before he was
elected. Now it seems he has lost hope in the candidate-turned-prime
minister. It is widely believed that Peres is the "senior national
figure" who was quoted two weeks ago in Yedioth Ahronoth warning of the
dire implications of another Netanyahu term for Israel's foreign
relations. Now he seems to be giving the opposition valuable
behind-the-scenes support.
To be sure, there's nothing new about this. The president's official
neutrality has often been compromised. No one knows this better than
Peres who, as Labor leader in 1990, was given a second chance to form a
coalition by his former party colleague, President Chaim Herzog, though
it was clear by then that he had no chance of commanding the necessary
majority. Three weeks later, it was Likud leader Yitzhak Shamir who
emerged as prime minister. Peres is also not the first president to
interfere on Netanyahu's watch. In 1996, frustrated at Netanyahu's
intransigence on the peace process, President Ezer Weizman took the
unorthodox -- and what many at the time saw as unconstitutional -- step
of inviting PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to visit him at his private
residence in Caesarea.
Some, including Livni, have urged Peres to resign and openly lead the
opposition against Netanyahu. But at age 89 and after five-and-a-half
years as president, he is loath to jeopardize his hard-won public
popularity. So Peres keeps up the show of the president of all Israelis.
Sometime next month, he will welcome Netanyahu to his office, smile for
the cameras and yet again task him with forming a government.
Or will he? At the moment, the polls show the three Center-Left parties as being close to the same number as Likud-Beiteinu. The Right still leads on the whole, but the Likud is dropping in the polls and hemorrhaging votes to Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home party. And that's why Bibi's in a panic.
Great news: Bennett positioning himself to go into coalition with 'Center-Left'
And you thought that by voting for Naftali Bennett's Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party, you would stop Prime Minister Netanyahu from going into a coalition with Livni, Lapid and Yachimovitch. Well, you were wrong.
Turning to the Palestinian track, Bennett refused to declare he would
not sit in a government engaging with negotiation with the
Palestinians, indicating that he would be open to joining a possible
coalition with parties on the Center-Left. In an Channel 2 interview broadcast in part on Saturday, Netanyahu expressed a preference for forming this type of "wide coalition."
"My position is that there will not ever be a Palestinian state between the Jordan and the [Mediterranean] Sea," Bennett added.
Negotiating with which 'Palestinians' over what, then?
This will do wonders for the polling numbers of Eldad and Ben Ari (Otzma l'Yisrael) and might even help the Likud.
Idiot: Netanyahu happy to go into coalition with parties on Left, still thinks his battle is with the Right
Remarks made by Prime Minister Netanyahu in an interview with Channel 2 on Saturday are likely to drive even more voters into Naftali Bennett's waiting arms. Netanyahu express a willingness to go into a coalition with Center-Left parties, while warning voters not to abandon the Likud for more Right wing parties. To the voters that says that Netanyahu wants to go into a coalition with Left and so he is appealing to Center-Left voters to 'save him' from a coalition with the Right.
Speaking in excerpts of an interview with Channel 2 released Saturday,
the full version of which was scheduled to be broadcast on Monday,
Netanyahu stated, "Whoever wants to join a coalition based on my
principles is welcome. In the meantime they are the ones that are
rejecting me."
Netanyahu's comments came in response to efforts by Labor leader Shelly Yacimovich and Tzipi Livni to form an “obstructing bloc” to stop the prime minister from being reelected.
Livni
called for Yacimovich and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid to form a
“united front” toward victory over the Likud-Yisrael Beytenu joint list,
speaking to Channel 2 News on Friday, two days after Yacimovich put
herself at the fore of the Center-Left bloc by saying she would rather
be opposition leader than join a Netanyahu coalition.
Netanyahu told Channel 2 that he would accept Livni, Lapid and
Yacimovich in his coalition, even as ministers, but only on the
condition that they "go in my diplomatic and economic direction, which I
believe is responsible and has proven itself."
The prime minister
said that Livni could be a minister in his government, "but I will lead
policy on the issues of the Palestinians and security."
As for
Yacimovich, Netanyahu stated that she could serve as a minister in his
government as well, but he chuckled at the suggestion that he would give
her the finance minister portfolio. "For the good of the Israeli
economy, I should continue with the responsible and successful policy
I've implemented thus far."
The prime minister addressed what has
been described as the radicalization of the Likud, saying that "there
are various opinions in the Likud, but the main direction will be led by
me. Whoever wants to join the coalition is welcome."
Netanyahu
stated that if he is chosen to lead the next government his top
priorities will be "handling the housing issue, changing the electoral
system and equalizing the service burden."
A new poll released on Friday showed that the Likud-Beiteinu ticket continues in freefall, reaching a new low of 32 seats, while Bennett's Jewish Home and Michael Ben Ari's Otzma l'Yisrael (Strength for Israel) continue to rise.
Netanyahu still doesn't get it. The country doesn't want the Left and by continuing to try to place himself in the Center with Leftist partners, he is hurting the Likud. Everything he has done in this election cycle, starting with the joint list with Yisrael Beiteinu has damaged the Likud politically. It's almost like he wants to lose.
Likud MK's and Mayors have warned Prime Minister Netanyahu that the party will not stand for a coalition with Tzipi Livni and Shelly Yecimovitch without the Jewish Home.
The warnings came after former foreign minister Tzipi Livni twice sent
messengers to speak to Netanyahu’s confidants about joining forces in
the government he is expected to form following the January 22 election.
“If the Likud Beytenu does not fare as well as expected in the
election, Netanyahu might be able to get away with saying he had no
choice but to bring Center-Left parties into the coalition,” Likud MK
Danny Danon said. “But if Likud gets 40 seats and he goes to [Labor
leader] Shelly [Yacimovich] instead of Bayit Yehudi, the Likud rank and
file will be angry. It would be seen as betrayal of our partner.”
Netanyahu
met Wednesday with a group of Likud mayors and council heads from Judea
and Samaria. They warned him that he had made a mistake by attacking
Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett, who was a preferred coalition
partner.
Gush Etzion Regional Council head Davidi Perl said that
Netanyahu’s comments against Bennett were swaying people to vote for his
party, instead of the Likud.
The Likud and Bayit HaYehudi are very close to each other, Netanyahu needs to embrace the party and not attack it, Perl said.
"They have the same voters and they have to move forward together," he added.
Well, yes. But if Netanyahu went and formed a coalition with the Center-Left it would not be the first time that the Likud rank and file was ignored by the party's leadership.
This may be speculation on my part, but based on who won and who lost in the Labor party primary on Thursday, I would venture to guess that Labor's voters are a lot more interested in returning the country to socialism (God forbid) than they are in the 'peace process.'
The proof? High placements of the likes of (former Welfare Minister) Yitzchak Herzog, (former Histadrut Labor Union Chairman) Amir 'Comrade' Peretz, (social protest leader) Stav Shafir and (student union head) Itzik Shmuly, and out-of-the-money placements for (selfish hypocrite) Noam Shalit and ('Peace Now' chairman) Yariv GoogleheimerOppenheimer.
The vote showed how much influence party leader Yacimovich has, as
opposed to the growing opposition within Labor led by MK Amir Peretz.
Yacimovich has tried in recent weeks to position Labor as a centrist
party, saying on Tuesday night that she hoped the list would not be “too
left-wing.”
Former defense minister Amir Peretz got the third spot, followed by Itan Cabel, former Haaretz columnist Merav Michaeli and MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. Herzog received 3,000 votes more than rival Peretz.
Peretz
told Israel Radio he is pleased with the results. "I'm very pleased
with what we got here today - both important experienced Labor members,
people I've aided, and new, young members that I believe will help the
Labor party," Peretz said.
Peretz stated he intends to "bring back
the diplomatic agenda to the negotiating table" in the 19th Knesset. "I
was the first to put the social topic on the agenda, but without peace
we can't fix the social issue," Peretz told Israel Radio.
Leaders
of the summer 2011 social protest Stav Shaffir and Itzik Shmuly also got
high spots, with Shaffir getting the 8th spot and Shmuly getting the
12th spot.
Michaeli and Yacimovich are not the only former
journalists to receive high spots on the party's list, investigative
journalist Mickey Rosental got the 13th spot on the list.
Noam Schalit came through just 39th
on list after he left his hi-tech job and met Labor members across the
country for a year, whilst Peace Now former secretary-general Yariv
Oppenheimer came in 27th.
Yacimovitch was trying to attract Tzipi Livni to run with her. Maybe she should send Livni Shalit and Oppenheimer instead.
Shelly Yacimovich to Hamas: 'Stop the shelling! Can't you see we're in the middle of an election'?
The woman who would be Prime Minister, the choice of the 'Center-Left,' the former radio broadcaster turned politician, wants a million Israelis to cower in bomb shelters... at least until January 23.
Labor leader Shelly Yacimovich, on a tour of the rocket-hit South,
positioned herself against intensive military action, telling Army
Radio, "We are on the eve of elections, and operations beyond air
attacks or targeted strikes require stability and national consensus at
home."
"It could be that such an operation is necessary, but not now," Yacimovich continued.
I'd bet there's a national consensus on this one. Operation Cast Lead, which was directed by then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after his government resigned enjoyed 91% approval among Israelis. Of course, in that case, the opposition in the person of one Binyamin Netanyahu also supported the operation. Will Yacimovich support it? Or will she risk the wrath of a million voters in southern Israel by telling them what we all know already: The Labor party believes that southern Israel is NotInMyBackYard.
Yacimovich's boosters at Haaretz are claiming that Netanyahu doesn't want a full-scale Operation Cast Lead before the elections, and are therefore trying to pin the blame for the current situation on him. But since that article is behind Haaretz's pay wall and I refuse to pay, I cannot tell you what it says....
In the meantime, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, who is a Netanyahu confidante, is calling for an operation like Defensive Shield, the 2002 operation that shut down 'Palestinian' terror during the second intifada.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, of the Likud, warned that over time,
rocket fire would hit closer and closer to Israel's center, and said
Israel "cannot simply adjust and shield itself."
Despite the scope
of Operation Cast Lead in Gaza 2008, Steinitz said that Israel has not
yet had an operation along the lines of Defensive Shield, the intensive
2002 anti-terror operation in the West Bank.
For those who have forgotten, the biggest difference between Defensive Shield and Cast Lead is that after Defensive Shield, the IDF stayed in place in Judea and Samaria, whereas after Cast Lead it withdrew from Gaza.
Hmmm. Maybe Yacimovich needs to adjust herself to some new realities....
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
