My Two Cents Pt. 2
The polls going into this week’s election showed that there would be another stalemate. So what happened besides proving that polls don’t mean anything?
Meretz, the last truly left wing party remaining, and Balad, an anti-zionist Arab party , failed to get the minimum amount of votes to cross the threshold and did not get any seats. This gave the Likud and its partners more seats. Since my last post final numbers are in and it seems the Haredim did not get 21 seats but are now at 19. Still a major victory for them and still a comfortable majority for Bibi
Bib deserves credit. I am sure that future political science classes will be using him as a case study on how to consolidate power within a party and how to do or say anything to avoid going to trial.
It is too early to know exactly what he will do but I am sure I won't like most of it. It is not that I disagree with right wing politics, I don't. I have said before that I am more of a libertarian in my views. So as a libertarian, I am afraid that this government will be taking away democratic rights that any free country should have. This is not what the Likud used to be, but it is now.
The Likud is now all about Bibi and the only way for Bibi to become Prime minister is for him to join with some of the most anti-democratic parties in Israel.
Power at any price.
My biggest disappointment of this election is Benny Gantz. He had a very important choice to make after the election. He could and did stick by his guns and refuse to join any government that is run by Bibi.
Who could blame him?
Bibi screwed him big time in the past and clearly, he should be angry.
But what would be the best for the country? Does anyone even ask that question anymore?
In my not so humble opinion, Gantz ( and Saar) should have left their egos at the door. They should have offered to go into government with Bibi if the RZP was not included.
It would have been a win win for him. Most likely Bibi would have said no. Then Gantz could say that he tried for the good of the country but was rejected.
In the unlikely event that Bibi said yes, Gantz would have had real influence (since he could bring down the government and Bibi would not be able to count on RZP again after he screwed them) to make sure that some of the most extreme proposals (and there are many) don’t get passed.
That is what would have been best for the country.
However and unfortunately, politics is more about ego and power than doing the right thing. I am not suggesting that Gantz is not a patriot. His service for his country is beyond reproach. Yet, had he been able to set his ego aside for a second, he could have had an enormous impact for good in this country.
He may never get that chance again
It is for that same reason I voted for who I did this time.
I have mentioned that I am a Lieberman supporter. I voted for him three times. When he was finance minister in the last government, he did a great job. He kept most of his campaign promises and proved that I had made the correct decision.
Israel is in much better financial shape now than most countries. He also made great strides in liberalizing the economy, which hopefully will not be rolled back. I did not vote for him this time because a few months before the election his party proposed a law to increase the ability to slaughter pigs in Israel.
As a libertarian, I should have no issue with this, but Israel, to me, is not just another country. It is the Jewish state. Pigs have been used in our history to show the subjugation and humiliation (both national and personal) of the Jewish religion.
This time I voted for Yair Lapid. Not a perfect choice. I certainly would not call him a friend of religion, however, after the last election, he showed that he is willing to put country before ego.
He had been trying to become prime minister forever and when he was finally given the chance to form the government, he gave the job to Naftali Bennet. He did this because he knew it was the only way for there to be a non-Bibi , non-Haredi ,government.
He put the country first.
That was enough to get my vote.
So, where do we go from here?
Only time will tell.
Shabbat Shalom