Down ... and perhaps out ... in Jerusalem ?

RLENT · Jan 23, 2013

After attempting to meddle in US elections, resorting to all manner of crazed right-wing fear-mongering, and generally flipping off the international community (which has resulted in yet further international isolation for the State of Israel), Bibi Nut-and-yahoo suffers the inevitable backlash, with his Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu coalition losing 25% of their seats in the Knesset ...

Depending on Thursday's final tally he could actually be challenged for the Prime Ministership by a "center-left" coalition:

Man of the past

The Knesset election did not end with a clear decision. Instead, a direction for the future, ahead of the next election, is emerging.

Israelis awaken this morning to a day of uncertainty. The voting is over, but the election is not. The soldiers’ votes, disqualified votes, the electoral threshold − all of these will still move the numbers this way or that. But to learn some lessons, no waiting is necessary.

Israel on Tuesday expressed no confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After four years at the country’s helm, together with his natural partner, MK Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu lost about a quarter of his strength despite − or perhaps because of − the merger with Lieberman. Netanyahu, Israelis said on Tuesday, has failed. He has failed in the political sphere, the foreign policy sphere and the socioeconomic sphere.

His failure is a failure of leadership, which will continue to cast a pall over us if he survives in power. Netanyahu plunged from Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu’s 42 MKs to about 30 because the Israeli public felt that his government had not understood the deeper significance of the protests of the summer of 2011.

The results show that the public balked at the right-wing radicalization of Likud, from the disavowal of the Bar-Ilan speech and the harmful goading of the international community in declaring the E-1 construction plan. The isolation into which Netanyahu and Lieberman led Israel worried the voters, who want good relations with the United States, under President Barack Obama, instead of more apartments in the settlements and threats of war on Iran.

The public was also worried about the collapse of Netanyahu’s economic policies, which were typified by lack of fiscal responsibility and have led to a huge deficit of some NIS 40 billion. Netanyahu’s pledge not to raise taxes and the lightning appointment of Moshe Kahlon to deal with the housing crisis, only added to the lack of faith in Netanyahu.

Yair Lapid, the big winner, now bears weighty responsibility, together with his partners in the center-left − Labor’s Shelly Yacimovich and Hatnuah’s Tzipi Livni. They must prevent Netanyahu and Lieberman, and their natural partners on the extreme right and the ultra-Orthodox factions, from continuing to bring Israel down domestically and internationally.

They must not be tempted into joining Netanyahu as his apprentices by a pottage of portfolios and honors.

The Knesset election did not end with a clear decision. Instead, a direction for the future, ahead of the next election, is emerging. It shows that Netanyahu is a man of the past.

Netanyahu is a man of the past - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper

witness23 · Jan 23, 2013

Oh how I wish this man was out.

moose · Jan 23, 2013

Actually, Bibi WILL be the next Israeli prim-minister, shortly after receiving the mandate form the President.
the way things work in Israel, the President needs to choose ONE out of the newly elected members of the 'Cneset'. the one that seams to have the best chance of forming a cabinet {the ministry gov.}
this one will be Bibi.
the newly form Israeli Cabinet will have a wide base approval rating, along with a wide acceptance rate, and a direct representation of the majority of the population and elected officials.
this next few weeks will be hard on most Americans watching the Israeli parliament been formed, do to democracy practices that are much different then what we practice over here.
Bibi will have to negotiate every single place in the future cabinet base on agreements of support.
once the cabinet is formed, rest assured that this new Cabinet will be able to further stabilized Israel as a true leader of modern democracy.
more important the new 'Cnests' received the Israeli mandate to create an ever stronger economy. within a short few years, this elections will be viewed as the tipping point that forced the country into social correctness that will result in a world leading economy's to it's size.
Israel already have a VERY strong and stable economy - it WILL grow fast.
on the International/Political front, Bibi will have a stronger support of the majority of the populations, and great parliament partners, as he negotiate agreements with the rest of the world.
when it comes to security, the voters spoke very clearly demanding a solutions for ALL the threats Israel is facing, Bibi now have a strong support to solve those problems once and for all.
it was a short, clean, fascinating, elections season and the results will strengthened Israel.
good things are coming in near future. Israel is now poised for success.

RLENT · Jan 23, 2013

moose said:
Actually, Bibi WILL be the next Israeli prim-minister,

Yeah ... while that may well happen, I wouldn't bet the farm on it just yet ...

Last I saw the count was split evenly ... tied at 60 each for each bloc ...

We'll know early tomorrow.

moose said:
shortly after receiving the mandate form the President.

As you allude to below, in the case of a tie, the President opts to select the individual who he believes has the best chance of forming a governing coalition ...

Given Peres' views of, and recent comments on, Bibi ... coupled with the clear repudiation of Nut-and-yahoo by the Israeli electorate (losing 25% of your coalition party's existing seats ain't exactly a mandate

) ... I'd personally be sweating it just a little if I were Bibi ...

Toss in the fact that it was Nut-and-yahoo himself that called for early elections (believing he'd skate to an easy victory) and you have another log added to the burning fire of Bibi's questionable judgement.

Personally, I hope the tie holds ... and Peres becomes Bibi's Brutus ...

moose said:
the way things work in Israel, the President needs to choose ONE out of the newly elected members of the 'Cneset'. the one that seams to have the best chance of forming a cabinet {the ministry gov.

I believe that's only in the case of a tie.

moose said:
this one will be Bibi.

Uh-huh ... perhaps ...

Start gratuitous hasbara:

moose said:
the newly form Israeli Cabinet will have a wide base approval rating, along with a wide acceptance rate, and a direct representation of the majority of the population and elected officials.
this next few weeks will be hard on most Americans watching the Israeli parliament been formed, do to democracy practices that are much different then what we practice over here.
Bibi will have to negotiate every single place in the future cabinet base on agreements of support.
once the cabinet is formed, rest assured that this new Cabinet will be able to further stabilized Israel as a true leader of modern democracy.

Until Israel stops practicing racist discrimination, creating modern Bantu-stans, and stealing the land from it's current occupants (and rightful owners I might add) it will be nothing more than a racist, apartheid state ...

Democracy ?

What a frickin' joke ...

moose said:
more important the new 'Cnests' received the Israeli mandate to create an ever stronger economy. within a short few years, this elections will be viewed as the tipping point that forced the country into social correctness that will result in a world leading economy's to it's size.

Will that be with or without the $3,000,000,000 per year in welfare from Uncle Sam ?

moose said:
Israel already have a VERY strong and stable economy - it WILL grow fast.
on the International/Political front, Bibi will have a stronger support of the majority of the populations, and great parliament partners, as he negotiate agreements with the rest of the world.

Under Bibi, Israel is rapidly becoming an international pariah state ...

Even in the few last remaining states that can be counted as Israel's friends the winds of change are blowing ...

Did the Israelis really expect that there would be no blowback from Nut-and-yahoo's flagrant attempt to interfere in the US elections ?

No blowback from the Neocon's sick attempt to besmirch Chuck Hagel's reputation (an actual war hero) and brand him as an anti-semite ?

The Lobby's antic's are becoming quite clear ... the US electorate is starting to recognize what has been going on that has been largely hidden ... since it now is largely in plain view ...

Tread carefully ...

moose said:
when it comes to security, the voters spoke very clearly demanding a solutions for ALL the threats Israel is facing, Bibi now have a strong support to solve those problems once and for all.

What a freakin' joke ...

moose said:
it was a short, clean, fascinating, elections season and the results will strengthened Israel.

Only if sane heads prevail ... which obviously leaves out Bibi ...

moose said:
good things are coming in near future. Israel is now poised for success.

I bet you believed Dick Morris that Romney was going to win in a landslide ...

Netanyahu's headaches may only just be beginning | The Times of Israel

Netanyahu grasping for coalition amid Israel election deadlock - World - CBC News

Could Peres opt for Yair Lapid to form Israel's next coalition? - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper

RLENT · Jan 23, 2013

witness23 said:
Oh how I wish this man was out.

Apparently so do a lot of Israelis ...

RLENT · Jan 23, 2013

In Yedioth Ahronoth, Sima Kadmon writes:

There is no doubt that Netanyahu is the tragic figure in these elections. Despite the huge advantage with which he set out—that of being the sole prime ministerial candidate, at the head of two united parties that could expect to gain over 42 seats—he ended up as, at best, a weak prime minister whose coalition will depend on the wishes of the big winner in these elections, Yair Lapid, and with a weakened and shrunken Likud that, according to the exit polls, lost over one-quarter of its power.

And it’s not just the prime minister that the public has had enough of. The public is fed up with the entire political system. It decided yesterday that it wants a new face; what the face’s expression is, is less important. Lapid, [Naftali] Bennett, extreme rightwing, centre—anything goes, just not the repulsive faces we’ve been looking at for the past four years. The rush to the polling stations yesterday, the amazing momentum of the past day, even in the final hours, toward the Yesh Atid party, should tell us something about the public’s feelings with respect to the political system.

skyraider · Jan 24, 2013

The Israelis have had trouble ever since they told God they wanted a King ( a man ) instead of God running the show for them, well that's my 2cents worth. I 'll go with God, nothing else is working for them. It's the little things like that mankind never sees.