Category: English

Benjamin Netanyahu was appointed, as expected, to form the new government. His government will probably include the racist “Israel Beytenu” party, of the scary Avigdor Lieberman. This makes many Israelis sick and horrified. I’m already over it.

The fear of this reality drove many left wingers to vote for FM Tzipi Livni, thinking that if her Kadima party gets more seats than Netanyahu’s Likud party, then Netanyahu won’t be Prime Minister again.

Well, Kadima got more seats, only to teach those people a lesson in Israel’s parliamentary system: the head of the biggest party isn’t automatically the PM – it depends on coalition. And Netanyahu’s right wing \ religious bloc won the elections.

Anyway, he may form many different coalitions, but there’s a good chance that the racist Lieberman will have a strong position in the government, having won the third place in the elections.

This specifically scares Israeli Arabs. Lieberman wants to deny their citizenship if they don’t show loyalty to the country. Maybe they’ll take mine if I’m not loyal enough with this criticism…

I don’t believe that this fascist law will pass, but I must be prepared:

 

Picture made in the Obamicon.me site.

 

Anyway, to my main point: we aren’t alone in the world, and the world has changed. We are dependant on our main, and sometimes only ally: the US. And there’s a new guy in office there. Obama’s first month office proved that he came to work, on all fronts, and he isn’t wasting any time.

We will have to comply, at least partially, with the new administration’s policies, and they will be different from Mr. Bush. I’m sure that Obama’s will will force my country to a more moderate policy, and not an extreme right wing one.

Also in the economic front, Netanyahu is a great admirer of the neo cons, and of Margaret Thatcher. As Minister of Treasury, he already brought upon us extreme capitalistic reforms, deregulation and suffering. 

But also here, the world has changed. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, 5 months ago, the world began re-regulating instead of de-regulating. In a global world, he cannot push through his brutal capitalism. He’ll have to let go.

So, I’m not in despair of the upcoming Israeli government. Yihye Tov!

* This post is dedicated to readers that come from Lisa Goldman‘s piece in the British Guardian about the Israeli blogosphere and the upcoming elections. I wrote very similar things in Hebrew here.

I’ve decided to vote this time for the Hadash party. It is a Jewish-Arab post-communist party Hadash. Voting for radical left isn’t easy for me. It’s new for me. (Hadash means new in Hebrew).

It took me quite a long time to reach this decision. I’d rather vote for a big party, a party that can be the ruling party. I’ve voted for the Labor Party in 96, 99, and in the recent elections in 2006. I cast my vote for Meretz, mild left part in 2003, and voted for Labor’s Ehud Barak in the direct elections in 2001.

But this time, I prefer to cast my vote for a 100% opposition party. I beleive that their MKs did an excellent job, and I trust them to continue the good work.

I was deliberating if to vote for the Green Movement Meimad party, which is a socialist green party, that also focuses on education. I decided not to vote for them, mostly because they avoid talking about the Israeli Arab conflict. They focus only on internal affairs, and hid their opinions during the Gaza war.

Hadash stood up against the war, before it and during it. Their presence was seen in all the demonstrations. Only they saw how stupid and useless this war was. 

In addition, these are days tense between Jews and Israeli Arabs. Avigdor Lieberman’s party suggests that citizenship should be revoked from Israeli Arabs if they don’t show loyalty for the country. These scary fascist ideas find many followers in the Israeli public, and it’s very alarming. 

So, I’m voting for a party that is a partnership between Jews and Arabs. 

So, I’m voting for an opposition party, and cleaning up my conscience.

The Israeli government declared a unilateral cease fire tonight. Just before the declarion, I’ve attended yet another anti war demonstration.

 

More pictures from the hopeful last anti war demonstration.

 

Contrary to the Peace Now protest, this time, it was back to the normal organizers: the radical left. Around 3000 people attended a demonstration that began on the seaside, and ended in a park in Jaffa. The demonstrators shouted different slogans. Some were the usual ones: Jews and Arabs refurse to be enemies, children want to live, stop the occupation, etc.

Other shouted slogans that called Ehud Barak a murderer, and “Enough with the country”. It was hard for me being in the same demonstration where such slogans are screamed. Again, I expected a unified message: Stop the War!

Well, hopefully it’s happening, and the unilateral cease fire will hold.

Why I’m against the Gaza war

Some readers have asked me to elaborate on why I’m against the war. In general, I think that this “Cast Lead” operation kills way too many civilians, causes lots of destruction, and isn’t a good practice of our right of self protection. We definitely have a right to protect our civilians.

I’m convinced that this terrible war isn’t the way to acheive it. And after three wees, this operation didn’t stop the Quassam rockets from landing in Israel.

There are additional reasons why I’m opposed to this war, and I can elaborate much more on the points I’ve stated above. It requires a separate post. I hope it’ll all be over, and I won’t need another post.