Israelis didn’t vote for a national unity government

The chorus of reports that Israelis voted for a national unity government belies the continued right-wing predominance among the electorate.

by  Rabbi Dov Fischer, ISRAEL HAYOM  Published on  2019-09-22 12:16

A myth is being spread that Israelis voted on Sept. 17 for a national unity government under Blue and White leader Benny Gantz. That is apocryphal. In a world where, as per an old American aphorism, “figures don’t lie, but liars can figure,” no data could be more revealing than the true numbers of votes cast. Israelis did not vote on Tuesday for a national unity government.

Some 26% voted for the Blue and White party, which promised to end Benjamin Netanyahu’s record-long premiership. Some 5% voted for a near-defunct socialist Labor party that once was the powerhouse of Israeli politics. A bit more than 4% voted for an even more leftist Democratic Union – Meretz with an expanded troika that includes Labor import Stav Shaffir and perhaps the most incompetent and disastrous prime minister in Israel’s history, Ehud Barak. These three parties, comprising the Zionist Center-Left, are what 35% of Israelis wanted.

Substantially more Jews voted for a decidedly right-wing government. Some 25% voted for a Likud that campaigned unequivocally on a right-wing platform including right-wing and even libertarian economics and promised to extend sovereignty to Jewish communities throughout Judea and Samaria. It was the most right-wing platform that Likud has ever proffered. Just under 6% voted for the more right-wing Yamina, led by Ayelet Shaked. Another 6% voted for United Torah Judaism, the Ashkenazi haredi party that, for the first time in its history, pledged that it would oppose any land concessions. More than 7% voted for the Sephardi haredi equivalent, Shas, which also endorsed the Likud leader for prime minister. Thus, around 44% of voters cast ballots for a Likud-led right-wing government.

Beyond that, Avigdor Lieberman’s party, Yisrael Beytenu, drew 7% of the vote. Lieberman, whose base historically has depended on right-wing older constituents from the former Soviet Union, expanded his core by attracting secularists who support reducing haredi influence in the public sphere. Lieberman, Netanyahu’s former director general who later rose to be his foreign minister and then his defense minister, is decidedly right-wing, despite cynical Likud efforts to portray him otherwise. Indeed, Lieberman just reiterated: “We won’t sit [in a coalition] with the Arabs, that’s absurd.” Lieberman’s voters may oppose Netanyahu but they predominantly affiliate right-wing.

Even the Blue and White vote is more complex than often reported. It is not a party of the Left but an amalgam of centrists, leftists, and right-wingers who recoil from the Left and are temporarily AWOL from Likud, primarily because they want Netanyahu replaced. For example, former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, one of that party’s four founding leaders, is a Likudnik with conservative political views; he broke away primarily because he wants Netanyahu out as prime minister. Many of that party’s voters share Ya’alon’s perspective.

When viewed objectively, the chorus of reports that Israelis voted for a national unity government belies the continued strength of right-wing predominance among the electorate. Voters’ opinions differ on whether Netanyahu should continue as prime minister and on the role of ultra-Orthodox influence, but Jewish Israelis remain decidedly right-wing, even discounting the 2% of votes wasted on the extreme-right Otzma Yehudit party. As always when that party runs alone, it again failed to secure the 3.25% threshold of votes needed to qualify for the Knesset.

Otzma Yehudit’s self-sabotage of the right-wing cause compares to American third parties that, over the years, have notoriously yet inadvertently sabotaged their own agendas by running hapless extreme campaigns that drew pointless votes away from stronger, less extreme parties near their ideologies, thereby empowering opposing views to take power. Thus, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader almost certainly cost the Democrat Al Gore Florida’s crucial electoral votes in 2000, handing the presidency to Republican George W. Bush. Nader won the votes of 97,488 Floridians, overwhelmingly from the Left; Bush edged out Gore in Florida by a mere 537 votes. And the Green Party’s Jill Stein possibly cost Hillary Clinton victories in critical Midwestern states whose electoral votes proved crucial to Donald Trump in 2016. For example, in Wisconsin, where Clinton trailed Trump by 22,748 votes, Stein won 31,072 votes.

Similarly, Otzma Yehudit’s failure derived from Israel’s legislative effort to stabilize an electoral system that again saw dozens of separate slates contending.

Overall, nearly 3% of votes were wasted on 20 parties that failed to reach the 3.25% electoral threshold.

Recognizing that nearly 11% percent of Israelis voted for the Joint Arab List, which has its own agenda repugnant to a national unity government, the data reflect unequivocally that little really changed in September from the core preferences expressed in April’s election. Five months ago, the right-wing came within a whisker of forming a stable coalition. It amassed 60 seats, one shy of a coalition majority – even without Liberman – and the New Right party drew 3.22% of the ballots cast, just 0.03% under the 3.25% vote threshold needed to enter the Knesset. But for those few votes lacking – 1,454 to be exact, it would have entered with four seats and the right-wing would have comprised an easy majority coalition, even without Lieberman.

Five months later, some externals changed a bit. Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut party merged into Likud, as did Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu. The New Right replaced Naftali Bennett with Shaked as its nominal head and aligned this time with Habayit Hayehudi and the National Union, while Otzma Yehudit ran alone. But the end result once again reflected a majority for a conservative, right-wing direction – not for a unity government under Gantz. At its core, the main split was whether Netanyahu or someone else on the Right should be prime minister.

Enormous pressure is now being exerted by the media and President Reuven Rivlin to force a national unity government. It is imperative that right-wing figures unravel the mess produced by the Sept. 17 vote and complicated by the idiosyncrasies of Israel’s fragmented electoral system. But they should not capitulate to the fabrication that Israelis voted for a national unity government under Benny Gantz. The numbers are irrefutable: The Israeli electorate in general, and particularly the 75% who are Jews, voted unequivocally for continuing the country’s abandonment of socialism and alignment with right-wing solutions.

September 23, 2019 | 11 Comments »

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  1. @ Adam Dalgliesh:

    Yes Adam, I also believe that Levin is an honest man…as far as any politician can be.. It could be that you are right about the tip. But not from a reporter, who are notoriously poor sources, judging by what they write. A colleague would be more apt. We must wait and see what happens. If Ted is correct, there could be a rapprochement brewing between Lieberman and Netanyahu which would solve the present impasse. Let’s hope so. Lieberman is such an unreliable opportunist that anything could eventuate.

    What we really know is…that we know we don’t know….!!

  2. @ Edgar G.: Edgar, I think it is possible that Levin received a “tip” from a source he considers reliable (such as a reporter, or maybe a parliamentary colleague from Blue-White or even the Joint List) that such an agreements exists, but this source had been unable to learn the contents of the agreement. I am just speculating. But Levin strikes me as an honest man, and if he claims to know that such an agreement exists, I am inclined to believe he has some rational basis for believing this to be the case..

  3. This is from a column by someone named Eiton Orkibi in Israel Hayom. Ably summarizes the reasons why the inclusion of the Jooint List in the government is a trojan horse.

    the Right has no problem with the Arab character of the Joint Arab List; its problems are with the list’s positions. The Right loathes its active opposition to Zionism, has a problem with its commitment to eradicating Israel’s identity as a Jewish state and its support for initiatives to boycott Israel, as well as with its definition of the IDF as a perpetrator of war crimes and IDF soldiers as thugs. It has a problem with the Joint Arab list’s support for or involvement in attempts to sue IDF commanders and soldiers in international courts and with its acceptance on one level or another of violent “resistance” (terrorism.) We should be able to expect the Zionist Left to agree with all these things, but it is busy trying to portray Joint Arab List leader Ayman Odeh as Martin Luther King, Jr.

  4. News Item

    Member of Knesset Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beytenu) told Galei Tzahal radio, Tuesday morning, following Monday evening’s meeting of Party Chairman Avigdor Liberman with Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz, “If there is contact from [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu, we will meet gladlyy and clean hands.”

    She added: “We have left the [political] baggage, we’re off on a new path.”

    This is huge. It means that Liberman is willing to join Likud’s coalition providing he get’s some of what he wants. This meeting must take place and UTJ and Shas should bend over badckwards to accomodate him at least in part.

  5. Arutz Sheva has published this report from an interview that Ahmed Tibi gave to Israeli television. Clear evidence that the Joint List supports terrorism against Israelis. Also reveals Tibi’s absolute confidence that the Joint List will have great influence over the Gantz government. Gantz or someone working for him must given him that impression. Note his euphoric, expansive mood. The fact that Gantz requested a meeting with the Joint List immediaely after the election, and then did meet with them shortly thereafter, is proof of this.

    Tibi praises archterrorist as a ‘national leader’

    Joint List MK explains his party’s political aspirations after it recommended that Benny Gantz become prime minister.

    Ahmed Tibi and Ayman Odeh
    MK Ahmed Tibi (Joint List) spoke on Monday about the political aspirations of his party, a day after it recommended that Benny Gantz become prime minister.

    In an interview with Channel 13 News, Tibi said, “We want to be influential players in the political field, our recommendation has meaning – we want to stop Binyamin Netanyahu and bring him down. We did so in the elections – 13 seats that blocked him from forming a narrow right-wing government.”

    “We have turned from a minority persecuted by Netanyahu to a Netanyahu-persecuting minority. That effect can continue. We will not sit in the coalition, but if Gantz establishes a narrow government with Meretz, Labor and the haredim, without Liberman, there is something to talk about, an obstructive bloc from the outside like in the 1990s, with an agreement and achievements for the Arab public,” he continued.

    Tibi elaborated on the list of demands: “If Gantz is the next prime minister, I estimate that the Kaminitz Law, which increased the fines for planning and construction offenses, would be repealed and a basic law on equality that we have not had for 70 years will be enacted.” In addition, Tibi estimated that an economic plan would be established and that the government would address the issue of crime in Arab society.

    Tibi then praised archterrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is serving several life sentences in Israel for his role in planning terrorist attacks against Israelis.

    “Barghouti is a symbol and a national leader who is in prison. He is engaged in the struggle for two states for two peoples and on the way to liberation, violent acts are carried out. It’s called revolutionary violence. Some of the acts are wrong. In my opinion, it is a serious mistake to harm civilians,” he said.

    Tibi is furious over the comparison between him and Itamar Ben Gvir, who posted a photo of Jewish murderer Baruch Goldstein in his living room.

    “Comparing me to a Kahanist is a serious issue. I’m a person with a humanitarian agenda. I have never said anything racist against a Jew. Barghouti is engaged in a national struggle that includes violence. I want to change that toward a shared life, toward a brighter future than this darkness to which the occupation and rule over another nation takes us,” he argued.

    Tibi is one of the more controversial Arab MKs in the Knesset, having in the past encouraged Arabs to disobey the “Muezzin Law” which would limit the use of loudspeakers during the call to prayer in mosques.

    He has also praised the Palestinian Authority’s “martyrs” at a ceremony held on the occasion of “Palestinian Martyrs Day” and sponsored by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

    Tibi once described Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman as a “Jewish ISIS”, after Liberman advocated for “cutting of the heads” of Arabs who were not loyal to Israel.

    Earlier this year, he spoke of his dream to one day become Israel’s prime minister, “and if I it’s not me, then it will be another Ahmed, Mohammed or Mahmoud,” he added.

  6. This article is by Liel Liebowitz of Tablet magazine. She seems to be one of the few commentators who understands what a disaster it is that the Israeli establishment has admitted this Trojan Horse into the government. THe background information on the joint List parties backing of the Palestinian terrrorists is invaluable for understanding what Israel is in for.

    Don’t Cheer on the Joint List – Tablet Magazine

    When the Joint List, the Arab party that emerged as Israel’s third largest in the recent round of elections, endorsed Benny Gantz as its candidate for prime minister on Sunday, pundits took to every available perch to declare the moment historic. After all, no Arab party has ever endorsed a Jewish leader, and Ayman Odeh, the party’s Obama-esque leader, seized the moment properly by tweeting a line from Psalms. To many, this felt like a breath of fresh air, a surge of coexistence and compromise after Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line policies.

    The hosannas, however, are premature: The Joint List, sadly, remains a vehemently anti-Zionist party whose members have often expressed their support for convicted terrorists. All it takes is a brief look at the party and its principles to learn why Gantz—whose Blue and White party is currently Israel’s most popular, with 33 Knesset seats—should immediately and forcefully reject this endorsement.

    Most egregious among the party’s members, perhaps, is Heba Yazbak. A doctoral student studying gender and colonialism at Tel Aviv University, Yazbak has occasionally taken to Facebook to praise convicted terrorists, most notably Samir Kuntar. On April 22, 1979, Kuntar, the teenage son of a wealthy Lebanese family, landed a rubber dingy on the shore of the northern Israeli town of Nahariya. Together with three other terrorists, he shot and killed a police officer before breaking into the apartment of the Haran family and taking them hostage. Smadar, the family’s mother, managed to hide with her 2-year-old daughter, Yael. Fearful that the toddler’s cries will give them away, she stifled the child’s whimpers, accidentally suffocating her to death. Kuntar then led the family father, Danny, to the nearby beach, together with his 4-year-old daughter, Einat. When IDF soldiers arrived to free the hostages, Kuntar executed Danny in front of his daughter’s eyes. He then grabbed Einat, and, using the butt of his rifle, smashed her head against a nearby rock.

    Kuntar was released from Israeli prison in 2008 in return for the bodies of two fallen Israeli soldiers. He received a hero’s welcome from Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, and continued to plan attacks against Israelis, earning himself an international terrorist designation from the United States Department of State. He was killed in 2015 in a strike south of Damascus, which many believe was orchestrated by Israel.

    In addition to praising Kuntar, Yazbak also publicly supported an Israeli-Arab citizen indicted for being a Hezbollah spy. Israel’s Supreme Court—which approved the disqualification of two far-right politicians for alleged incitement to violence—found no problem with Yazbak’s opinions, allowing her to run for office.

    The court also reversed the disqualification of the Joint List’s sole Jewish member, Ofer Cassif, who compared Israeli policies to the Nazis, called former Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked “neo-Nazi scum,” and claimed that Israel was guilty of perpetrating a “creeping genocide” against its Palestinian neighbors.

    The hits keep on coming: The party’s No. 2, Mtanes Shehadah, started 2019 by posting a photo of himself hugging Samir Sarsawi, a terrorist who had spent 30 years in jail for throwing hand grenades on Jewish pedestrians in Haifa. Shehadah called Sarsawi “a political prisoner.” He was introduced to voters at an event earlier this year that began with attendees singing the Palestinian national anthem and offering greetings to Azmi Bishara, the former Israeli-Arab MK who fled the country after being accused of spying for Hezbollah, and Bassel Ghattas, another Israeli-Arab MK who has served a prison sentence for smuggling cellphones to a convicted Palestinian terrorist.

    Just behind Shehadah, at No. 3, is Ahmed Tibi, the former adviser to Yasser Arafat. A popular fixture with Arab leaders the world over, Tibi has cozied up to anyone from Bashar Assad to Muammar al-Qaddafi. In 2012, he was reprimanded by the Knesset after delivering a speech in Ramallah to celebrate the International Day of Shaheeds, or martyrs. “The occupier wants to call you terrorists,” he said, “but we say there’s nothing more noble than dying for your homeland.” The Knesset’s Ethics Committee denounced Tibi, calling his speech “cheering on terrorism and violence.”

    These extreme positions should surprise no one who has been following the Joint List, which is made up of four disparate Arab Israeli parties. One of these parties, Ra’am, is closely affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and was blasted by Knesset members left and right in 2011 after using public funds to purchase trophies celebrating the violent anti-Israel activists aboard the Mavi Marmara, the ship chartered by a radical Islamist group that tried to break through the Israeli blockade and reach Hamas-controlled Gaza. Aboard that ship was Hanin Zoabi, a former MK with Balad, another faction that currently makes up the Joint List. After three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered by Palestinians in 2014, Zoabi refused to denounce those responsible as terrorists, arguing that they had no choice but to use violence until “Israel sobers up.” Zoabi also made headlines for accusing Israel of harvesting the organs of Palestinian prisoners, and retired from politics after being investigated for a host of fraudulent activities. In 2017, she gave a speech arguing that “Zionism is hostile to human rights all over the world,” and that Jews had no right for self-determination. She is still considered a hero in her party.

    The Joint List’s leading faction, Hadash, is just as troubling. Historically tethered to the Israeli Communist Party, Hadash has evolved in recent years as a staunchly pro-Assadist party, staging demonstrations in Tel Aviv calling to investigate the worldwide “conspiracy against Syria.”

    That a party like the Joint List—which is fiercely anti-Zionist and advocates turning Israel from a Jewish state into a binational one—can emerge as the nation’s third largest is a testament to Israel’s robust and vibrant democracy, the very one perpetually eulogized by sophisticated columnists in liberal newspapers the world over. But there is only one thing Benny Gantz must now do with this endorsement, which is reject it vociferously and unequivocally. For all its rhetorical juggling and masterful use of social media, the party hasn’t changed its basic stance, one that calls for the destruction of Israel as it currently stands. Nor has it taken any steps to discipline its many members for cheering on terrorists and murderers. It should be denounced and ostracized, even—or particularly—in these uncertain political times.

    ***

  7. @ Adam Dalgliesh:
    Well Adam.. if he has a secret agreement, as Yariv Levin states so positively, why doesn’t he reveal what it is… I think that he is speculating, because of Gantz;s approach to the Arabs, and their sudden affection for him. .

    He has already, in several ways, shown himself “manifestly incompetent” (perfect phrase to describe him) Yet, those who voted for him, and all the other left wingers, plus the Arabs, seem as keen s mustard to leap over the precipice with their eyes closed, hoping to land on deep polyurethane sponge mattresses..

    There was an article in Arutz 7, by Netanyahu’s brother-in-law Prof. Ben Artzi, which I came across about an hour after I’d posted above, which almost duplicated my comments about Gantz and PM rotating. But in more “professorial” language of course. You should read it.

    I often tend to believe that the Israeli people only read the headlines, skimming -speed-reading at that- over them, without assimilating what they’re reading. It’s much the same on this site, unless a post hits deeply at someone’s convictions (like “Prof” Al Gore’s global warming “mantra”.) or if someone with more perception spots the contents as being meaningful. You likely will be the only one to comment on my post.

    I can’t see a single thing of any good coming from PM rotating with Gantz. Except of course, that the comparison between he and Netanyahu, will be shown to be chasmic. (And we already know that) In the meantime, let’s hope that Israel’s wonderful progress under Netanyahu, is affected only the way a huge liner coming to a stop is…and he can pick up the reins again in time. You’ll know what I mean.

  8. Liberman says Bibi and Gantz should flip a coin to see who will be first as Prime Minister in a rotation. Now that really seems a most boring a way to pick a PM.
    Okay elections did not do it.

    Needs a skill competition or a series of skills competitions:

    Both too old for anything physical. Likely Gantz wound win anyway especially if it was a one on one basketball game. Arm wrestling for the PMs job??

    Chess Match – ?? Maybe

    Contest of who knows more about certain subjects my guess is Gantz would not want to compete with Bibi when it comes to knowledge on most subjects.

    Anyone have any ideas of what contest should decide who goes first in a PM rotation.

    Can you image a televised competition to see who is PM of Israel. What a reality show the ratings would be off the charts!

  9. @ Edgar G.: Hello, Edgar. I hope you are right about Gantz. If he is that much of a turtle, his government may qiuckly collapse. No one will feel comfortable serving in a government with someone who is manifestly incompetent. Pressure will develop quickly to replace him as Prime Minister.

    But I have begun to fear that he may be something of an evil genius underneath a dull, colorless facade. He seems to have moved skillfully to firm up his alliance with the PLO and Hamas representatives. As Yariv Levin has pointed out , he has a secret agreement with them that he has not disclosed. Perhaps he is simply extremely secretive and tight-lipped so that no one will know the depth of his plotting and betrayal of Israel, while appearing colorless and stupid to throw off everyone’s suspicion. It is of great help to a schemer to be understimated by his prosepctive partners, or even to allow them to think they are or will be able to control him.

    We shall see. But whether he is a criminal mastermind, or a tool of some shadowy cabal of criminal masterminds, the appalling results might be the same.

  10. ********************************A SCENARIO—by Edgar G.********************************

    Israel, in it’s public, never ceases to astonish and disgust me. With more geniuses per sq inch than anywhere else on the globe, it’s political activities are still barely out of the Middle Ages.

    This proposed, and likely (I hope not) Unity Govt with rotating PMs (to satisfy Gantz’s (and Netanyahu haters’ vanity). can be a disaster. This is what we have and will have. “Rotating PMs are ONLY safe, when there are two leaders of roughly equal skills in leading a country.” I repeat this IN CAPITALS. Such a patent truth is right under our noses and we don’t even acknowledge that it exists…

    Assuming a rotating PM, we will have Netanyahu, doing what he does, for the first 2-3 years, than Gantz….Gantz, whose followers compare him to a “Turtle”….. who has hidden his “charms” from any view of the voters….because he hasn’t any. He is a figurehead whose strings have been pulled by some cabal of inferior, failed politicians, or a shadowy guru, as yet unrevealed.

    It places Netanyahu in the situation of having to be a teacher, giving a class of “PMship 101″… OR, if the arrangement allows for the PMs to also rotate as Deputy PMs, to be there to put the pieces of Gantz’s negative ability to carry on the budding and developed policies of Netanyahu back in place. Can anyone see Gantz dealing with assurance and success with any of the world leaders…Trudeau could make mincemeat of him. Putin would “chew him up and spit him out”, even with Liberman behind him..

    Even though meetings of world leaders are often pre-arranged and the results decided BEFORE the meetings, it is more than likely that Gantz, if he opens his mouth at all, will damage what has been already prepared for success.

    I’ve seen just such happen in court. We had a case many years ago, where a wealthy pub owner, was charged with receiving stolen goods. Everything was going wonderfully well, our witnesses, had all given their very convincing false evidence, and only a formality remained that the man charged, should enter the box, and when asked, state that the items had been in his family for a generation….The damned fool…overcome by nerves, said he’d never seen the items before and they’d been “planted by the police”. He got 5 years. (And almost gave us nervous breakdowns…)

    A lesson here somewhere…not neccessary moral, but instructive, nevertheless.

    It Will Be A MESS….. And Rivlin, who hates the PM, is pushing hard for this… I hope, that for a change, there ar some posts which support, deny, or dissect this postultion I’ve just made. .I would appreciate other, perhaps more discerning viewpoints on this.

  11. Bibi now says it will take a broad unity government to form a coalition.

    He says the first two given chances by Rivlin will fail and this will take months. He says that the third try will succeed. He believes that will be him. That is his projection.

    I say he is correct that the third try will succeed but Rivlin will task another MK such as Gideon Saar to form a coalition and not him since he already had failed in back to back elections.

    https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Netanyahu-says-5780-should-be-year-of-unity-602582