Yisrael Beytenu chief blasts Likud’s opposition to unity government, warns establishment of right-wing gov’t will lead to theocracy.
Former Defense Minister and Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avidgor Liberman said Friday that his party would not support a right-wing government, condemning the Likud party for ruling out a unity government with the center-left Blue and White party.
“The cat is out of the bag,” Liberman said, after a Likud internal party memo was published by Israel Hayom Friday morning, telling party officials not to speak in favor of a unity government.
“Netanyahu…made the headlines this morning with his declaration that he will not form a unity government. The assumption is that he will be able to form a narrow Netanyahu-led government with the support of Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, Rabbi Peretz, Deri, and Litzman, who are pushing for a theocratic state,” Liberman continued, alluding to reports Thursday that Netanyahu has offered two ministries to the United Right, and a senior position to Otzma Yehudit candidate Itamar Ben-Gvir, if the United Right allies itself with Otzma Yehudit – and not the New Right.
Liberman recommended Netanyahu as premier to President Rivlin after the April 9th election, only to refuse to join a new Netanyahu-led government unless it agreed to pass his haredi draft bill.
Since then, the former Defense Minister has accused Netanyahu of allowing haredi and right-wing lawmakers to turn Israel into a theocratic state based on traditional Jewish law (Halacha), rather than civil law.
“On the 17th of September,” Liberman continued Friday, “every Israeli citizen will need to ask himself one question: What kind of state do I want to live in: A Jewish state, or a theocratic (halachic) state in which a crazy group of rabbis will impose religious coercion, will extort the government, and force upon us a way of life based on the rules set in the time of King David and King Saul? A narrow government would be a great misfortune, and we won’t enable it.”
@ Edgar G.:
Do they live in houses or apartments? Do they pay maintenance, mortgages or taxes?
If what you say, is true, that they are just anti-Bibi, period, then Bibi had better embrace Shaked and Bennett if he wants to keep his majority because no issue can split the opposition’s base and taking sides between the secular and Haredi other than to maintain the status quo compromise from the very beginning will fracture his existing coalition.
Thanks for the welcome, Edgar.
I loathe Sanders for his antisemitic stance against Israel and for his solidarity with Israel and America’s common Islamofascist foes. I understand that he is no socialist but a closet Communist and his solutions are transition programs to destroy America but I do believe in the things he pretends to believe in. I would like more safety nets like Israel or most of Western Europe. Do you know that in Italy, which nobody mentions, Healthcare is free and just paid for by taxes? Of course, it’s much cheaper. I think it’s expensive here because of corruption and lack of competition. I voted for Trump and will do again.I also voted for Cuomo and De Blasio and will do so again.
Israeli Election Still a Wild Card
The final issue that will determine whether or not Netanyahu forms the next government. – Part of an article by Caroline Glick at Frontpage
This confirms what people in various parties told me. “Within Likud, senior politicians have told Breitbart News that they will not permit a third election. “If Netanyahu can’t form a government this time around, he will be unseated,” one senior party official said. Several others agree”.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
You sound like a Bernie Sanders acolyte. Elsewhere on this page, amongst other possible advantages, I think Bear points out that the large majority of Israelis own their homes etc. His post is a far better answer than any I can give.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
Sebastian….OF COURSE I’m aware…The items you mention are all healthy. I eat many of them, as sparingly or as much as I want. It’s when people daily glut themselves that they put on weight if not from a family propensity.
I frequently eat bread with potatoes, because I’ve always liked it that way. My weight has nothing to to with a “thinness gene” or whatever. My family were all very inclined to put on weight in their later years. It was, I suppose, a matter of decreasing activity without suitable diet.
I don’t, because I now eat less. When young and very active in sports, I could, and often did eat two full plates of roast meat and french fries. I ate loads of bread with butter nearly 1/4 inch thick -daily. I drank pints of Jersey milk which was over 1/3rd cream. We knew nothing then of the dangers of animal fats. Yet all my dear mother’s 7 siblings died young (49+) from heart disease, as she herself did at age 75( the only one to live past 60). To them it was just Fate.
MY staple food has always been BREAD. Not the loaves from supermarkets that you can squeeze into a ball of dough, but the hard, solid, chewy kind, which requires to be cut, like sawing through a wooden plank. REAL bread.
I burned it all away as I trained or played almost every day, summer and winter. But I stopped much of that before my mid 20s. Chased girls instead, maybe used the same energy…I don’t know….??
Oh yes….., I’ve been vegetarian since my late 20s.-except on visits home- Mostly because, having left home, I could not easily get kosher meat and fowl. No other reason.
The kind of obesity you are talking about was not shown on these videos. I meant that they were well covered, (no gaunt cheeks), healthy, solid, well-dressed looking, No poverty signs, no ragged clothing etc
I can’t cover everything in one post, I made my point, and I maintain it. You are speculating on the reasons, whilst actually agreeing with my observations. A big exchange over a little fuss.
Anyway, glad to see you back….!!
@ Sebastien Zorn:Some of the left is more interested in Social issues but that has been more Labor and Meretz.
Blue/White is more of the anti Bibi Crowd as the main point in common. These are typically middle class / professional Tel-Aviv area voters (not exclusive)
The poor in Israel come from two main sectors Haredi and Arab.
Most people in Israel own their apartment. 70% of minimum wage is not a hell of a lot but people have their health care paid for. So depending how you live you may squeak by. Espcially if this pension is supplementing another pension even if it small such a Russian pension or some savings.
The poverty rate is very likely exaggerated as under reporting of income in Israel is common. Extremely common in the Arab sector, though they surely are not alone in this phenomenon.
@ Edgar G.:
You said that they all of the allegedly poor people complaining seemed to be well-padded around the middle. Are you unaware that the poorest people tend to be the most obese and that the cheapest, starchiest foods like bread, rice, beans, noodles and potatoes are the most fattening? And, of course, derivatives, like felafel, hummus, and babaganoush. I should know. I became fat as a vegetarian. Nothing more fattening. Meat, fowl, and fish are not fattening, at all, as they contain no carbs. They are, of course, much more expensive. Don’t cite your own dry toast example. Not everyone is weight-gain prone.
@ Edgar G.:No at first Bennett only wanted to join with Zehut . This is what he and Shaked debated for a week. He finally gave in. Last election cycle she gave in, as originally she was not for splitting from Bayit Yehudi. He talked her into it.
He has taken the bulk of blame for that fiasco of not passing the thresh-hold. He has also said mea-culpa. Shaked has now asserted herself and her popularity is way up. I do not know if you ever listen to her in Hebrew but she has a very impressive off the cuff speaking style. She can cut someone to ribbons with a couple of words.
When some of the rabbis were objecting to her being the head of the Right List, she came out and listed all the things a woman can do including head a party or even be Prime Minister. She said, some people will just have to acclimate to that reality. I am paraphrasing from memory and not translating, so I am not doing it justice. The timing and the manner of speech was very confident and authoritative. She comes off as a leader.
@ Edgar G.:
Aside from the fact that you live the life of an ascetic, which is rare, minimum wage where I am wouldn’t even pay the average person’s rent. The article said Bibi agreed to 70 percent of minimum wage. Are you suggesting all workers live in poverty and so should be used to it. Or, that all, or most own their homes, and tax mortgage, and maintenance free, at that? If you read the article I cited, one “Zionist Union” leader said the whole left right game was nonsense that it was about poverty. I’ve read elsewhere that the questions that grip us are of minor importance to a lot of Blue and White voters who are motivated by bread and butter issues which the press rarely discusses.
@ Bear Klein:
Of course Shaked is right, and I understood that Bennett was talking about joining with Feiglin, only if the Right Coalition didn’t accept the New -Right’s Shaked as leader etc.
This is the point with the whole concept of this Israeli style coalition. Ideologies must give way (temporarily) to neccessity. You can either sink with your ideology, (like Feiglin may do) or float with compromise… Which it the reason that they are specifying that AFTER the election they will separate and go each his own way… I see it as quite simple. Ideologies need not be compromised in any way. Nobody is going to catch an incurable disease from allowing his name to be put on a coalition list.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
I’ve seen often, that many of the Haredim live in abject poverty. but that’s their choice. “Living below the poverty level ” -as a statistic- is deceptive.
A good beginning is to curtail splurging on “wants” and buy “needs” first….
As I’ve said, I KNOW it can be done, because I did it…and know others who did the same.
I don’t say there are not many very needy people who are short of essentials, I know that there are, and they need to be helped along. My general remarks above have been directed at the statistic…..”below the poverty line” which has been found in studies I read several years ago, to be far too general.
Sorry if I sound callous, but I really am not.
Apropos of nothing….One of the things I particularly noticed about the very short videos posted by the Jordan Opposition Coalition, was that although they were protesting about “hunger”, and starving” and lack of money for ESSENTIALS, they all seemed to be particularly well padded” around the middle, and indeed, close ups of the occasional head or face, showed rather well-fed, individuals. At the beginning, because of the reasons “given” for the demonstrations, I was expecting at least a little touch of emaciation and poor clothing….But never saw it. They looked short of nothing..
Maybe that’s the real reason that the protests have been so intermittent, and not pushed with any real fire. It seems more fueled by detestation of the ruling family than their purported reasons.
@ Edgar G.:
This idea has merit, but too many people in the Likud would have to lose their seats. Also Bibi has kept Shaked out of the Likud because he fears her popularity.
This Union actually is not done Peretz has cornered Shaked, he presented to the public that he was giving up the leadership. HE HAD NO CHOICE, it was unanimous that she was way more popular than him. He is trying to get win the argument about more seats for United Right in the list. That is the biggest outstanding issue.
Feiglin does not want to sit with the United Right. He was perfectly happy to run on a list with just the New Right but some of his philosophies clash with the New Right intolerably in his mind. So if Shaked is unable to convince Feiglin to join the “Special Right” List it may cost the right 2 seats. Feiglin is the least pragmatic politician there is. Unlikely he will sit in the Knesset. Where if he joined the Special Right List he and maybe one other from Zehut might be sitting the Knesset having a vote plus sitting on a committee or two influencing the government decisions.
Bennett wanted to to just join with Zehut but Shaked wants to get the broadest right wing possible.
@ Bear Klein:
I suggest that now that Peretz, that jealous fool, has finally allowed a little common-sense to penetrate his ego filled head, and agreed that Shaked will lead the Right Coalition, it should be comparatively simple for SHAKED…not Peretz or other idological numbskulls, to make an agreement with LIKUD to join them in another “techical block”, making a massive right wing.
At least, the idea should be floated right away and polls takes to see how it would affect the voting outcome. The LIKUD campaign to straighten out the Russian voters should also have a big impact. Lieberman has always been nothing but an impediment to them, not an advantage.
@ Sebastien Zorn:
It’s well shown that the retired can live on rather less than the amount they were earning when working. They already are settled, have their homes and large appliances and also many have savings. This holds for all “normal” countries. Low salaries workers can manage by cutting corners and doing without $200 telephone/cameras et . I know this for a fact because I did it for many years after I came to Canada. And I never got a cent I didn’t earn. I still have no credit card nor rating, never had, never will. I pay for what I need and if I don’t have the money , I do without….I don’t know anywhere that awards retired or non working people more than a worker’s salary….except for that lunatic Trudeau, in Canada who lavished first class hotels and lashings of everything, on the Islamic terrorists he invited into the country in hordes.
OK, Today’s Arutz Sheva announces that Shaked will lead the United Right List so it seems Netanyahu really has no choice but to accept her. If he puts the public through this a third time, I don’t see how they could forgive him. They might just prefer Shaked! I do like her better but I don’t know if it’s such a great idea to change horses in mid-stream during a war, especially a multi-front stealth war as complicated as this one has been, and especially when Israel is winning under his leadership.
OK, I found this much, anyway. Unless Netanyahu can find a way to persuade these sectors that he will utilize the change in Jordan to improve their lives, I don’t think he would have enough time in the next four weeks to make use of it. On the other hand, if Lieberman’s base is really mainly motivated by haredi vs. secular issues, he is between a rock and a hard place because he will lose seats no matter which way he turns. His only practical option is to create a big tent for the entire right, but he seems to have a grudge against Shaked and Bennett, so it’s likely that the same situation will continue after the election because no one can form a coalition. The answer may lie in a Constitutional Convention and adopting the American system of winner take all Presidential elections but then those factions who benefit from the present system may oppose that so probably the present stalemate will continue, no matter what, for some time unless the polls are wrong again. Has anybody analyzed why the polls said the New Right would get at least 6 mandates and wound up not meeting the threshold? Bennett thought there was electoral fraud but when it was investigated they found none. Was the investigation, itself, compromised? Is there some flaw in the polling method?
“21.2% OF ISRAELI POPULATION LIVES BELOW THE POVERTY LINE – NEW REPORT
The report showed an increase in poverty among the elderly, despite a recent minimum wage increase.”
“However, among the elderly, the poverty rate increased from 20.8% in 2016 to 21.8% in 2017.
The poverty rate among immigrants (those who made aliyah since 1990) increased from 17.0% in 2016 to 18.4% in 2017.”
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/212-percent-of-Israeli-population-lives-below-the-poverty-line-new-report-575883
@ Bear Klein:
Is it possible to live on a pension of 70 percent of the minimum wage? Doesn’t that mean that the retired have to keep working? Aren’t rents very high? What do all the factions have to say about this?
@ Ted Belman: He could apply sovereignty and Civil Law to Area C and remove all restrictions on Jewish building and housing sales. He could cut into Lieberman’s base by offering subsidized low-income Jewish housing in Yesha to poor Russian Jews. I’m not sure what the issues are with Blue and White but I’ve read that many of them are motivated chiefly by economics. I’d like to see more analysis of exactly what it is that motivates different groups of voters now. There has been too much “what”, “where”, “when” and “how,” in the press and not enough “why.”
All Polls until now have indicated that Liberman will be kingmaker whether there is a right wing coalition or not. So getting voters away from Yisrael Beitenyu (Liberman) to vote for Likud is the strategy of the Likud to win the election. This campaign is going on in the Russian language and not Hebrew. The quote below spells it out.
The full article which has further excellent elections information is at https://www.israelhayom.com/2019/07/26/can-the-right-do-the-right-thing/
This is from Friday’s Israel Hayom. IsraelHayom says that the left is in better shape than the right coming into the elections, because it has had more success in unifying. IHY also says that Bibi is secretly conspiring to prvent Shaked from becoming the head of a United Rightwing bloc. In public, he say he wants the right to unify.
IYH says that the Likud central committee has told all Likud members, in a semi-secret memo (immediately leaked to the press, of course), that the Likud will not join a unity government. It instructed Likud members to attack Benny Gantz at every opportunity as both unqualified and corrupt. The Likud Cntral Committee alleges tha Gantz and his “friends” participated in a $50 billion dollar fraud scheme,
that the Israeli police have refused to participate in because of their political bias.
David Israel, writing in the Jewish Press, agrees with Bear that a coalition government would require the Likud to choose another Prime Minister besides Netanyahu. He thinks this may happen. However, he also thinks the Likud would be the dominant partner in the coalition.
However, the Likud Central Committe has sent a directive to all members of the party, saying that the Likud will not agree to form a coalition with Blue and White. If the Likud holds to this position after the elections, and Blue and White emerges as the strongest party, Gantz and Lapid will have the dauntng iask of putting together a coalition without Likud.
It is interesting that nearly all the polls show the rightwing bloc with slightly higher numbers than the leftwing bloc, if one excludes the Arabs.
Once again, I am not asking for how Israel or the Palestinians will benefit with Mudar in power. I am asking for suggestions as to how Netanyahu can make use of the new reality to win the elections.
@ Vivarto:
Virtually all of them are as poor as mice, actual poverty, but they put Torah learning above everything. Also, there is already in place, and has been for several years an agreement as to the numbers of Haredim that the IDF require. Even if every single one reported for drafting, about 60% would be rejected s physically unfit, and of the rest, they would take about as many s they need, which is around their present recruits from the Haredi Community.
In fact, they announced some time before the last election when it came up, that they were reducing the IDF numbers, and therefore fewer Haredim would be needed.
The real problem with the Community and the secular Israel are the Yeshiva Heads, and the Sages Council, who, all being old and in no danger of being drafted, are the more adamantly opposed to contributing. If there was no state at all they would be happier. Because they believ that only the Moshiach can install a State of Israel. They are mashugga of course but thats the way they think.
At least that was how I read it, and I can be corrected.
@ Bear Klein:
Yes they hate Jews and all that, but at the same time they have many ongoing protests about the high cost of essentials and the high unemployment rate etc, which one day is bound to spill over into bloodshed, perhaps quite prolonged.
The alternative with Mudar…. of good housing, good jobs, good pay, plentiful essentials etc, may be the bait on the hook that will sway them to settle down and try to better their lot. At the same time they know they have no chance at all to do any damage to Israel, and if they tried, against Mudar’s express orders, the IDF would whack their backsides with lethal force.
I am convinced that ever since 1967 and later in 1973 and the visibly surging power of the IDF it must be a cornerstone, perhaps understood if not written down, that they should NEVER provoke Israel to lethal retaliation.
After all they are only a tin-pot, banana-republic strength group of competing clans who hate each other just as much as they hate Israel., and with less chance of danger to themselves.
That’s a bit better but still lacking..
Let us say that Mudar takes power 5 weeks before the voting day in Israel (Sept 17) how could Bibi use that new reality to form the next government? Could he use it to gain a minority of seats for the Right? Or could he use it to form a unity government committed to the Jordan River as the border to the two states and to the policy of compensated emigration?
Explain how.
Imagine with liberman out of gov. Israel could be Jewish again. No traif selling shops, restaurants selling traif be closed, but those who mix milk and meat be allowed. Supermarkets (eg; stop) no longer be allowed to sell shell fish. Return of English language over Russian.
Return to ‘a Jew is born of a Jewish mother.’ Not did you ever punch a jew or spit on a Jew then you are a Jew.
https://youtu.be/BFE8_gVYNbE
If Mudar could adopt this interpretation of Islam, then Jordan would become a beckon of enlightenment for the entire Muslim world.
It is exactly the lack of free speech and freedom to doubt, question and criticize, that has made the entire Muslim world the shithole of the world.
Breaking this oppression would be the beginning of the first aver Age of Enlightenment in the Muslim world, and the end of a millennium of Islamic
dark ages.
A Haredi Chalachic State of Israel would indeed be a disaster.
A totally disgusting idea.
Ultra Orthodox Haredis are more harmful to our Jewish Israelite nation than all antisemites combined. They are the embodiment of humiliation imposed on us during the middle ages. They are the continuation of the sickness forced on us during the centuries as humiliation in ghettos.
Our great King and Poet, David, would have vomited all over these self-righteous, narrow-minded, pretentious cowards. He’d have on need for them in his kingdom.
Neither could Moses or Joshua use them.
Nor would the by be of any value to could Judah Maccabee, or his father Mattathias.
Jewish of the managed to learn the Torah while fully participating in economic and military duties of the country. This social class of religious parasites living of the tax money of the productive population and imposing on them their narrow minded ghetto rules is equally dangerous to survival of Israel as would be division of our land, or making Israel a bi-national state.
Ted,
If Mudar were to become president TOMORROW then he’d have enough time to make a difference.
He could declare to the Jordanian people that he’ll do whatever best leads to most improvement in his people’s lives and has no other responsibilities.
He wants his people to be free and prosperous, and to achieve this goal he’ll cooperate with any foreign country that will help achieving this goal, bet it Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Israel, United States, Russia or China.
In particular he recognizes the huge benefit that would follow from close cooperation with the neighboring Israel. He will seek utilizing Israeli cooperation with rapid improvements in industrial and agricultural technology.
He’ll establish true peace and stability in his country, and pass laws protecting and favoring foreign investment, and invite USD tens of billions in investment.
He could create tens of billions just from the project of re-absorbing the Arab population from Judea and Samaria and building cities for them for money received from Israel, United States and other countries.
For the overwhelming majority of people in EVERY country, bet it America, Jordan, or Russia, living standard, the quality of life for them and their family is more important that ideologies.
If Jordanian people believe Mudar, he’ll have overwhelming support, and he’ll also have support from Israel.
If Mudar declares himself a president of ALL Jordanians including the so called “Palestinians” in Israel, he would be the king maker in Israel. His support for Netanyahu would secure Netanyahu’s victory.
But that is only possible if he is president today.
If he becomes president only in 4 weeks, it will be too late. He’ll not have time to meet with Netanyahu.
@ Bear Klein:
@ Bear Klein:
No the IDF in 1973 certainly, (and the same for 1967) could not have walked into Damascus and Cairo…. Theoretically, yes, they were well placed, as far as distance to cover, and lack of intervening opposition. Egypt had NO reserves; Sadat was frothing at the mouth about it, when asked,,, but the IDF was not trained to occupy massive, sprawling, enemy urban areas, and more importantly, they didn’t have enough manpower. They laid all these reasons out at the time, which I recall, but you likely don’t.
Another thing, since all Israels reserves were in action, the country itself had almost come to a standstill, and any prolonged absence of the vital personnel that kept the factories and other social structures humming along, would have been a country-wide financial disaster that would take years to recover from. And the International Powers, already pressuring Israel to allow supplies in to the encircled Egyptians was in full swing, They would not have allowed Israel to derive any, or much benefit from their occupation or capture of the enemy capitals.
My opinion.
Jordan becoming the Pal State would be great if it was also still at peace with Israel, especially a warm peace between friendly neighbors.
The formula needed for stability and peace in the very long run however is the defeat of Hamas/Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon plus the PLO and other terrorists in Judea/Samaria.
Victory in a clear overwhelming fashion over all the enemies. Just like when the IDF could have walked into Damascus or Cairo in previous wars. Wars that made these enemies say we do not want to fight Israel anymore .The destruction of Hamas & PLO must so massive that no one would think that a Pal-State west of the Jordan River has a chance.
I would like to hear a leader of Israel describe the above as his campaign promise. I would like to hear clearly that Oslo was a huge mistake and it needs to be reversed and this will occur.
Even, if Mudar ever becomes the leader of Jordan no one knows if this would be for five minutes, one day, or one month. The Jordanians and Pal-Arabs in Jordan hate Jews and Israel. So if Mudar Zahran was cozy with the Israeli government would he last any longer than Sadat?
The concept that Jordan takes Pal-Arabs from the land of Israel and gives them a home in Jordan and its citizenship is great. Hope it happens. I do not see what it has to do with the Israeli election. Why the hypothetical Ted now before the election, Ted? I ask you again what do you think would happen?
@ Ted Belman: Obviously, Ted, if and when Mudar Zahran takes over Jordan, of course whoever is Prime minister at the time, whether Bibi or someone else, will benefit enormously, as will Israel. All I meant to say was that based on the sources that report on the situation in Jordan other than Israpundit, including Mudar’s own blog, this seems unlikely within the next four weeks. It may happen sometime, but I think it will take longer than that. (Chaim Weizmann once quipped,”the impossible takes a little longer.”).
@ Ted Belman:
It would help considerably if Mudar showed a decided preference for dealing with Netanyahu rather than any other, because, as he should say, his world-class statesmanship, his increasing rapprochement with Arab States, and other massive world-wide achievements, have propelled him into the position that he would be most acceptable for genuine negotiations with the Jordanians for lasting Arab peace, and sincere alliances on all matters of mutual benefit.
All true, but no harm in boosting him up a bit. ….Something like that. .
You all dissapoint me. I ask you to assume he takes over, how will it affect the election. No one answered that question. You prfer to argue that you don’t believe he will take over..
Please focus on the question. I am not interested in hearing your doubts.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
That’s O.K. Adam, I don’t know how to make a link either, but it never has bothered me enough to take the trouble to find out. I’m content that the technological age passed me by, and I don’t care.
Every time I change my PC I have to start all over again to decipher the hieroglyphics on the new, unfamiliar keys. That’s enough to keep me occupied without worrying over links.
@ Bear Klein:
Your last paragraph gives excellent, moderate suggestions…….which the Rabonim would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to follow. Its the perfect solution. But they likely don’t read it here.
It’s all actually easy to settle what have become massive differences, by an outside opinion, bringing factual, easy to accept solutions, that cut through the posturing, cock-fighting, aggressive, “me only” attitudes that grown people often take when acting like schoolyard kids.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Sorry Adam, yes he did, on several occasions he has given a time expiry date for the Hashemte rule. I recall a few years ago that he wrote that they would be gone by 2011 or 2012 the latest, and he has intimated fairly imminent departure a few times since.
I wouldn’t, and don’t hold him to it. Politics, and particularly in Jordan are such a mess of medusa heads, all battling one another under cover, whilst projecting a different face to the world.
But WE know what’s going on there,, and I don’t believe it would last much longer. All it really would take would be a determined mass of anti-Humptys to swarm the palace and he’s out the back door with his suitcase.
But there is NO real leader, and NO organised group sufficiently strong and cohesive enough. That is, as far as my limited view can discern. They just haven’t reached the boiling point yet.
Zahran is too scholarly, to content to sit back and chip away, almost self-effacing in the background, relying on others…. Seems to lack energy except to talk. And also lacks consistency………In my opinion.
I support Ted’s concept 100%, but it’s been slower in arriving than we all expected.
In the lack of action, the International machers, have been bringing all kinds of plans and schemes laden with cash, to prop up Jordan and Gaza, and strenghten the permanence of the Arab interlopers in YESHA.
@ Ted Belman:
So if Mudar was to take over in 4 weeks what would happen?
@ Edgar G.:Trouble is the Jews from the former Soviet Union number about 12% of the electorate and about 40% or so vote for Yisrael Betenyu (Liberman). The second largest amount of their votes go to the Likud.
UTJ/Shas gave him more power by not agreeing to the last draft law that was really soft. So he can keep harping on it. They have angered many Secular Israelis and even some traditional Israelis in trying force Jewish law on them. Also the Rabbinate keeps making life harder for Liberman’s voters and so they give him more ammo not less.
Yes, he is going over board and is not constructive in the least. It is like someone stole his metronome and he can never find the constructive rhythm again.
To counter him the UTJ/Shas and Likud need to come up with a reasonable draft law before the election plus a joint promise not too interfere with the lives of the Non-Haredi. Naturally they will not do this because even though he exaggerates they are bent on not serving and trying to extend religious law whenever they can on all of the people of Israel. If they did this the Likud would win more “Russian” votes and make Liberman expendable.
@ Bear Klein:
I posted this yesterday, and today, at least from the above article it seems that Lieberman is drunk with power. He accuses Netanahu of deeds which he never did and never had any intention of committing. “Turning Israel into a Halachic State”..Such nonsense as this should OPEN the eyes of his present supporters and see that he is just a windy demogogue, mouthing nonsense, and has no real ideas other than to either take down Netanyahu or/and live out his always growing hate for the Jewish Religion.
His demands, as I suggested days ago, are escalating and becoming wilder.
@ Ted Belman: I think its a fantasy, Ted. Your whole belief over the past eight years or so that a Zahran government is only a few weeks away has been a fantasy.
At least on his blogsite, Mudar Zahran has never made such a claim. He has written that Abdullah will inevitably fall , but has declined to give a timetable for when that will happen. On his blogsite, he has never said that he will be Jordan’s next head of state. Occasionally, he has hinted obliquely that he would not be averse to being elected to that office once democracy is established in Jordan. But he has never predicted that that would happen. His concern throughout has been on freedom for Jordanians, not power or glory for himself.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:Just copy the URL from the article and paste it at the end of the copied part it will be easier.
@ Bear Klein: Bear, I wasn’t even trying to make a link! Only giving the title and author of the article so that other could find it in the JP. I still have no idea how to make a link, although you and Ted have tried to explain it to me in the past.
Could you explain the process to me once more? PLease try not to leave out a single step, not even the ones that may seem self-evident to you. I have difficulty understanding anything the least bit “technical” or “practical” unless everything is spelled out very fully and precisely, step by step. Apparently one of the learning disabilities that I have. I was found to have when a neuropsychologist tested me back in 2004.
One of the few learning disabilities that I don’t have is the abilitiy to follow, recall and even create “narratives.’ That’s why I’m always telling stories.
However, “process” descriptions of tasks are another story. Even have trouble understanding the instructions for putting things together when I buy something that needs to be assembled.
Thanks for your help, Bear.
Please weigh in on this. If Mudar replaces King Abdullah in the next 4 weeks, how will this affect the outcome of the election? I have suggested that Bibi will get a lot of free air time which is always helpful. Mudar could also elaborate on his plans and offer to go to Jerusalem and speak at the Knesset like Sadat did. Trump could also weigh in.
Please make the case for how this will help the the right form a government or how it will help Bibi negotiate with Blue and White an agreement which will commit both to the Jordan Option.
This is really important.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:Adam suggestion either leave the link at the end of your comment, because when you try to embed it never works.
My guess is that you are duplicating the “http://” and not deleting it above. If you have copied “http://” as part of the overall URL link you must delete the already present “http://”. In other words when you read the link it can only be there once to work.
So Lieberman has assigned himself as king/queen maker. Will this obnoxious mouth get enough votes/seats to even sit in the next Knesset? What did he do achieve in the last Knesset?
@ Bear Klein:Excellent points, Bear
Interesting. Katz’s four scenarios are similar to the four that I described in an earlier post.
Katz, for some reason, does not list a government head by Gantz and Lapid as one of his options. He apparently just assumes that Likud will not agree to join a coalition government with Blue and White unless it is headed by Netanyahu.
He thinks that a coalition headed by Netanyahu that would include Gantz and his faction in senior positions is a possibility. But he thinks Lapid will never agree to serve in a government headed by Netanyahu. As a result if this scenario unfolds, the Blue and White party will “disintegrate.”
Another option he considers is that Leiberman will do an “180 degree turn” and agree to serve in a right-wing government headed by Netanyahu, even with the haredim included as well, in return for getting back the defense ministry. Katz admits that that is unlikely.
THe fourth possibility that Katz describes is that no one will be able to form a government. Since he also believes that the politicians will not agree to dissolve the Knesset once more, since that would be very unpopular, he predicts that the failure of coalition talks would result in what he calls a “hanging government.” He doesn’t define what this means.
My own version of the “hanging government scenario (I don’t know if it is the same as Katz’s) is that Netanyahu would remain in office until and unless someone else can inform the President that he/she has lined upthe necessary 61 votes to form a new government. That could take months or even years to happen.
Although Katz is no fan of Netanyahu, and has indicated in the past that he would prefer a Blue and White government, he seems to take for granted that Netanyahu will remain the dominant figure in Israeli politics for some time to come, even after the election.
Interesting.
@ Ted Belman:
Only if the Likud and other right wing parties get enough votes to get to 61 or more will Liberman not get his way. Likud needs probably at least around 35 seats or more.
Liberman says he will recommend the party that gets the most seats but ONLY sit in a unity government. I think he wants to destroy Bibi more than he wants to be in the next government and influence it. That is the impression he is providing plus obviously his battle against the UTJ/Shas has the making of a zero sum political battle.
. Also from today’s Arutz Sheva
I can’t see anything that will prevent Liberman from getting his way.