Israeli Elections: War is Good for the Right

by Charles Lenchner · 2009-02-09 04:59:00 UTC
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Muqata did a good job of compiling the most recent Israeli polls, which are also the last ones allowed by law. By all accounts, it looks like the right is going to win.

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin writes in the Huffington Post that:

In Israel, the party that appears toughest on national security is bound to win, explaining in part Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's brutal and hard-hearted handling of the War on Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu's criticisms that the war ended prematurely and the continued threats from leaders of Israel's largest parties of fierce and disproportionate attacks on Gaza.

The Israeli public is tired of endless conversations about peace, negotiations that don't seem to go anywhere, and never ending images of militant Palestinians making threats and planning for yet more attacks. The want more certainty, and don't must trust the traditional leaders of Israeli politics. Those leaders are concentrated in Kadima and Labor - and so the alternatives are gaining support.

That being said, the Israeli public is not strongly attached to its parties. Many of them have a history of expanding or shrinking dramatically over time, and then back again. Many of the voters choosing Likud today might well realize in a few years time that the right wing solution has only brought more violence and despair.

I do worry though about the support for Israel Beiteinu, the National Union, Bayit Yehudi, Shas, and Yahadut HaTorah. Together, these parties acount for more than 40 seats in the next Knesset - 2 out of five. It's a block that supports Jewish fundamentalism, violent, coercive and violent measures against the Palestinians, inside Israel and out, and see 'peace' as a distraction from the preferred goal of Jewish politics - the promotion of Jewish strength above all.

This is a frightening image. It is not the Israel I knew, growing up. I'm not sure Obama has the resources to confront fanatical Jewish nationalism, though I'll support him in that effort.

Charles Lenchner
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