Now that all the votes are in, let me present you with some telling statistics. Take a look at where the so-called "right wing bloc" cast their votes.
66,775 people voted for Otzma LeYisrael. They failed to pass the 2% threshold, and will not even have one seat in the 19th Knesset.
345,985 people voted for Bayit Yehudi, giving them 12 seats.
331,871 people voted for Shas and 195,893 for UTJ (Gimmel).
885,054 people voted Likud-Beiteinu, giving them 31 seats and making them the largest single party, which is the only reason why the leader of the Likud right now is the presumed Prime Minister-elect.
In the Likud primaries prior to the elections, the highest ranked candidate got 47,777 votes, while the last person to make it into this Knesset got 21,843. And in the primaries for leadership of the Likud a year ago, Binyamin Netanyahu defeated Moshe Feiglin by about 30,000 votes, according to the doctored official results (and I know first hand that the results were fixed); his actual margin of victory was probably closer to 20,000.
So, assuming you're someone who would like to see a God-fearing Jew leading the Jewish state - where do you get the most bang for your buck - or vote? Be one of the 66,775 people who flushed their votes down the "Netz" toilet? One of 345,985 people who might, for their trouble, earn one or two peripheral ministries? Or one of 30,000 people who, had they been Likud members, could have made Feiglin the Prime Minister today?
This truth applies no matter what your political views (assuming you're not more naturally at home with the Left - in which case, you should join Labor). Let's say you're Haredi and want to make sure that men are free to continue studying Torah and not be drafted. At this writing, coalition negotiations are still in progress. As things stand now, Shas and UTJ's combined 18 seats won't be worth a ki hu zeh if they can't climb down from their trees and come to some sort of compromise with Yesh Atid about "shivyon b'netel"; Netanyahu and Lapid will simply form a government without them, and all these hugely significant issues will be decided for them. If you want to make a difference, you should be signing up yourself, your friends and your Rabbis for the Likud. Get Haredim into the party structures and onto the Knesset list for the 20th Knesset. Over half a million people voted for Haredi parties in this election. If 10% of those people had joined the Likud, you could have had several Haredi MKs lodged into the governing party, and it would have been impossible to make any changes to the status quo without your participation. Chaval al hazman.
If you really want to make a difference to the governance of Israel, then vote smart. It costs 64 shekels a year for one person, 96 NIS for a couple.
Click here to sign up.
66,775 people voted for Otzma LeYisrael. They failed to pass the 2% threshold, and will not even have one seat in the 19th Knesset.
345,985 people voted for Bayit Yehudi, giving them 12 seats.
331,871 people voted for Shas and 195,893 for UTJ (Gimmel).
885,054 people voted Likud-Beiteinu, giving them 31 seats and making them the largest single party, which is the only reason why the leader of the Likud right now is the presumed Prime Minister-elect.
In the Likud primaries prior to the elections, the highest ranked candidate got 47,777 votes, while the last person to make it into this Knesset got 21,843. And in the primaries for leadership of the Likud a year ago, Binyamin Netanyahu defeated Moshe Feiglin by about 30,000 votes, according to the doctored official results (and I know first hand that the results were fixed); his actual margin of victory was probably closer to 20,000.
So, assuming you're someone who would like to see a God-fearing Jew leading the Jewish state - where do you get the most bang for your buck - or vote? Be one of the 66,775 people who flushed their votes down the "Netz" toilet? One of 345,985 people who might, for their trouble, earn one or two peripheral ministries? Or one of 30,000 people who, had they been Likud members, could have made Feiglin the Prime Minister today?
This truth applies no matter what your political views (assuming you're not more naturally at home with the Left - in which case, you should join Labor). Let's say you're Haredi and want to make sure that men are free to continue studying Torah and not be drafted. At this writing, coalition negotiations are still in progress. As things stand now, Shas and UTJ's combined 18 seats won't be worth a ki hu zeh if they can't climb down from their trees and come to some sort of compromise with Yesh Atid about "shivyon b'netel"; Netanyahu and Lapid will simply form a government without them, and all these hugely significant issues will be decided for them. If you want to make a difference, you should be signing up yourself, your friends and your Rabbis for the Likud. Get Haredim into the party structures and onto the Knesset list for the 20th Knesset. Over half a million people voted for Haredi parties in this election. If 10% of those people had joined the Likud, you could have had several Haredi MKs lodged into the governing party, and it would have been impossible to make any changes to the status quo without your participation. Chaval al hazman.
If you really want to make a difference to the governance of Israel, then vote smart. It costs 64 shekels a year for one person, 96 NIS for a couple.
Click here to sign up.
11 comments:
I would consider registering for the Likud only if I could vote for another party in the election- but is that ethical?
Anon - your ballot is secret, and a lot of Likud members did vote for other parties in this election, often because they were so disgusted at the negative campaign the Likud ran, picking the Bayit Yehudi as the enemy. I don't think that's unethical. I did vote Likud, despite my many sharp disagreements with Netanyahu, for many reasons, as detailed in a previous blog entry (Rational voter's guide).
This calculus only works if you presume that a plurality of the voters would continue to vote Likud regardless of who leads the party -- be it Netanyahu, Lieberman, Silvan Shalom, or even Moshe Feiglin.
This is likely a faulty presumption. I don't think that Feiglin at position 15 scared off too many Likudniks to vote Yesh Atid, but if he were to top the list, Likud would follow the likes of Kadima and Labor as imploding parties.
It's one thing to work towards "Jewish leadership" -- it's quite another to assume that that's what everyone wants, or that they're too moronic to realize that's what they're voting for.
You make a large assumption that the Likud under Feiglin or other religious person will actually stay the largest party. You ignore at least one poll done post-election asking people if elections were held today how would they now vote, showing that Lapid's party beats Likud.
I think it's unethical to join the Likud and then vote Bayit Yehudi and I'm sorry if rabbis with an interest have permitted it.
I know that Bennet is made of leadership material, but you cannot be PM if you are a member of the Mafdal. Don't forget this forecast: Bennet will mobilize the Bayit Yehudi to merge with Likud before the next elections.
Richie: People are very fond of saying that voters are scared off by Feiglin. I believe the exact opposite is true. The Likud did so badly because their campaign was devoid of values, and they didn't even present a vision or manifesto. People were much more inspired by Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid, because they actually presented plans, and a vision for the future.
The MSM has painted Feiglin as a wild extremist. Given the opportunity to present his actual views (not those projected on him) most people - even secular people - find that it resonates with them, because Feiglin is in touch with amcha; he is a libertarian and believes in individual freedom, small government and no religious coercion. In short, he would attract votes, not scare them off.
Josh: I hope you are right that Bennet will merge BY with Likud. It would be a great thing for the country.
I supported bennet. I'm possibly even a supporter of Otzmah. I'd love for the temple to be rebuilt and for Jews to pray on Har Habayit instead of gawking at the western wall.
However, I would never vote for Feiglin. He's insane. His "values" are nothing but a bad port of right wing American politics. If I wanted to live in a place where Feiglin was in charge, I can go to Texas.
He has no idea what's good for Israel and I would never vote for a Likud that he was in the driver seat of.
Anon: can you please give specifics of what issues you disagree with Feiglin on?
The real question is not what I disagree with him on, it's what I do agree with him on.
But off the top of my head, I don't agree with the following.
1. Volunteer Army only.
2. Education vouchers
3. Putting a lottery on all the land of Israel
4. Privatization of health care
5. Separation of church and state
6. Not allowing Arabs to vote.
From http://www.jewishisrael.org/eng_contents/articles/73/article7320.html
Anon:
OK, that's fair enough. I happen to agree with him on pretty much all of those points. Does that make me insane? :-)
Just for clarification: "not allowing Arabs to vote" is a misleading way of putting things. He's not proposing stripping Israeli Arabs of their citizenship. He's only talking about the Arab residents of Yo"sh.
Yes, if you think those things are good for Israel, you are insane :)
But it seems this whole plan of Feiglin's is backfiring.. again.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4341680,00.html
Whoa. That's scary stuff. Thanks for the heads up.
But Netanyahu does not own the Likud. He would have to get this approved by the Likud Central Committee... and there is NO WAY they will allow this kind of undemocratic shenanigan through.
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