Israel at 73 numbers

 

73 years of Independence (Third Commonwealth)

23,928 fallen fighters

9,140,500 total population (end 2020)

21.0% Arab (within Green Line)

73.9% of Israel’s population on both sides of Green Lin is Jewish (***)

27.9% of the total budget expenditure (how much spent on social welfare)

NIS 21,063 (average monthly income before taxes)

NIS 8,115 (Households of one person average gross monthly money income)

NIS 10,782 (Average Monthly Wages per Employee Job Israeli workers)

355 killed (Casualties in road accidents)

6,312 dead from COVID-10

89% of self-defined Haredim say religion should take precedence over democratic values (*)

65% of self-defined Orthodox say religion should take precedence over democratic values (*)

62% of all Israelis say democratic values should trump religious halacha (*)

37.9% believe religious and democratic values are equally important in the state’s ethos (**)

34.5% say Jewish law should take precedence

26.6 percent say democratic values should take precedence (**)

83.6 percent of those on the Orthodox spectrum say religious law should take precedence over democratic values (**)

18% of Israelis self-define as being on the Orthodox spectrum

23% of Israelis self-define as traditional in their religious practice

34% of Israelis say that what binds them to the country is thousands of years of Jewish history (**)

76.7 percent of those on Orthodox spectrum say what binds them is the Bible

65.9 percent of self-defined right-wing Israelis say the country should spend to encourage diaspora to emigrate

64.8 percent of self-defined left-wingers say Israel should invest in bolstering Jewish identity in the diaspora

66.1% of all Israelis feel the Palestinian Arabs have a lesser claim to the land than the Jews

-- 82.5 percent of right-wingers believe this in contrast to 40.3 percent of lent wingers

22.8 percent believe the claims of both sides have equal validity (including 10.7 % of right-wingers)

4,410,052 votes were cast in the March 2021 parliamentary elections (****)

1.6 million went to parties on the Orthodox spectrum

1 million went to Likud (+ 209,000 to Likud breakaway Tikvah)

900,000 votes went to centrist parties

 

There are 6,772,000 Israeli Jews between the Mediterranean and the River Jordan.

There are 1,916,000 Palestinian-Israeli Arabs;

There are 2,949,246 (July 2021 est.) West Bank Arabs, and 1,957,062 (July 2021 est.) Gaza Arabs.

In other words, about 6.7 million Arabs and 6.7 million Jew sharing the same territory.

 

 

 

 

References

(*) Pew 2014 survey

https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2016/03/israel_survey_overview.hebrew_final.pdf

(**) Makor Rishon Yoman supplement in Hebrew April 14, 2021 survey

(***) https://israeli-ipc.org.il/en/main-3/

See, too, https://www.cbs.gov.il/en/mediarelease/Pages/2019/Population-of-Israel-on-the-Eve-of-2020.aspx

(****)  https://votes24.bechirot.gov.il/

 

 

 

 

Election Results Memo - March 24 Israel - Knesset

 

So, here's my quick take on yesterday's Elections for the 120-seat Knesset.

The unvarnished truth is that Israeli voters' solid plurality stands for Bibi-ism, Kahane-ism, and Haredism.

Why do I say this? With nearly 90 per cent of the vote in (meaning small changes will still have a big impact), the Bibi-ist Likud got 30 seats. 

The Netanyahu camp also includes: (Haredi Sephardic) Shas 9; (Knitted yarmulke) Yamina 7; (Haredi Ashkkanazim) UTJ 7; and (Hardel-ni-kim) Ben Gvir / Smotchrich 6 = 59

I can't see how anyone with a liberal bone in their body (and I use the word liberal in the original sense) could swallow this with equanimity.

The Hardel Party of Ben Gvir / Smotchrich is the most illiberal of the Jewish parties. It combines religious, social and political fanaticism garbed in an oversized kipa shruga (knitted skull cap). The party is an amalgamation of various radical factions that Netanyahu soldered into one to ensure his broad camp lost no votes.

His camp being non-Zionist Haredim + Hardel-nikim (of Ben Gvir / Smotchrich) + Likud (long shorn of Jabotinsky values). 

All held together by Netanyahu's cult of personality, self-interest and anticipated patronage.

It comes down to Bennett (small knitted kipa) and how low he will go to become defense minister, and to get the Justice Ministry. In the hands of his number two, Ayelet Shaked, Justice would play to the mob telling them that Israel's Supreme Court should follow the dictates of popular opinion (which like in most polities is intolerant). 

And suppose by some miracle Bennett – a political Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – does the right thing and refuses Bibi. In that case, it is on to another cycle of elections. Unless he does the really right thing and hooks up with Lapid & Saar & Ganz (below).

Even with Bennett, Bibi would anyway require defectors from among his opponents' camp or one of the Arab parties' backing – Ra'am being a possibility.

Pundits say Bibi's partners would not cooperate with the Arabs even to form a government. We shall see. 

Bottom line: it is disheartening that so large a plurality of Israelis favor parties of intolerance.

What of the center? Lapid (who I voted for) and Ganz (who I voted for several times in the past), and Saar together garnered 31 seats.  I put Saar in the center to stack the deck. He is more right-wing than Lapid or Ganz but he retains some old-school Jabotinsky values.

The left parties of Labor and Meretz pulled 12. Both slates contain anti-Zionists. Labor was invigorated by a new woke leader. Meretz got a decisive piety vote from farbrente leftists. I am glad because it means Yair Golan will be in the next Knesset.

In his own category is Lieberman with 7 seats. His Yisrael Beiteinu Party represents the know-nothing older Russian-speaking street. Reactionary. Nationalist. Secular. His number two is an anti-Vaxer. Lieberman, like Bennett and Saar, is a former Netanyahu staffer who broke with the Master years ago and now works to bring him down.

The (more than you can imagine) fragmented Arabs got 11 seats divided between Ra'am and the Joint List. Like Bennett, they can play a pivotal role in creating or blocking a new government's formation.

Bottom line: It will take many, many, many, weeks for things to shake out. The prospect of another round in the Fall is not out of the question.

 

 

 

Join me in voting for Yesh Atid on Israel Election Day Tuesday, 23 March

 

Israel Knesset Elections 2021: Blog 2 | Netanyahu on N12

 

With 30-odd days to go, do you still think Netanyahu the most competent, gifted, and able of the candidates?

Binyamin Netanyahu has no equal.

Watch his performance as anchor Yonit Levy interviews him on Israel’s Channel 12.

Swave, informed, articulate, sincere, and doggedly on message. There is even a touch of self-depracation and genuine modesty. Netanyahu is like sugar. You crave more even if you know he is not good for you.

Every new promise is heartfelt and sincere, papering over long stretches of lies. But who cares? This time – this time, it will be different.

It is hard to imagine that Netanyahu will not form the next government. 

Orthodox people will vote for Bennett or Ben-Givir, or Netanyahu. Haredim for one of the ultra-Orthodox parties or Ben-Givir. Right-wingers for Netanyahu or his nemesis Sa’ar or Bennett.

When the dust settles, the likelihood is Bennett and Netanyahu will join forces pulling in Sa’ar or the remnants of his New Hope Party. 

The Lapid-led anti-Bibi camp does not have the numbers. For now, he is the only theoretical alternative to Netanyahu. A pale shadow of the Machiavellian master.

Labor is running the anti-Zionist Ibtisam Mara’ana. We can’t blame its leader Merav Michaeli for who her grandfather was, but for her views, that unspun are on society’s margins (she’d cancel marriage and is uber woke).  

The Meretz list includes the former head of Peace Now (which, whatever its origins long ago, evolved into a lobby for foreign interests).

In an alternate universe, Lapid, Sa’ar and Bennett would join forces after the election to block Bibi and the Haredim.

Alas, not in this universe.

Israel Knesset Elections 2021: THE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION BEGINS

 

 

So, 39 parties will be competing in the March 23^rd Knesset election. Do you know which one you are voting for?

Too early to tell.

But only a dozen of the 39 stand a chance of crossing the electoral threshold.

Who are you not voting for?

That’s easier.

I won’t vote for a party that rejects the right of the Jewish people to a national homeland.

That sounds like the Arab Joint List (sans Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am Party who is willing to sit in a Zionist government).

It looks like Ra'am seems to be offering Arab citizens a real choice for the first time in a long time.

Go on...

I wouldn’t cast a ballot for a party or amalgamation of parties that want more religion in the public square; or, ultimately, theocracy; or that is obsessed with battling homosexuality, or is led by an agitator who identifies with a crusade that advocates the forced deportation of sectors of the civilian population; or would favor treating Jews and Arabs in separate hospital rooms.

Wait, haven’t you just described the Hardal camp's party?

Have I?

Anyone else you won’t vote for?

Anyone who will join a Netanyahu-led government.

Why?

It's just time. It's just time.

Go on…

Or anyone who would sit with the UTJ or Shas – the Haredi parties.

Because of COVID?

Yes, but not just…

Is there anyone else you’d exclude?

Yes, anyone who would threaten the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review.

And on security issues?

This election is not about foreign policy or Iran, but I’d also prefer not to vote for a party whose security policies are in la-la land. Or has an outed anti-Zionist on its list.

Now, it sounds like you are talking about Labor…

You think?

So, where does that leave you?

In a bind….

OK. Check back later then….

For sure.