Posted on 03/02/2015 1:20:22 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Polls published in Israeli media on Friday showed the center-left Zionist Union gaining some ground against its right-wing Likud rivals ahead of March 17’s general elections.
Zionist Union had a slight edge over Likud in two polls: 25-23 mandates in a Maariv poll and 23-22 in an Israel Radio poll. A survey on the Walla news site had the two parties tied at 23, while the website’s poll last week had Likud leading by one seat.
Meanwhile, the Jewish Home party saw a slight dip in the surveys. While four different polls last week placed Naftali Bennett’s national religious party in a solid third place with 13 mandates, Friday’s numbers were less encouraging: Maariv had the Joint (Arab) List as the third largest party with 13 seats, followed by Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid at 12 and Jewish Home at 11. Israel Radio also had the Joint List at 13, with Jewish Home and Yesh Atid tied at 12. Meanwhile the Walla poll kept Jewish Home at 13, but it was now tied with Yesh Atid, followed by the Joint List with 12.
Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu party received 9 Knesset seats in the Israel Radio poll, 8 in Maariv and 7 in Walla.
Walla and Maariv had ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism tied at 7 seats, while Israel Radio gave Shas the lead 8-6.
Next in line were polar opposites Meretz and Yisrael Beytenu. On Israel Radio, Avigdor Lieberman’s party received 6 seats to Zahava Gal-on’s 5. Walla had it 6-4, while Maariv had both parties at 5 seats.
Eli Yishai’s Yachad party had 4 seats according to Israel Radio and Maariv and 5 seats according to Walla.
Although the polls were released on Friday, they were likely conducted before Thursday’s televised debate on Channel 2, which featured the leaders of all the parties except Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the Likud, Zionist Union’s Isaac Herzog and UTJ’s Yaakov Litzman.
Though the Zionist Union leads in the polls, Netanyahu continues to have a better prospect of forming a coalition than Herzog. The nature of the next government will depend on recommendations made to President Reuven Rivlin by senior figures from all parties once the votes are counted. Rivlin will entrust the task of building a coalition with the candidate he assesses has the better chance of doing so.
The past week was a difficult one for Netanyahu, with a new report by the state comptroller released on Wednesday blaming the government for runaway housing costs in recent years.
Between 2008 and December 2013, the real cost for purchasing an apartment rose by a steep 55%, while the average monthly rent rose 30%, according to government figures. The issue of skyrocketing housing prices, amid unmet demand, has risen to the fore in recent years as Israelis have protested over the high cost of living, most notably in the summer of 2011.
The report, coming less than a month before Israelis go to the polls, was seen as having the potential to boost opposition parties looking to unseat Netanyahu by highlighting economic issues.
- Marissa Newman contributed to this report
Maybe the Chicago thugs Obama sent to Israel taught the opposition the fine art of voter fraud.
“runaway housing costs in recent years.”
Driven no doubt, in part, by Jews running away from Europe and into Israel.
RE: Driven no doubt, in part, by Jews running away from Europe and into Israel.
Plus, certain sections of Israel are NO BUILD ZONES [or else, you incur the wrath of none other than the US of A].
Retired Israeli veterans warn against speech [Netanyahu Congressional Speech]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3263242/posts?page=1
“When the Israeli prime minister argues that his speech will stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, he is not only misleading Israel, he is strengthening Iran,” Amnon Reshef, former head of the army’s armored corps, said at a news conference Sunday.
— — —
TEL AVIV — Hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set off Sunday for Washington, a group of 180 retired Israeli generals and former top security officials warned that his upcoming address to a joint meeting of Congress on Iran’s nuclear program will cause more harm than good.
It will not only damage Israel’s special relationship with the United States but also undermine military and intelligence ties, they said.
Rather than slowing down Iran’s nuclear project, the former security officials said, Netanyahu’s speech Tuesday will bring the Islamic republic closer to developing a nuclear bomb.
RE: Rather than slowing down Iran’s nuclear project, the former security officials said, Netanyahu’s speech Tuesday will bring the Islamic republic closer to developing a nuclear bomb.
Did he explain to us how one single speech will do that other than “because I said so”?
There’s another post, coming up, that may explain it ... I’ll get to it when I have the time ... other things happening around here with a four-year old on Spring Vacation ... :-) ...
Netanyahu so wrong in confronting Obama, so right on Iran
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3263349/posts
With the US-Israel train wreck unavoidable on Tuesday, the challenge now is to pick up the pieces and refocus on thwarting Tehran
The prime minister has created the dismal situation whereby even his speech to AIPAC, a day prior to Tuesday’s address to Congress, becomes somewhat problematic. Not only are America’s legislators being asked to choose between their president and the Israeli prime minister, as the veteran administration official Dennis Ross observed at the weekend. But AIPAC’s 16,000-strong, overwhelmingly Jewish audience, in mightily applauding Netanyahu, will be seen by some critics as endorsing a stance against the White House — even though many of those 16,000 have no desire to be torn in this way.
Netanyahu’s handling of this face-off has been staggeringly inept, another activist volunteered, and it follows a pattern of his alienating of world leaders — including but not limited to Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande and Joe Biden — and of exacerbating problems for Jewish communities — notably those in Europe that he has been urging to immigrate to Israel en masse.
There’s a good deal of truth in these critiques. There’s a great deal of truth, too, in the assertions from critics at home that this trip, this poking of a finger in the eye of President Barack Obama, is a calculated electoral gambit, designed to bolster support for the ostensibly unflinching Netanyahu among right-wing voters back home, to prevent them from defecting to rival parties and denying him victory on March 17. There’s no doubting the political machinations that saw the Prime Minister’s Office release a short clip of Netanyahu [ ... ] filmed at the Western Wall ahead of this trip — co-opting Judaism’s holiest place of worship to his campaign.
RE: Not only are America’s legislators being asked to choose between their president and the Israeli prime minister,
I don’t know why we should view the issue from the perspective of choosing between one person over the other...
The issue as I see it is simple — WHICH POLICY BEST PREVENTS IRAN FROM SUCCESSFULLY DEVELOPING NUCLEAR WEAPONS?
From that perspective, in my view, Netanyahu is righgt and Obama is wrong. If Obama did what was right, I’d support him too.
Personalities are tangential to the issue at hand.
Basically, it’s a “campaign issue” in Israel and the opponents of Netanyahu are using it against him to sway the Israeli voters to vote Netanyahu out of office.
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