Posted on 03/15/2015 10:11:06 AM PDT by Star Traveler
JERUSALEM (AP) — As Israelis prepare to vote in parliament elections on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finds himself at a fateful crossroads: Make history or become history.
If Netanyahu can lead his Likud Party to victory and secure a fourth term in office, he will move closer to overtaking the nation's iconic founding father, David Ben-Gurion, as the longest-ever serving premier — and cementing a status as the dominant Israeli politician of the past two decades.
But if Likud stumbles and finds itself in the opposition — a real possibility, according to recent polls — the Netanyahu era could end with a resounding thud, concluding a career that many would say brought few major accomplishments beyond longevity. Iran and the international community seem headed toward a nuclear deal that Netanyahu abhors, and a resolution to the Palestinian issue seems as distant as ever.
"If he leaves office, he won't leave any dramatic changes," said Yoaz Hendel, a former aide to Netanyahu. In a turbulent region, one could say "this is the best thing to do," Hendel said.
The Israeli campaign is widely seen as a choice between two world views: Netanyahu's focus on Israel's many security challenges — he has long been a voice calling for zero tolerance of terrorism — or his opponents' focus on Israel's social problems and high cost of living. It also touches on his support for Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the opposition and the outside world detest.
But on a basic level, the campaign is simply a referendum on Netanyahu, a polarizing character who is adored as "King Bibi" by his supporters and reviled by his detractors.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
Because our radical Marxists have been over there meddling in Israel's election, Bibi's people need to be on the look out for voter fraud, and other attempts at cheating.
As for polls showing Bibi losing ground-they could be another way to dicourage voters from voting.
For the sake of Israel-I pray Netanyahu wins.
We disagree on what the source of a lot of seemingly unnecessary disagreement is....
Something for you ...
Final Knesset Jeremy Poll of Polls 2015 – Weekly Average #15/Final Prediction: Zionist Union 25, Likud 22, The Joint (Arab) List 12, Yesh Atid 12, Bayit Yehudi 12, Kulanu 9
Jeremy’s Knesset Insider
Your Israeli 2015 Election Center – Polls & Analysis
http://knessetjeremy.com/category/knesset/polls/
That sounds like disagreeing for the purpose of disagreeing ... :-) ...
I think a lot of people believe Netanyahu has been operating from a position of strength. He has not.
In the the outgoing Knesset, Netanyahu’s Likud has only 18 of 120 seats (His main opponents would have had 20 seats in the just disbanded session). He chose to try and govern with leftists like Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid. That didn’t work out so well.
Voter fraud doesn’t work so well because the best outcome is the cheaters pick up one extra seat. No need to be discouraged from voting because Netanyahu can be pushed to the right with a stronger showing to his right.
Horrors!
I'm betting you're not going to check to see if it sounds that way to anyone else.
I see other “disagreeable” people ... if that’s what you mean ... LOL ...
Ever notice that the "disagreeable" people never think they're disagreeable, it's always the other guy who's disagreeing just to disagree?
What I know is I post something ... and if someone disagrees ... they’re the ones who are doing it ... :-) ...
If you provoke disagreement for entertainment, that's a good philosophy to have. Then you can rationalize that it's all their fault and you can keep right on doing it.
I guess if someone posts an article here on Free Republic, and someone disagrees in a subsequent post ... that means they’re provoking it for entertainment’s sake.
I think you just described every poster of articles on Free Republic ... LOL ...
There's not a lot of margin for error.
I think I just described a troll, and you just tried to argue that there is no such thing.
Well, Israel is not history, in any case. That’s because no matter what goes on or what happens in world politics or wars, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob says that he watches over Israel and that it will be a nation before him forevermore. You can count on that!
I know of nowhere where I was arguing that there are not “disagreeable people” on threads. In fact, I would say I’m replying to one of those “disagreeable people” right now ... LOL ...
And you doubled down on the smileys and LOLs as soon as it was suggested that other people might find them irritating out of consideration.
SO ... you don’t like smileys and other such stuff ... big deal ... :-) ... get over it.
Give me a reason why I should want to.
Okay ... don’t get over it then ... because I don’t care one way or another ... LOL ...
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