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 ...
I never imagined that you did.
Well, you got something right, finally ... :-) ...
I got enough right way before that to know it would turn out that way.
It took enough posts to get here ... :-) ...
It's not a destination.
I can tell ... you keep wandering around ... LOL ...
It's surprising what you can see, just "wandering around". Like pockets of discord, and common denominators.
Keep wandering ... and by the way ... when are you going to be “wandering off”?! ... LOL ...
Already did. Just passing through.
We’ll give you a going away party! ... :-) ...
We? Lol.
There’s enough around for a “going away party” ... :-) ...
Having it in a phone booth?
On the one hand, you've got the ME with the one issue they agree on...Death to the Jews! And no one wants to point out the rudeness, because there's all that oil.
Then there's most of the rest of the world, who either secretly agrees, or wishes they would just get it over with and die...quietly.
Quite the potential coalition you've got there.
Mine says, “Do not tempt your God.” There’s the joke about the flood...
There are not a lot of things that God has staked his “name” and reputation on ... but he has with Israel ...
Jeremiah 31:35-37
35 Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name):
36 “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lord, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.”
37 Thus says the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lord.
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