Posted on 03/24/2021 12:53:23 PM PDT by Kaslin
In the end, I think the Likud Party and Binyamin Netanyahu will still win.
“Of Israel’s 9 million citizens, some 20 percent are Arabs. Most are Moslem, including Bedouin, and smaller percentages are Druze and Christians. Arabic is one of Israel’s two official languages.”
Actually, they have 3 official languages, with Russian being the third. Needless to say, English is very widespread too, but not official.
Arab parties win majority, kick Jews out.
What happens if the ay-rab muzzies win and take over the government of Israel? Will it expel Jews?
Israel is in its own midst of self hatred that got biden elected here.
Liberalism.
So much for the accusations that Israel is a racist apartheid state. Consider how things would be for Jews in an Islamic caliphate. Would the UN be intervening on their behalf?
That article is rather dated. Current demographic trends suggest a continuing Jewish majority, and a much more observant one.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/report-israels-population-to-reach-20-million-by-2065-492429
Ironic, these "Ra'am" Islamofascists sound better on social issues than the so-called "conservatives" in Likud. Of course, the fact they want to wipe Israel off the map and create a "Palestinian state" with Jerusalem as its capitol makes them a non-starter.
"Joint List" (which is actually a coalition of four Arab parties in Israel: Balad, Hadash, Ta'al, and Ma'an) being socially liberal doesn't surprise me, most of the RAT Muslim politicians in the USA are socially liberal, too. There was a thread a week or two ago speculating why Muslim politicians in western countries vote for gay "rights" when Islam itself and "Islamic-run" governments in Arab countries are so vehemently against gays (far more so than even the most "conservative Christians" are -- you don't see conservative Christians demanding gays get arrested and executed). The theory most FReepers came up with is that Muslim politicians vote for it because they hope it will accelerate the fall of western civilization so they can then "take over" those countries. Sounds like a stretch but the theory certainly makes more sense than anything else.
Netanyahu, of course, has ruled out a unity government with any of the Arab parties out of "principle", but I wouldn't be surprised if he caved if it was necessary to get at least one of their slates to join his government to get to 61 seats. If that in the case, better Ra'am than Joint List. But I wouldn't trust ANY Arab majority party to have power in the Israeli government anymore than I would trust the British royal family making decisions in a political party dedicated to making the UK a Republic.
I wonder what happened with all the "Ultra Orthodox" parties that caused the government to collapse in the first place and all those Israeli elections LAST year because they threw a hissy fit and demanded the government exempt their kids from military service? I've been reading thru the first five books of the Bible during Lent and I have yet to find any passage where God commands the Isrealites "Thou shall not enlist any of thy children in the military". But if the "Ultra-Orthodox" want to follow the Torah super strictly, they will be pleased to know their is exhaustive rules in there about what kind of seafood one is allowed to eat, when it is appropriate to stone people to death, the rituals involved in animal sacrifice, and how many days you will be "unclean" and shunned by your fellow Jews for various skin conditions. ;-)
Finally, for the unfortunate 2% of Israel that is Christian and never had a dog in this fight (its either vote against their own self-interests by voting for one of the conservative Jewish parties that treats them like crap, or vote against their own countries interests by voting for one of the arab parties that wants to wipe their country off the map), I remember last time there was FINALLY a newly formed "Christian" party in isreal that was socially conservative but PRO-Israel. I remember in 2020 it amounted to "too little, too late" and they won zero seats in the Knesset. I would hope they could improve this time and at least win 1 or 2 seats and get some leverage in government. Christians having influence in the Israeli government would be refreshing.
Bezalel Smotrich (National Union–Tkuma Party) is still my choice for PM of Israel in an ideal world. Of course, it will never happen. :-(
If I’m not mistaken, Israeli political parties can’t win 1 or 2 seats in the Knesset. If they get below 3.25%, they get 0 seats, and if they break 3.25%, they will get a minimum of 4 seats.
I believe you’re correct.
The ONLY other member of his party to win a seat in the Knesset was Ofir Sofer.
It's not much, but its still more than Nigel Farage's 0 seats in the British parliament.
I think a "Christian" party could theoretically win 1-2 seats in the Israeli Knesset, though they'd probably have to do it by running in a coalition with some non-Christian parties with shared views. They don't have enough clout (or raw numbers of voters in any particular region of Israel) to win any seats on their own merits simply by being a "Christian" Party.
Isreal did have ONE "Christian" in the Knesset a couple years back, but he was not a member of a Christian party, and no such party existed back then. He was some Arab jerk who won under the "Joint List" slate of Arab parties, and coincidentally also happened to be a Christian.
Another example, Gesher won a single seat in the Israeli government:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesher_(2019_political_party)
They’ve switched back and forth over with of the major parties they caucus with, being part of the Labor in 2020 and being in the Likud government in 2021.
You are wrong. Gesher formed a joint ticket with Labor and Meretz for the March 2, 2019 election *precisely because* its leadership feared that, if it ran alone, it would not reach the 3.25% threshold and thus get shut out of the Knesset. Gesher didn’t split from the joint ticket until *after* the election, and that’s how Orly Levy served as the “sole member of her party” in the Knesset. From the Wikipedia article that you linked:
“For the 2020 March elections, Gesher-Labor unified with Meretz in light of worries that neither party would pass the 3.25% threshold needed to enter the Knesset. Many Gesher voters were surprised at this merger, because when it comes to the politics of the Arab–Israeli conflict, Gesher was seen as more of a centre-right party, while Meretz is a left wing party.[citation needed] On 17 March 2020, Gesher leader Orly Levy requested that she be allowed to withdraw her party from its alliance with Labor and Meretz.[12] The Arrangements Committee approved the split on 23 March.[13]”
So I was correct that one can’t get elected unless one runs with a party that gets at least 3.25%. No way that a Christian party, unless it forms a coalition with a non-Christian party, would elect anyone to the Knesset.
Well, in any case, my favorite guy, Bezalel Smotrich, won a total of 2 seats for his party (Tkuma) in the Knesset, not the “minimum four” you claimed earlier. There’s no sort of “win less than 4 seats and they automatically get 0 of their members in government” rule.
Yes, they did run on a coalition with other like-minded parties for the purpose of strengthening their chances of winning, but that was for the purpose of caucusing together in the Knesset and for GOTV efforts by running under the same slate and sharing resources, etc., not because they were required to. Israel is a multi-party system with dozens of minor parties sharing power, so they pretty much ALL ran on slates with other political parties as part of their “team”. And as I noted, any hypothetical “Christian” party would indeed have to run on a slate with non-Christians, not only because its a multi-party system but because they are only 2% of the population in Israel and can’t win just on Christian votes alone.
Smotrich also ran on a slate with parties that had similar goals as his own, but the other two parties (namely, Otzma Yehudit & Noam) each got zero seats, and it didn’t stop Tkuma from holding two. Previously, they had 5 seats. On another thread, apparently there is a projection that they could win 6-7 seats in this current election, which would be awesome, but there’s no “minimum of four or they don’t get power at all” rule. This article itself notes that Ra’am winning “up to” four seats would “defy expectations”, as they were expected to win less.
Ra’am was expected to win 0 seats folliwing the exit polls; after they counted 90% of precincts, they were projected to surpass the 3.25% threshold and get 4 or 5 seats. No coalition can win more than 0 but fewer than 4 seats, not could a party running alone.
folliwing = following
not could = nor could
This is just some agitprop to suggest that the Joint List is a moderate faction of the Arab terrorism advocates.
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3408079/posts?page=17#17
I think Tkuma had 2 seats in the *previous Parliament, last election they ran on a joint list (not the “Joint List” which is the name of a specific joint list), small parties seem to do that to pool their votes. A list needs at least 3.25% and that gives it at least 4 seats.
Wiki currently has Tkuma winning 6 seats.
Proportional representation is really an absurd system. At least with such a low threshold to allow so many parties (Turkey has a high one, I believe 15%). “Democracy” in inaction.
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