What a difference a month makes. In December, we were talking about the Likud winning close to 40 seats and Labor reduced to about 17. On January 9th, a Ha?aretz poll showed Likud 27, Labor 24. The forecast also calls for Shinui to double it?s current strength to 15, leaving it in a position to make or break the next government. Shinui favors dismantling settlements, an Arab-Muslim state west of the Jordan and is organized around the guiding principle that the Jewish religion is Israel?s biggest problem. Never mind that the Ha?aretz numbers are an attempt at a self-fulfilling prophecy, the shift is stunning.
Of course, we all know how we got here. Mr. Sharon and his party have been besieged by scandals. First, the sensational revelations of vote-buying (for tea, cookies and extra slices of cake) during Likud Central Committee deliberations to draw up its list, and now (from Ha?aretz) comes the latest bombshell: accusations that the PM himself engaged in a fraudulent loan scheme, aided and abetted by his two sons, Omri and Gilad. This is serious business and by the time Sharon is through getting the egg off his face Israelis will be ready to cast their ballots. By then, the numbers could be worse, or better, depending on your point of view.
I certainly have no way of prejudging the matter, although the timing is certainly a bit, uh, suspicious, to say the least. I also have no explanation for the fact that another scandal of the first magnitude, the Ginossar affair, has been largely ignored by the media and the judicial system. I presume that since Ginossar deals with potentially treasonous conduct by leading Labor and left-wing officials, the authorities are taking their time, getting it right and tying up all the loose ends before making their suspicions known to the public. After all, that is the responsible thing to do. I am also reasonably certain that charges of official corruption and cronyism during Labor candidate Mitzna?s tenure as Haifa?s mayor, downplayed now, will be fully explored and aired when the time is right. Justice demands it.
But all that is in the future. Where do we stand now? Well, we stand in a puddle on square one. It seems the next government is going to look a lot like the last. In other words, like a snake chopped in pieces squirming to find its way back to ?unity.?
Israel, which has suffered the equivalent of one 9/11 every eight months for the last thirty months, is signaling it wants more of the same. Considering the context, that is no mean feat. In fact, it will be one of the great engineering marvels of the democratic world. Another construction brought to you by the same team who crowned terrorists with a garland of olive leaves, then spent a decade giving them land, autonomy, authority and the best arms and training money could buy. Given a chance to correct one of history?s most obvious and costliest blunders, and send the Olso architects packing, it looks likely that Israelis will decide that their priority is clean government, and they?re willing to die for it.
Forgive a biblical metaphor, but it?s apt and unavoidable. The Jewish people are standing at the foot of the trembling mountain bearing witness to the Truth manifest before their very eyes, and again the establishment is selling them the Golden Calf. And they?re in a buying mood. There?s nothing more scandalous than that.
Now forgive a banal warning, also apt and unavoidable. In countries where elections aren?t enough to alleviate distress, uproot destructive elements and produce necessary change, other means are justified and often employed. It may be scandalous to say so, but it is scandalous for the people to do otherwise.
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Dovid Ben Chaim writes from New York City. He can be reached at dbc@myway.com.
Of course, we all know how we got here. Mr. Sharon and his party have been besieged by scandals. First, the sensational revelations of vote-buying (for tea, cookies and extra slices of cake) during Likud Central Committee deliberations to draw up its list, and now (from Ha?aretz) comes the latest bombshell: accusations that the PM himself engaged in a fraudulent loan scheme, aided and abetted by his two sons, Omri and Gilad. This is serious business and by the time Sharon is through getting the egg off his face Israelis will be ready to cast their ballots. By then, the numbers could be worse, or better, depending on your point of view.
I certainly have no way of prejudging the matter, although the timing is certainly a bit, uh, suspicious, to say the least. I also have no explanation for the fact that another scandal of the first magnitude, the Ginossar affair, has been largely ignored by the media and the judicial system. I presume that since Ginossar deals with potentially treasonous conduct by leading Labor and left-wing officials, the authorities are taking their time, getting it right and tying up all the loose ends before making their suspicions known to the public. After all, that is the responsible thing to do. I am also reasonably certain that charges of official corruption and cronyism during Labor candidate Mitzna?s tenure as Haifa?s mayor, downplayed now, will be fully explored and aired when the time is right. Justice demands it.
But all that is in the future. Where do we stand now? Well, we stand in a puddle on square one. It seems the next government is going to look a lot like the last. In other words, like a snake chopped in pieces squirming to find its way back to ?unity.?
Israel, which has suffered the equivalent of one 9/11 every eight months for the last thirty months, is signaling it wants more of the same. Considering the context, that is no mean feat. In fact, it will be one of the great engineering marvels of the democratic world. Another construction brought to you by the same team who crowned terrorists with a garland of olive leaves, then spent a decade giving them land, autonomy, authority and the best arms and training money could buy. Given a chance to correct one of history?s most obvious and costliest blunders, and send the Olso architects packing, it looks likely that Israelis will decide that their priority is clean government, and they?re willing to die for it.
Forgive a biblical metaphor, but it?s apt and unavoidable. The Jewish people are standing at the foot of the trembling mountain bearing witness to the Truth manifest before their very eyes, and again the establishment is selling them the Golden Calf. And they?re in a buying mood. There?s nothing more scandalous than that.
Now forgive a banal warning, also apt and unavoidable. In countries where elections aren?t enough to alleviate distress, uproot destructive elements and produce necessary change, other means are justified and often employed. It may be scandalous to say so, but it is scandalous for the people to do otherwise.
--------------------------------------------------------
Dovid Ben Chaim writes from New York City. He can be reached at dbc@myway.com.