Anglos in Israel

On Weds Feb 15, I went to a meeting at the Likud Central offices in Tel Aviv,
(impossible to find parking!) in order to discuss the participation of Anglos
in the election of the Likud candidate Bibi Netanyahu. "Anglos" are all the
English-speaking immigrants, from the UK, US, Australia, South Africa, etc.
Although there are 11 main parties in the election list, there are only three
candidates for PM, Bibi of Likud on the right, Olmert of Kadima in the
center, and Peretz of Labor on the left. This is certainly a choice.
Let me start out by saying that Peretz has no real chance of winning. I say
this for four reasons, 1. He is an unknown quantity as far as top political
leadership is concerned, his main claim to fame is that he was the leader of
the Histadrut Union and lead several national strikes, that did not enamour
him to the general Israeli public. 2. He has run a poor campaign with
conspicuous absence of policy, except for a smiling presence. 3. His English
is poor and so he does not project onto the international stage. 4. His main
focus has been social and economic policy, but at present (and as usual)
security is the main issue in Israeli politics.
So the election comes down to a battle between Bibi and Ehud. At present
Kadima is still given 38 seats in most polls, but is declining, down from
45 a few weeks ago, while Likud is the main recipient, now up to 17-18 seats
from ca. 10-12, depending on whose polls you believe. But, that may be an
insurmountable majority, so Olmert is likely to be the next PM. If Bibi
doesn't get a higher vote, say 20 for Likud, his political career may be over.
When every vote counts, the parties try to attract the "ethnic" votes,
Russian, Ethiopian and Anglo. There are only about 50-100,000 native
English-speakers in the country, but as someone said "they are the Jews of
Israel," meaning that Anglos take politics seriously and vote in higher
proportions than other groups. The J'sam Post had an article last Friday by
Gil Hoffman entitled "Angling for Anglos," detailing the activities of each of
the parties to attract Anglo voters (Gil will also speak in Netanya next
week).
The meeting I went to at Likud was one of those attempts, although it was a
small meeting. Yuli Edelstein was the speaker. He was a supporter of
Sharansky and followed him into Likud. He is a competent and honest MK, one
of the few. I agreed to help to obtain Anglo votes for Likud in Netanya. So
far Likud has made the major attempt to attract Anglos. We are having two
meetings with Sharansky in high Anglo areas (Hashmonaim/Modiin and
Ra'anana/Netanya) and a big meeting in J'sam which Bibi himself will address
in English. How it will help him remains to be seen.