Election

With just eight days to go before the crucial Israeli election, I cannot think
of anything to write that hasn't already been said. In this election we have
the largest proportion of "undecideds" than we have ever had before, 22%.
Why is that? Well, probably because we have a new party leading the polls,
and people are relatively undecided what to do about it.
Do they abandon their traditional parties, Likud and Labor, and follow the
"centrists" to Kadima, or do they remain with them? Do they transfer to one
of the smaller parties that represent special interests, such as the religious
(Ashkenazi or Sephardi), or anti-religious (the remains of Shinui), or the
greens (environmentalists), or the greenleafs (pot smokers), or the right
(National Union-NRP) or do they stick with one of the three main parties?
I must say that of the three main parties, only one seems to have no guiding
principles, namely Kadima. That is because it is centrist, and it's main
raison d'etre is that it is neither right nor left. At least Peretz is
definitely left, he is prepared to give up everything to the Palestinians as
long as they give him enough time to give away the government's money to
the poor.
Netanyahu is definitely right, he will neither yield territory nor advantage
to a Hamas Government in the PA, period. Olmert is prepared to risk
further unilateral moves, over the next four years, and see what happens.
Khalid Mashaal, the Hamas leader in Syria, stated explicitly that the
main task of Hamas is to destroy the State of Israel. No ifs ands or buts.
For my vote, I require someone who will be steadfast in opposing this
imminent threat. Olmert scored some points with the right by carrying out
the attack on the Jericho jail, and successfully capturing the murderers of
Minister Ze'evi, but in effect that was an 'no brainer.' The IDF had
been on alert for the British and American monitors leaving their posts for
some time, so the operation was well planned in advance. Any Israeli
Government, even Labor, would probably have gone ahead with it. No,
we need someone more serious than Olmert, who has the will and the
capability to face off with Hamas, and so far the only alternative is
Netanyahu.
It was not without careful analysis that the initial Likud ads showed
Netanyahu playing chess with his father. Playing chess is a way of saying
that he would be prepared to play the political game and make the clever
moves, and also it should endear him to the Russians, who love chess.
But, as things go now, it appears that Kadima will win with around 40 seats,
Labor and Likud will roughly tie with 15-18, and then there will be three
parties, National Union-NRP, Shas and Israel Beitenu each with 10. If you
are a God-fearing person, best vote for Shas, if you don't one of their
Rabbis announced that all who vote for secular parties will be cursed!
The real fun will start after the election when most likely Olmert will try to
form a coalition, and we'll see whether or not Peretz and Netanyahu survive.