Corona Votes - Israel Elections

Yesterday was the third general election in Israel in 11 months. The problem is that we keep getting a tie and neither of the two big parties are able to form a majority coalition of 61 seats in the Knesset. 

In a nutshell, the big left of centre party, Blue White headed by Benny Gantz, are willing to form a unity government with the big right of centre party, Likud, but not with Binyamin Netanyahu (Bibi) as its leader. If Bibi were to step back the unity government would be free of the extreme right and the extreme religious parties and a lot of people would be very happy. And a lot of people would be very unhappy.

A relatively small party in the middle, headed by Avigdor Leiberman, could go either way as he's right wing but religiously secular. His main condition is that he also won't work with Bibi. He's the Kingmaker. Whichever side he chooses will get their 61 seat majority. 

One good thing that came out of this election is that many of the very small, theme-park, parties didn't bother, or couldn't afford, to go a third round and many of the smaller parties joined together. For example, the Arab parties all clubbed together and will be the third strongest party in the Knesset. Usually there are a few parties that get one, two or three, possibly five seats and the left wing has to negotiate with all of them separately, or not bother with some of them as they're not needed. Now they have proper strength in numbers and real clout. 

The woman I voted for last time, Orli Levi, didn't pass the threshold with enough votes for her social justice party. This time she teamed up with other left-wing parties and she will be in the Knesset. I'm pleased she'll be in because although I wanted to vote for her again. I couldn't bring myself to vote for one of her team mates. So the merging parties thing could go either way. Otoh, she was never totally committed to her team so she could be the defector in a Likud government - which would be a good thing. As she cannot change the overall leadership, she could at least be in the governement. 

It's 08.30 on Tuesday morning. Exit polls are predicting Blue White to get 33 seats while Likud is expected to get 37. However, the left wing block is still bigger and they could form a government with 62 seats to Likud's 59. But if Likud do get 59 they could poach a couple of people form other parties by offering the defectors a good deal. And, imo, this is what will happen. Of course the exit polls are not the results. They are estimates. The final results will only be in on Thursday morning and here's why.

We don't have postal or proxy votes for ordinary citizens. Only diplomats, other emissaries, and the on-duty military are allowed to vote away from home. For everyone else, either you're here or you're not. They only count these votes if they will make a difference so they don't start until all the other votes are in. 

This year we had special polling stations set up around the country for the 5,700 voters who registered as being in quarantine for the corona virus. These stations were outdoors (luckily the weather was good but there were tents in case of rain), the volunteers all wore hazmat suits, and the voters were told to come wearing masks and surgical gloves.

Last night the vote counters were refusing to count the corona votes but this morning Mada (Magen David Adom - The Red Star of David - our Red Cross) have agreed to count them. (Update at noon, the corona votes are being counted by senior election officials in hazmat suits in a tent.)

In other election news, general election day is a national holiday. In a country without Sundays (kids are in school 6 days/week although adults work only 5 days) and where half the country doesn't travel on Shabbat (Saturday) because of the Jewish sabbath, it is always a day to look forward to, to go out to nature parks or the beach, and to shop. 

In Jerusalem there was free ice-cream at a number of ice-cream parlours if you produced a receipt showing you spent more than 20 shekels shopping. Of course they ran out of the free ice-cream quite quickly but you could still buy some as you're already here. No one was surprised. 

The election campaign has been nasty and even Likud insiders said that their party was held together by hate. President Reuven Rivlin said he was ashamed that it had come to a third election because no one was prepared to work together. Then a friend wrote on facebook that outside her polling station one of the extremely right wing volunteers couldn't get his poster up so the left-wing volunteer helped him. Politics is politics but at the end of the day, Israel is more of a family than a nation.

P.S. And a 71% voluntary turnout isn't bad either.

Reflections On The Elections

I can see the Knesset from my balcony. See the enlargement below.

April 9th 2019, General Election Day in Israel. I made my decision. It's only midday and we're at least 20 hours away from any results. However, here are some thoughts and observations on half way through election day.

1. There's a certain reverence in the polling station. perhaps it's the fact that we're all adults and young children. But maybe there's an unspoken awe of being part of a democracy and having the right to vote.

2 And camaraderie. Polling stations are a local thing, so obviously you meet people you know. And even people you don't know get chatting as they queue up outside the classrooms.

3. It felt like waiting to go into the nurse for a vaccination shot. The door opens and one person comes out then the person at the head of the queue goes in. The door shuts. You wait three minutes, and the door opens again for the next person. You go in all serious and, I swear, everyone comes out smiling. It was painless, I didn't feel a thing.

4. And you continue smiling as you emerge into the warm sunshine and walk down the road. As proud as if you've just finished a 12 hour shift at a soup kitchen. As proud as being a Jew able and free to vote in your own country.

And there it is, in the centre (hahaha),
third building from the top. 

5. There's a calm around us. Election Day is a national holiday so no one is in a rush. It's less frenetic than Fridays when you're working towards an early deadline - either the beginning of Shabbat or the shops closing at 3 pm. My friend Dina just wrote on Facebook, do  you know what that sound is outside? It's the sound of Sunday.

6. But also a bustle of celebration. families are out picnicking, hiking, and at the beaches. The cafes are full. With each of the 43 parties having a list of candidates up to 120 (but most far fewer) there are about 1,000 of them out on the streets, mingling with the public, shaking hands, visiting your table in the coffee shop. Remember this is a very small country. After such an aggressive and often nasty campaign period, it's good to see everyone just discussing over a cappuccino.

7. I don't understand the purpose of the exit polls. Why scramble to produce predictions only a few hours before the actual results? Seriously, go to the beach.

8. In a few short hours I can turn my phone text notices on again and answer the landline without a barrage of recorded messages from political parties. Otoh, I know that today's happy atmosphere will disappear once more when the election results are announced. Like the Brexit recriminations, everyone who didn't get what they wanted will be sulking and whinging on facebook and in real life. My answer to all of them is, as always, "Darling, didn't you understand how a democracy works when you went to vote?"

It's no secret that I voted for Orly Levy's Gesher Party. Their letter code on the voting slip was nun resh. It spells out the word Ner, meaning candle. Now I'll be singing Sarit Hadad's Light a Candle all day. However, as the song goes, a thousand candles in the dark can open up our hearts.

Election Relief With Gesher - R2BC

Because we also want to enjoy
picnics in the park.

April 6th and only my first blog post this month. Things suddenly got hectic with the second round of college exams to grade, practice meitsav (SATs) exams to grade for school, preparing reports for parents' meetings and a making a start on the spring cleaning (in theory 😊). Whatever the weather, I do try not to miss Reasons 2B Cheerful at the end of each week. This week we're back being hosted by Mich on Mummy from the Heart.

We have a general election on Tuesday and I was in a bind. Along with many many others, I didn't know who to vote for.

The way it works is that there are 120 seats in the Knesset and the ruling party must have at least 61 of them. The bigger parties usually only get between 30 and 40 seats, so they then have to form a coalition made up of their party and up to 30 other seats held by other smaller parties. They have six weeks to do this during which time there are usually big compromises that have to be made in the pre-election promises. We all know this. Obviously it's most useful to get the big 3rd and 4th parties in the coalition so there's not much change in policy from election to election.

I usually go by the principal that voting for one of the small parties is a wasted vote because we know that one of the big two will win the elections. Better to give the winning party a bigger mandate and more clout so that they don't have to form so many coalitions with demanding parties on the fringe. But this election, neither one of the big two parties sparked joy. Neither Bibi Netanyahu's Likud nor Benny Gantz et al's Blue and White.

Both parties have their good points. I have no truck with the "anyone but Bibi" movement, especially from Jews in America and the UK, as their agenda is different from mine. We also have our Bibi haters and it annoys me when they forget that we have lived in relative stability and safety in most of the country during the past 11 years. However, it's probably time for Bibi to go. Otoh, the B&W brigade include top army generals but they have no experience running a country.

Then I discovered Gesher. At the top is Orly Levy. A former model whom no one took seriously until she won a seat in the Knesset and started to make changes for social justice. She refuses to be dragged into the Left versus Right debate. Gesher is only concerned with social issues.

In the last general election the fight was between national security on the Right and social justice on the Left. Netanyahu won because the majority decided that we had to be alive over and above any other issues - as important as they are. I remember a friend who lives near the border with Gaza saying, "I wish I could vote for the left and everything they believe in, but I have to vote for our safety at this point." This time both sides are about national security and there's no such dilemma.

There is a 3.25% of the vote threshold that you have to cross in order to get in. Votes for parties under the threshold are distributed proportionately among the other parties. With 42 parties running, this can be a lot of wasted votes.

Levy is on the cusp of the threshold according to the polls but she has made it into the previous two governments. This year they are hoping to gain more seats as the voice of social justice. This is what I wrote on Facebook yesterday:

Election bottom line: Either Likud or B&W will win the most mandates. Both parties have national security at the top of their agenda and experienced military men at the helm. Both parties will ultimately make a coalition with the same other parties. Whoever wins, we will not see much change in actual policy. So, let's get Gesher in the government to deal with the pressing social issues that we all care deeply about. Finally a party that isn't concerned with Left or Right but is concerned about health, education and the cost of living. Left or Right, this concerns you. Please share.

A political post may seem like a strange topic for Reasons 2B Cheerful but I was in such a bind about who to vote for that I even considered not voting. I never don't vote. Finding Gesher and making the decision to vote for Orly Levy was a big relief. I also usually keep my ballot secret. However, I'm so happy with choosing Gesher that I'm willing to put myself out there in the hope of reaching a few more voters.

So Am I Israeli Really?

Yesterday I learned that I am not really an Israeli and I learned that I am half of Israel and I learned that I am Israeli.

It was election day and a bank holiday. For a country that doesn't have Sundays off (we have Fridays off but the children have morning school and everything else closes at 2pm) it was a chance to have a real family day out. It seems the two preferred activities were shopping or hiking/picnicking.

The formidable cave

I wrote last week about how Israelis have an obsession with hiking. I also wrote about how DD hated her class trip which was inevitably a hike.

A group of friends asked us to join them on a hike and picnic. I said I'd have to consult with DD. I was confident that she'd decline and I'd have my out. I love walking in the English countryside where the paths are smooth and the hills are rolling. Here, however, the paths are rocky and the hills are mountains.

Unfortunately DD was all for it. I couldn't deny her the opportunity for a day out with friends and a picnic so I reluctantly agreed to go. I'd also followed the conversation on whatsapp and had seen them come down from a serious mountain climbing expedition to a more  moderate trek. We are a group of five, overweight, middle aged, women - and yet four of them wanted a seriously challenging hike. This is where the immigrant sticks out from the Israelis.

I admit it was pretty at the top (or half way to the top)

Before we went I had to vote. This election was extrememly emotive. People voting for Bibi on the Right felt they had no choice but to put national security first even thought there are gaping social injustices that need fixing and the Left were promising to address these problems.

People on the Left accused the Right of not caring about the poor, infirm, and downtrodden. They also believe that actually, Bibi's security policies are more dangerous than re-entering peace talks with the PA.

There was the issue of the Right aligning themselves with the ultra-orthodox community who contribute nothing to the country but aren't shy about receiving all the benefits going and then demanding more. There was the issue of Bibi himself who doesn't invite people to love him with his arrogance and wanton spending of public money on his own personal comfort.

And there were all the smaller parties some of whom were inspiring but, if they passed the votes threshhold and gained a seat in the government, would have to compromise on all their principles to be included in the ruling coalition so what is the point of voting for them.

I had seen how fiercely my hiking friends 'knew' who you 'should' vote for and who it was 'wrong' to vote for. I decided to keep my ballot a secret. I, along with 20% of voters, were undecided right up to the last minute. I did not need approval or lectures either way. If there was one 100% correct way to go we wouldn't need elections. I made sure DD didn't see which slip I put into the envelope because she can read now and I didn't want her telling them under interrogation by accident.

We packed our lunch and went round to my friend who was driving. She was irritated with me because I had nixed the idea of a joint picnic. She had asked if we should organise a joint picnic and I answered that I'd prefer not to. I don't enjoy eating outside, sitting on the floor so all we need is a sandwich, an apple, and a bottle of water (and a packet of crisps for DD). Two others said, 'ok,' and that was the end of the discussion. I didn't realize I'd cancelled a big part of the overall experience. And then I got told off for not making more of an effort to enjoy hiking. (Those of you who hate brussel sprouts or heavy metal music - just make more of an effort, eh?).

Deceptively gentle

We, five families, met up at Nes Harim just outside Jerusalem. We set off along a rock strewn path. I'm sure the scenery was lovely but I was too busy concentrating on avoiding the rocks and watching my step to appreciate it. This is what you typically hear on an Israeli hiking trail: "Come on sweetie (to a toddler who can barely walk), climb the mountain with Grandma and Grandpa, isn't this fun?"

Then we climbed up a steep(ish) incline to some caves. During the whole ascent all I could think about was that we would have to come down again. I'm fine climbing up. You can't fall up. I am scared climbing down. The children disappeared inside the caves. I was nervous about getting back down the mountain. I was nervous about my daughter being inside a cave (it was only an overhanging rock really but it was dark and I couldn't see her). I admit there was a pretty view.

We stopped to rest, eat, chat, play. Then I saw there was another steep(ish) ascent. I was fine with this but the route was circular and who knew what climbing down the other side looked like. I decided to go back. The others offered to take DD on with them but she opted to come back with me. All the way down she was trying to help me with a steady flow of supportive commentary:

I'll help you Mummy.
You don't have to be scared of rocks, they can't hurt you.
I'll carry the bag.
Just stop thinking about the rocks, think about a nice cup of coffee instead.
I love you Mummy, you're the best.
We're nearly down now so just get those rocks out of your head!
Phew, we're nearly home, aren't you happy about that?

When we got back to the meeting point we found an ice-cream van (one happy daughter). Then we spent two hours eating our picnic, playing word games and on the playground equipment. It was nice. We're good company. And the relief of not worrying about the climb down made me all giggly and dizzy with happiness.

All I could think about was climbing down again

The others eventually arrived. First came the fittest mothers with all the children. About 20 minutes later the other two mothers huffed and puffed to the end. Red faced and sweaty they exclaimed, "it was so much fun, you were so silly to go back. The descent was much more gentle than the ascent."

The hike was a confirming experience for me. It confirmed that I don't enjoy hiking in Israel and I won't be doing it again.

And what of the elections? It turns out that more people are more scared of being killed by terrorists than they are of dying of starvation so Bibi won.

Emotions are still running high. Facebook and emails are flying about how depressed and incredulous the Left are that people don't want change. While the Right answer them that they do want change but they first need to be alive to enjoy social equality. And the Left didn't help themselves by basing their whole campaign on the slogan: Anything but Bibi.

I understand both sides. People have different realities. It's a small country but some people are living under immediate physical threat near the borders whereas others are concentrating on social inequalities. Some are looking at the bigger picture of eventual peace in the region while others need to know that they will be protected tomorrow.

My (secret) vote reflects roughly half of Israel. I hate rock-climbing hikes. Je suis Israeli.