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.

EU Referendum - The Aftermath And Why The 52% Might Not Be So Stupid After All

Totally unrelated  photo from an Around The World event at DD's school

Whilst, as an expat, I felt that didn't have any right to persuade people (if I even have that talent) living in Britain how to vote in the EU referendum, I feel very strongly about how the results are being swallowed by those who lost.

I admit that most of my facebook friends (and my real friends, and indeed myself) are educated, elitist, snobs. We make enormous efforts not to be racist, sexist, ageist or discriminate against the disabled but when it comes to the ordinary working class citizen we are, apparently, not shy to call them ignorant (stupid even) and not deserving of a vote on important matters such as this that they can't possible have understood.

Never mind that we need people to do all the manual work that we hope our children won't be doing to earn a living. Never mind that the 52% are still people and still British citizens. Never mind that maybe, just maybe, you didn't bother to campaign in a way that relates to them at all (whereas Brexit did)?

Living in Israel I saw first hand how different sectors of the population can be voting in the same election on entirely different issues. And here the scathing aftermath and howls of depression were similar. We had the security-hardliner Netanyahu running against the social-justice reformer Herzog. Those in the centre of the country were caught up in the enormous social injustice issues that we desperately need to reform. Those in Jerusalem and near the borders (not everyone obviously) are not oblivious to social injustice or against social reform nor are they uncaring about the poor and the enormous income gaps, minimum wage, the ridiculous property prices, supermarket monopolies and other mafioso controlled industries that push prices here through the roof. But they felt they had to vote for security. You can't fight for social justice if you're dead. Same election, different concerns.

In the EU referendum the broadsheet newspapers published in-depth economic and political arguments for Remain. However more than half the country don't read those papers. Instead they were listening to the PM saying "relevant" things that they could understand like students will find it harder to go Euro-railing and property values will fall. Seriously? If I were someone working my guts off with no hope of ever buying property in this market and still holidaying in a caravan in Wales because that's all I could afford, that would speak to me. But not in the way the PM intended.

Where were the adverts on television explaining to those without university degrees why they and their children will be better off staying in Europe? I saw adverts like this for the Scottish referendum. One particularly aimed at housewives just went to cast doubt and catch the undecided, with no real reasons to stay. But at least it spoke to the housewives and mothers rather than just ignoring them. In this referendum they didn't even speak to the ordinary person in the street, let alone explain anything relevant to them.

Papers like the Daily Mail, on the other hand, were actively campaigning for Brexit. Amongst all the hysteria about the millions of immigrants marching across Europe intent on reaching Britain where we have to provide all of them them with instant financial help, housing and health care, there was not one article addressing these fears in DM language and without just dismissing people's real fears (albeit fears encouraged by the media and the DM in particular) as ignorant and racist.

With all the publicity media available today, I did not see one infomercial, one advert, one open letter to the workers of Britian. Not one You Tube video that those who know how to do these things could have made viral, not one good reason to remain if you are a lorry driver or a school secretary in Carlisle.

Some of my fb friends (all with university degrees and mostly professionals living in London) exclaimed: Who are these people who voted Out? I don't know any of them! Well precisely. We all assume that the 52% were all voting against immigration and for a fascist state. Because they couldn't possible have any other concerns. Except for those over 70 of course, who are obviously expecting us to go back to the late 1950s when we never had it so good. They're stupid too. Or maybe not - who knows?

Has anyone even considered other reasons for leaving? An academic posted on fb that she looked deeply in to the workings of the EU and found them to be corrupt and self-serving, which made her very reluctantly not put her x in the remain box. Farmers and business owners caught up in EU bureaucracy and red tape might have had their own motives too.

But let's not ignore the elephant in the room. I agree that most Brexit voters are those worried about the immigration situation. Parents who have no school place guaranteed for their 5yo at a local school, schools where the level of education is tempered by language issues, families waiting for council assisted housing who see recent immigrants jump the queue. It is a racist issue but it is an issue and you can't blame people for putting their own family first.

These people just want a job, a place to live, a decent wage, and an education for their children. They're not interested in trade treaties or the international exchange rate because they don't have stocks, shares, or investments. They don't have international business contracts and they don't travel abroad that much. What they do have is the skill and will to mend your burst pipes, drive articulated lorries to deliver your commodities, look after your children and the elderly while you're at work, keep your schools and hospitals clean, mend your roads, schlep your furniture when you want to move house, make your garden grow and build your extension.

So while you all wail about how your children will not be able to work abroad easily. How we have lost our advantage as the English speaking gateway to Europe. How your property and investment values will fall. How immigration is a positive thing, as long as they are not sending their children to your schools for the first generation at least. How England is heading towards extreme right wing fascism and dangerous isolation. Remember that you will still need plumbers, lorry drivers, cleaners, nurses, carers, movers, builders and gardeners. And that's why the 52% aren't as stupid as you think. Same referendum different issues.

Note to selves: Next time you need to speak to the people, include all the people.

And now, pick yourselves up, heads down, stiff upper lip, best foot forward, pull together, keep calm and carry on. Business as usual on Monday and for the next two years at least. All those who shouted about not being quitters - now is the time to not be a quitter.