{"id":1428,"date":"2009-02-12T08:54:13","date_gmt":"2009-02-12T13:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=1428"},"modified":"2009-02-12T08:54:13","modified_gmt":"2009-02-12T13:54:13","slug":"israel-moves-to-the-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stonescryout.org\/?p=1428","title":{"rendered":"Israel Moves to the Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

The election in Israel, the outcome of which makes parliamentary government very entertaining to watch, gave more votes to right-leaning parties than to left-leaning ones.  Meryl Yourish with the analysis:<\/a><\/p>\n

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The vote in Israel shows that a majority of Israelis voted for right-leaning parties. Avigdor Lieberman\u2019s Yisrael Beitenu party, loathed by many for issues like wanting Arab Israelis to swear a loyalty oath, won fifteen seats in the Knesset. Labor, the party that gave us the worst Defense Minister ever (but the best Stalin lookalike, Amir Peretz) won only thirteen. The \u201cpeace\u201d parties\u2014the parties that the world most expected to bring peace to Israel and the Palestinians\u2014were shoved aside. Why is that? Why is Labor doomed to the opposition, and Meretz even more marginalized than before?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Her answer is basically that the rockets voted. That’s actually a phrase I read in an opinion piece in the Atlantic, though it does convey her meaning.  <\/p>\n

But the thing is, the rocket fire hasn’t traumatized the Israelis so much as it has woken them up.<\/p>\n

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Israelis want peace. But the policies of the last decade have failed. So Israelis are voting for the strong horse, as they say, but only just. The right-leaning parties have a bare majority in a 120-seat Knesset. The majority of Israelis no longer trust the peace process, because they\u2019ve tried it for decades, and every time Israel gives up land, in return, they get terror.<\/p>\n

The Gaza Strip was not blockaded when Israel first pulled out. Instead of working on building Gaza up economically, Gazans destroyed every last vestige of Israel, including the greenhouses, and then installed Hamas firmly into the government. The message to Israel was clear: We\u2019re still going to destroy you. The thousands of missiles carried that message to southern Israel on a regular basis. Even now, Hamas refuses to stop the rockets, refuses to put aside \u201cresistance,\u201d and still calls for an Islamic state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n

Israelis aren\u2019t stupid. They were hopeful. They were optimistic. They were willing to believe that the Palestinians wanted peace just as much as they did.<\/p>\n

They were wrong.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why the Israeli vote went to the right. Not because of the drivel<\/a> that you read in the AP that says Israelis have a \u201cself image as a besieged nation surrounded by enemies.\u201d Not because \u201cmany Israelis are still traumatized by the Palestinian uprising.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sorry, John Lennon.  They gave peace a chance, for decades, frankly, and through the barrage of thousands of terrorist attacks in just the last 7 years.  Every effort and concession has been made and still their adversaries will simply not abide by their agreements.  <\/p>\n

So now, Israel has spoken, and softly at that.  This was not an overwhelming change in political power, but it was significant.  Israel’s attackers have been put on notice.  Once more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The election in Israel, the outcome of which makes parliamentary government very entertaining to watch, gave more votes to right-leaning parties than to left-leaning ones.  Meryl Yourish with the analysis: The vote in Israel shows that a majority of Israelis voted for right-leaning parties. Avigdor Lieberman\u2019s Yisrael Beitenu party, loathed by many for issues like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,53,52,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doug","category-israel","category-middle-east","category-war"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t