I'll start off by saying, I am favor of a debate, or a series of debates, between the candidates for prime minister, and separately between representatives of the various parties for Knesset. I think the issues should be laid out clearly in a way that the public can easily understand the various positions and be able to make an informed choice.

That being said:
I understand why Bibi is hesitant to debate Yitzchak Herzog (he says he is considering the matter). Bibi is the sitting Prime Minister, more or less running on his record, basically ahead in the polls, with everything to lose in a debate.
I understand why Herzog wants a debate. His campaign has been lagging. He seems to be behind, and  slowly falling further behind. Herzog has nothing to lose in a debate.

What I don't understand is why they are so reluctant to include Livni in the debate.

One of the conditions stipulated by Netanyahu is that the debate be between himself, Herzog and Livni.

Personally, I think it is a reasonable demand. Hamachane Hatzioni has presented and campaigned on the rotation agreement saying they will serve equally as prime minister, so she is as much a candidate as Herzog is, even though she would be second. If they consider Livni one of the PM candidates, and if that is how they sold her to the public as part of their agreement, she should be as much involved in the debate as Herzog and Netanyahu would be.

I do not know why she is refusing, and why Hamachane Hatzioni does not want her up there.

As a matter of fact, I think she would do much better in a debate against Netanyahu than Herzog would. Livni is a tough character, while Herzog is a bit wishy-washy and much weaker.

I suspect that the reason is that in a three-way debate either:
a. they are worried that Herzog and Livni would end up contradicting each other in their answers and the public would ask how feasible it is for them to actually work together later, and if this rotation is actually a good idea or not
b. they are worried that Bibi would play them off each other. Livni was right-wing until recently, and Herzog has spoken badly of her in the past. Livni sat in the government and cannot really, even though she acts like she can, abdicate all responsibility for actions the government took while she was a senior partner in it.

I don't know if those are the actual reasons, but a three-way debate seems to make more sense to me than a two-way debate, in this electoral situation, and I do not think Netanyahu is wrong for insisting on it. Let the Labor voters, and other voters, know what they are getting in this rotation deal with Livni.

Likud:
Kahlon said his ability to reform the cellular market was only because of Netanyahu


government of either Likud or Boojie, Tzippi and the Arabs


Hamachane Hatzioni:
free land for your apartment


subsidizing tzaharons


I like that Labor is finally starting to say what they plan to do, but I'd now like to hear them explain how they plan to fund all these things that they are just going to give away...

Alh Yarok:
why is Cannabis illegal?


Yesh Aid:
YA MKs are the only ones who opposed raising salaries of MKs


anti-corruption plan


Habayit Hayehudi:
Meir the security guard


Bezalel Smotrich doesn't apologize

Yesterday it was announced that a, another, new Haredi party will be running in the upcoming elections. This one is a womens Haredi party.

That makes:
 * UTJ
 * Shas
 * Perach
 * Netzach-Eitz
 * Yachad - Haam Itanu (it sort of counts as Haredi)
 * Bzchutan, this new womens party

6 Haredi parties to be running in the upcoming elections, giving the potential Haredi voter a plethora of choices. Competition is always good. It makes everyone perform better.

There seems to be this impression that this new party, Bzchutan, is the outgrowth of the movement a few weeks ago of Haredi women who announced that unless the Haredi parties find a way to integrate women into their party lists, they will not vote for the Haredi parties (or any other party).

To me it seems that it is not. Ruth Colian, a woman with a long-standing fight with Shas about female representation, is behind this new party. As far as I can tell, none of the women involved in the original protest are involved or behind this new party. It is the natural next step, but it seems to be other people behind it, and not the same. It does not really make a difference, but it seems this new party is riding the wave created by the original women.

The chances of this new party making it into the Knesset is infinitesimal, but that is ok. Just like Nachshon ben Aminadav had to be the first to jump into the sea, someone needs to be the first to create such a party. They might not make it, but maybe next time, or the time after that, they will.

A lot can happen. If they even make it to election day still standing, they will be fortunate, forget about even winning any seats. We know the classic parties are intolerant of break-offs and others that might threaten them by taking a few votes away or minimizing their power, even if just a bit. These women will be pressured and threatened, some will drop out, others will stand strong. Perhaps some of the parties mentioned above will merge or find a way to run together, or the larger of them may offer them a deal of some sort. Or they might just succumb to what will be intense pressure.

Either way, their very existence right now marks a major shift, and the future of Haredi representation in Knesset will surely be different than it appears today.

they run every single election, and have never yet made it in to the Knesset. Well, Aleh Yarok is running again. And this time, they are turning to crowdfunding to finance their campaign..

As of this writing, it is still unclear exactly what spot Moshe Feiglin won in the Likud primaries. It is clear though that he fell dramatically to an unrealistic spot, based on even the most optimistic predictions of the eventual election results.

I liked Feiglin, and this is a shame. I thought he basically did a pretty good job in his term as MK. He was unique, he did not do anything too crazy or extreme, he was thoughtful, he got involved in issues in ways that surprised people (e.g. medical marijuana, homosexual rights, etc), and I think the Knesset, and the Likud, will be lacking without Feiglin.

My initial thoughts of why Feiglin dropped so much:
I think Feiglin dropped because of the success of Habayit Hayehudi and Naftali Bennet. Feiglin started his process in the Likud when Mafdal was a tiny and barely influential party. Feiglin saw that the only way for religious and right wing people to be influential is to join the ruling party and not to be involved in the smaller sectorial parties. So, many people who might have naturally supported Mafdal over the years followed Moshe Feiglin to the Likud. They saw him as the ticket to power and influence for the right wing and religious ideology.

What happened now is that Bennet has brought the Mafdal back to being a player. Habayit Hayehudi under Bennet is an influential and powerful party. And they are continuing to grow. And they have changed from being a purely sectorial party for Religious Zionists, to being a newer version of the Likud. Likud 2.0 perhaps. Habayit Hayehudi has secular members, sefardi, ashkenazi, religious, and even Arabs.

All those people, I think, who have supported Feiglin's bid in the Likud, now no longer see a reason to. They see their own more natural home to be welcoming and promising. Habayit Hayehudi is now a place they can feel comfortable in, and even see it as the route to influence. And that is why Habayit Hayehudi has had such a successful campaign registering new members. And I think that is what happened to Feiglin - he was a victim of Habayit Hayehudi's success.

This Israeli election season has not failed to surprise with crazy news and influential events happening on a daily basis, sometimes even more frequently than that.

This does not take the cake, and it is nothing like what happened yesterday, but it is big news and surprising.

If the Haredi parties did not have enough trouble this election season already, and if they were not already facing tremendous obstacles in these elections, another wrench just got thrown in. And somehow it comes from Bet Shemesh.

Kikar is reporting that a new Haredi party has officially registered for the coming elections, and it is a party that is based in Bet Shemesh.

The name of the party is "Perach - shefa, bracha, chaim v'shalom". The party is registered by a list of 10 people, all Haredim living in Bet Shemesh. The names listed are, both men and women; Bracha Malka Nueman, Malka Rosenbaum, Rachel Ednan, Shalom Eliezer Herbst, Shlomo Steinberg, Yehudit Steinberg, Yitzchak Shag, Chana Shag, Asher Weinreich and Fraidy Weinreich. I looked up a few of the names in the local directory and they live in the neighborhood of kneh Bosem, a.k.a. Heftsiba, which is a completely Haredi neighborhood.

No list for Knesset seats is mentioned yet, so I don't know if this new party will be including women on its list, but the women are at least involved in the establishment of the party. In the little information mentioned about it, women as MKs or in any capacity is not mentioned as its goals, but economic issues are.

The party says its focus will be on establishing a list of a thousand basic items that will have their prices slashed by half (they call this the shefa aspect), bringing down cost of housing (the bracha aspect), doubling the wages of soldiers (the chaim aspect), and promoting territorial exchange for true peace (the shalom aspect).

I clearly don't know what they are offering differently than any other party. All this can be done as lobbyists or pressure groups from outside the Knesset. Do these 10 people think they have the solution for peace that everyone else has not been able to discover? cost of housing or cost of living? It could be that they do, but this seems to me, right now, to be a silly little enterprise. I wonder where they will get their support from. And, I wonder what they really want - it is hard for me to believe they really plan on running. I would expect they are looking to pressure a different party to take one of their people or to put something from their platform at the head of their focus or somethign similar..

Also, no name of a rabbinical adviser or who their rabbinical guidance is, which is strange for a Haredi party..

Anyways, if the Haredi parties weren't hurting enough, this is going to be another thorn in their side, and at least a distraction.

#IsraelElex