honestly I am not usually a fan of these types of conversations,  but when I finally watched this I actually found it interesting...

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  -- Tzvika Mor, candidate for Knesset in the Tzionut Haditit party

wow, that sounds pretty bad.... far worse than just sanctions should qualify for, as bad as sanctions are... like, I think "worst" at that level of Nazis and Nuchbot should at least include some wanton murder...

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Speaking of Hatzibbur HaCharedi, they did just make a good move officially putting Dr Nechumi Yafeh  (sp?) in at the second slot of their party list.. I dont know if it is enough to give them a big enough boost, and they still need at least two more candidates if they expect to get in. And today is the last day of party registration, so it is now or never...

Yafeh is a good selection because she comes with an impressive resume and has been int he public eye for a while, plus it solves their problem of not differentiating themselves from UTJ regarding female candidates - after all that talk, now they have a female candidate in a realistic position, if they can get past the threshold.

Hatzibbur HaCharedi is another party I am considerin voting for. I think this is an initiative that needs to be supported. I wish they had a better chance of getting in (that wont be my deciding factor), but even if they do not, supporting them now helps for such initiatives in the future. We'll see what happens... they should have joined up with another party, and Hakahal-Noam might be the right party for that - it is synergetic and together they seem to be pretty close to the threshold...

Right after they, the leaders of Amcha Yisrael, announced their entry into the fray, they explained that they did not accept offers from the Likud to abandon their party and take reserved slots in the Likud, nor would they join up with other existing politicians and platforms because the people want something new, and they did not want to join toether with anyone connected to the failures that led to the massacre of October 7. 

That makes sense, and this is an apparoach I actually value and think is worthy of supporting.

I think it was the next day, maybe two days later, Vinter gave in to extreme pressure from Netanyahu and Smotritch and promised that he would support Netanyahu and only Netanyahu for Prime Minister. Netanyahu and pothers in the Likud were attacking Vinter and saying he would be "Bennet 2.0" and bring down the Right and support the Left and Eisenkot, etc. To counter that Vinter announced he would support Netanyahu and not bring the Left to power.

Now, it was kind of obvious that unless something unusual and unexpected would happen, Vinter all along was going to eventually support Netanyahu. nobody expects him to win enough seats to become Prime Minister, so eventually it would come down to making a choice, and Vinter is unabashely on the Right side of the map in Israel (from a security perspective - I dont know much about what thinks on other issues). I think it is obvious he would eventually choose to recommend Netanyahu for Prime Minister. But then he said it, and just a day after saying he wanted nothing to do with anyone connected to the failures of October 7. Later he clarified that a bit saying that he wont team up with anyone and run together on a list with anyone connected to October 7, Israel wants new and fresh faces, etc... but being on the Right, Netanyahu is his only choice for PM just because that's what there is available now. 

Despite Vinter saying explicitly that he would only support Netanyahu for PM, Netanyahu and the Likud, and other Right parties have only attacked Vinter, trying to get him to drop out of the race. Even today, after Vinter submitted his official party list (with no "joint" arrangement), both the Likud and Smotritch have attacked him and are pressuring him to drop out.

So, Vinter announcing at the start that he would support only Netanyahu has not helped relieve himself from their attacks. I am not sure why he would even want to support Netanyahu considering the relentless pressure they are putting on him, and even blaming him for their eventual loss, if they will lose to Eisenkot or anyone else. But he is. 

I am not sure with Netanyahu's approach to Vinter. Some polls have him crossing the threshold and some have him failing to cross - I guess he is borderline according to the average poll. If Netanyahu takes the approach to ravage votes away from Vinter (as the reports say he is trying to do), Vinter will likely not pass the threshold and then the [tens of? hundreds of?] thousands of votes he does get will surely be a waste, but if Netanyahu would just let him run his campaign and maybe even encourage some to vote for him, he probably only needs a slight boost, and then Netanyahu has those mandates in his corner. Supporting Vinter seems to me to be a better move for Netanyahu, but he seems to be taking the opposite approach, which seems less sensible to me.

So even though it seems obvious, at least to me, that Vinter would eventually support Netanyahu for PM, I think he should have kept quiet about it for now and let it play out until closer to the elections or even until after the elections, and then he could have a stronger negotiating position for more influence in the government to be formed (if Netanyahu would win). I think a lot of the people who like Vinter want new faces in politics do not or will not like that he caved so early to support Netanyahu publicly, and will continue to not like that despite being attacked relentlessly by Netanyahu (et al) continues to support him publicly.

I think this was Vinter's early mistake, and I think it is a significant one, and I think it will hurt him.

זה קורה עכשיו בחצות: הדלק יורד בחצי שקל! ככה נלחמים ביוקר המחייה 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/6In5RgcP72

— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) September 6, 2026

As you might recall, the monthly adjustment to the price of gasoline hit historic highs at the beginning of September, hitting the price of 8.25nis per liter of gasoline. The price is adjusted monthly based on the price of oil which fluctuates all the time. The past couple of years has seen the price of gasoline get very expensive due to the ongoing war/conflict with Iran which has the price of oil fluctuating wildly sometimes going unreasonably high due to closures of the Strait of Hormuz (Strait of Trump?). However, the price of oil is only what makes the price of gasoline fluctuate monthly - the factor that makes gas in Israel so expensive is the very high excise tax (aka the blu) levied on gasoline plus the VAT. The blu tax is about 3.66 per liter making up about 44% of the cost of the gasoline, plus the VAT being 18%... so about 60%, give or take, of the price of gasoline that you pay at the pump, in Israel, is pure taxes. 

So when gas hit the historic high of 8.25nis per liter, Smotritch decided he would issue an order to cut the tax and lower the price. This has been done before and is considered a legitimate method of easing the burden a bit. It hit a snag as it had to be decided if this decision is allowed during an election season or not. once it was approved, Smotritch signed the order and all is good. 

the problem with the above video is Smotritch talking about this being the way to fight inflation and to fight the cost of living increases, etc... Smotritch signed a temporary order for cutting the tax, not a permanent order. It is in place for just two months. he did not lower taxes, he lowered the tax until the election. And in doing so, he also did not cut spending anywhere else at the same time to pay for it, but just threw this deficit on to the next government (which he might or might not be part of) to figure out how to pay for. 

Smotritch can definitely walk around saying things like we cut the pain for you so you wouldnt have to poay so much at the pump right now and things like that but fighting inflation with a temporary two month order without any cuts to cover it?  This doesn't combat inflation in any way.

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כנכד של הרב רביץ אני קצת שמח על מה שקורה כעת בדגל. מצד שני אני לא כל כך מבין מה הבעיה בגפני ומקלב שתיפתר בהבאת צעירים.שניהם אנשים חרוצים לא נהנתנים, שבקיאים בעבודה הפרלמנטרית הרבה יותר מהממוצע במפלגות אחרות. הבעיה של המפלגה הזאת היא הניתוק מעם ישראל, והחשיבה שהתורה ניתנה בליטא.

— צבי רביץ (@tzviravitz) September 6, 2026

My translation:

For some background, the OP, Tzvi Ravitz, is the grandson of Avraham Ravitz, the founder of Degel Hatorah. Ravitz served in the Knesset for Degel Hatorah until 2008 when he resigned. Officially he resigned but supposedly was pushed out, but given the opportunity to resign so as to save face and to leave honorably (supposedly this opportunity was given to Gafni and Maklev as well last night but they thought they could fight the decision and change it but were unsuccessful).

I was a little surprised that Maklev was pushed out along with Gafni. Maklev is one of the hardest working MKs (and deputy ministers) in Knesset. He can regularly be found in his Knesset chambers working long after everyone else has left. In general I think he was well liked and got things done for his constituents.

I dont really know anything yet about the new people taking their slots so will reserve judgement until I see them in action..

Truthfully I was surprised to learn from this tweet that Avraham Ravitz has a grandson who served in the army and is currently living abroad (nothing wrong with it, but it was new information to me)

I don't know if this really happened or if it is just someone's imagination...

אחד החברים שלי שעבר דרך סיני בדרך לאומן סיפר לי איך הם הצליחו לצאת מהארץ למרות צו הגיוס.

לדבריו, העריקים נכנסו למזוודות, והחברים שלא עריקים סחבו אותם דרך הצד הישראלי בטאבה, שבו אין שיקוף או בידוק לכבודה.

רק אחרי שעברו את הצד הישראלי הם יצאו מהמזוודות בצד המצרי.

הצו נשאר בארץ. https://t.co/wzyNJW6n6C

— בין הסדרים (@lhnn_w915) September 3, 2026

My Translation:

I dont know what luggage they used, but whichever brand it was should turn that into an advertisement showing the durability of their suitcases.

How small are these people? Can full size adults fit into suitcases like that? How did their friends shlep them - shlepping 60-80 kilo (or more?) is not that easy, even with wheels on the suitcases.

How do they plan to get back into Israel? They probably just worry about one step at a time and did not plan it that far in advance, but I am waiting to hear how this turns out. Whatever happens later you can be sure that they will be happy and smug that they were able to get to "Rabbeinu" despite the obstacles...

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While there is not much in the regular news media about this (other than Hamechadesh as of this writing), all day long there have been updates flying on the Haredi news Whatsapp groups about a shakeup in the Degel Hatorah faction list of representatives. Supposedly the leading Rabbis of Degel are considering replacing MKs Gafni and Maklev with some fresh names, but it keeps going back and forth.

I have a hard time believing it will happen, but even if it does, I am not sure why it would be such a big deal. They all supposedly just do what the rabbis say anyway and dont really do anything on their own, so why should it matter which people are the reps? Change the rabbis and maybe it will make a difference. All the noise there seems to me to be just noise and may be just a power struggle between the different factions (even within the factions there are more sub factions). In the end I dont think anything will happen, but even fi it does it wont be a big deal, and maybe it is not so bad to freshen things up a bit, get some new people in...