Negative election campaigns always mean that somebody is nervous. Somebody is taking voters I think should be voting for me, and when I decide my campaign is obviously not being effective enough, I have to attack the opponent and point out what is wrong with them.

The following two flyers have been distributed, attacking TOV. It is funny to attack TOV based on their, considering they did not exist until a few months ago... but it is being done anyway.

The attack is on TOV in the form of their number 2 man Rav Alon, who was previously in another party. The claim is that TOV wants to clean up the city, but their man was in charge of it until now, and if he could not do it then, why should you trust TOV to do it now...





The flyers are fairly anonymous, so it begs the question who is behind it. There are two other parties that are competing with TOV for the same voters. CHEN, to a small extent, and more directly Gimmel.

It does not make sense for this to have been done by CHEN, because they would then be attacking themselves, claiming that their own guy did nothing in the previous session. Gimmel is much more threatened by TOV, and it makes much more sense for it to be them. Also my sources tell me they were put out by Gimmel, but that cannot really be confirmed officially.

The real chutzpah is that when the candidate Moshe Abutbol gets asked why he did not accomplish anythign serious as Deputy Mayor with his various responsibilities, he responds that the mayor did not allow him to work and blocked his intiatives. When Gimmel, along with other parties, are asked why they did not accomplish what they set out to, they respond the mayor did not allow them to accomplish.

As residents, and as voters, we have the right to question the candidates and parties. if they give us flaky answers, we can either trust and accept, and vote for them again, or say it is a bad excuse and vote for them for other reasons, or vote for someone else.

But it is chutzpah for one party to attack another party on their lack of accomplishment, whether real or not (and I do not know if there is basis to the actual claim or not), when they themselves have to answer why they did not accomplish and fulfill their responsibilities.

Many in the frum community have made Barak Obama out to be pretty bad and evil for jews and for Israel. Time will tell, but it is hard to imagine that he can possibly be as bad as they made him out to be.

Regardless, even if he does turn out to be that bad, God forbid, perhaps the silver lining in it will be that it could be the catalyst for more Jews moving to Israel...

If anybody thought that Gur is not really working for Shalom Lerner, and they are looking for ways to back out of their agreement, tonight I was out running. While on the run, I passed a couple carfuls of Gerrer hassidim who were out pasting up signs in support of Shalom Lerner for mayor....

the saying goes that everyone has their 15 minutes of fame.

Sometimes, those 15 minutes end fairly abruptly, and everything turns around the opposite after that.

Arkadi Gaydamak had his 15 minutes of fame. There was nobody flying higher than this billionaire two years ago. he was helping refugees durign the war, he was helping the residents fo Sderot through the rocket barrages, he was offering to pay for this or that. He was setting up tent cities. He was the darling of the Israeli public for a bit.

He rode his good fortunes an fame into politics. he started a party for the Knesset. he decided to run for mayor.

Suddenly he was down in the dumps and everybody turned their backs. Some of his businesses started to fail. He made some bad deals and investments, and they were blared in the headlines. he got into some dirty fights with some of his partners and investors.

Now, he can't get a good headline no matter how much he is willing to pay for it. Today the courts put a stay in place banning him from leaving the country, thinking he might run from his debts.

I don't understand how he thinks he is going to win the Jerusalem elections, in which he is still campaigning hard, when all he gets is these bad headlines...

Everyone gets their 15 minutes, but when those 15 minutes are up, it could get nasty!

I am not looking to compete with CNN or NBC or whomever you prefer for the news, but I thought it would be cool to have the elections results easily accessible... so I posted the election results widget at the top of the sidebar...

There has been a lot of talk and speculation about the possibility that the Eidah and Neturei Karta rabbonim would not publicize their standard prohibition against voting in elections for the upcoming municipal elections. This was discussed in Bet Shemesh and in jerusalem.

The idea is that with the possibility, strong possibility even possibly hinging on whether or not the kannoim vote or not, of getting a Haredi mayor or two, it is worth at least not restating the issur, letting the people vote, and gaining from it.

While I have mostly avoided talking about Jerusalem municipal elections, because I do not live there and only know as much as the average bystander about what is going on there, I do support Meier Porush for mayor of Jerusalem. If anybody reading this can vote in Jerusalem, that is my opinion (as if any of you care).

There has been nobody more loyal to Eretz Yisrael than Meier Porush (even considering his opinion on Har Habayit). He has shown himself and proven hiumself to be accessible to all, no matter what the persons background. He has proven himself to helping everybody, no questions asked. When he was assistant Housing Minister he helped hesder yeshivas and settlers without hesitating, even though they had not supported him. People, from all walks of life, turned to him for their needs and he always did his best to help.

That being said, I do not think it would be a catastrophe if Nir Barkat won. I think he would manage the city well, though I know less about his political stance.

But I digress. To get back on track, there was talk about, and there was pressure on, the Eidah not restating its issur against voting. It turns out that that did not happen, and at least in jerusalem the Eidah has pput up its signs telling its adherents that it is prohibited to vote in the upcoming elections.



The irony of this is that, as you can see below in the document detailing the Jerusalem UTJ party list for City Council, the number 5 man is Yoeli Krausz. Krausz is an avowed Neturei Karta'nik, who has clearly decided it is pragmatic to be part of Porush's control of Jerusalem..

so, while the Eidah has prohibited participation in the elections, it looks like not everybody got the message... Yoeli Krausz for mayor of Jerusalem in 2013!!

Being in an election season has all sorts of issues. One of those issues is the mess and noise of political campaigns. Parties hang signs all over the place declaring themselves to be the salvation of the city. They make parades to draw attention to themselves. They do all sorts of stuff to catch the eye of the voter.

Sometimes the signs being hung up are placed in legal places - private property, billboards approved for political signage, and the like. Sometimes, perhaps even more often, the signs are hung up wherever the campaign manager thinks he will best catch people's line of vision, even if the place is not legal for hanging signs.

Some people are disturbed by all this, but personally I like it. It gives a feeling of excitement in the air, and is part of the Israeli culture of election season.

In the area in which I live, every day a new slew of signs, for various parties and many for a candidate for mayor, are hung up along the barriers in front of the streets, between street lamps, and pretty much anywhere that would catch the eye. By now it is humorous, as I head out to work every day and see the signs from the night before have already been removed. Some of these candidates and parties must have money to burn to keep putting the signs up in places where they get taken down pretty quickly....

This morning I was on my way out of the neighborhood, a little later than usual, and I was driving behind the head of one of the political parties with signs up. Approaching the shopping area of RBS, there was a team of city employees removing the signs that were hung around the streets. Most of the signs were advertising the specific party of the guy in the car in front of me. He pulled over (in the middle of the street causing me a delay until I honked him to let me pass), and tried to persuade the city workers to leave his signs up. As I passed him, I could hear a snippet of the discussion, in which he asked why they were taking his signs down and they responded that they are not allowed to be there and they are taking all such signs down, not only his...

The year is 1991. January. The Gulf War. The first one. Saddam invaded Kuwait and threatened to upset America's oil supply. America goes to war to defend and liberate Kuwait. America builds a coalition of countries around the world against Saddam, including for the first time ever, Arab countries willing to fight for the infidel against their own brethren. Saddam threatens to attack Israel, in an attempt to crack the coalition against him.

Saddam attacks Israel by launching Scud missile attacks.

In Israel, this was my first year in Israel, it was an exciting, albeit frightening, time. Nobody knew what to expect or what would happen. The Israeli army was being reined in and stopped from responding.

And then there was Nachman Shay. He was known as "Ha'Margia Ha'Leumi" - the "national calmer". Nachman Shay was the army spokesperson at the time. It was his voice that was responsible for announcing Scud attacks, along with instructions of when to use the gas masks, when to enter the sealed rooms, when the rooms could be opened, when you could leave the room, etc.

Nachman Shay. I remember his voice clearly, as we sta and listened to the air raid siren with his voice announcing over the radio in eery calmness "Nachash Tzefa" - the codeword "for get yourself quickly into the sealed room because there is an attack and we have no idea if the Scud has a chemical warhead attached to it or not".

I found this clip. Some of you might have experienced it and this will bring back memories, some of you might be hearing this for the first time....



Nachman Shay has announced he is joining Kadima. I guess they need him in case they lead us to war again. he can try to keep everybody calm, the way he did in 1991...

Aryeh and Devora, a young religious couple, were expecting their first baby.

Devora went into labor on shabbos so they had no choice but to call for a taxi to take them to the hospital. Because Aryeh wanted to minimize the shabbos violation, he told the controller that he cannot have a Jewish driver.



The taxi quickly arrived, but when Aryeh and Devora were getting in, they overheard the controller on the two way radio ask the driver, "Have you picked up the anti-Semites yet?"

The Likud. That is where the party is at. Suddenly they look so attractive, there is hardly a former politician, or an aspiring one, that is not jumping at the chance of competing in the upcoming Likud primaries.

And they are all big names. Names that just continue to make the Likud more and more attractive with each of them that joins the Likud. Names of people like Benny Begin, Miri Regev (former army spokesperson), Effie Eitam (whom I personally never particularly liked, but he is a big name), Daniel Seaman (head of the Israel Press Office) and more.

With all these people joining, and the Likud hoping for more big names like Bugie Yaalon, Dan Meridor and others to join in the coming days, one has to wonder where all the seats and positions for these people are coming from. It sounds like people expect the Likud to win upwards of 40 seats or even more. Something that seemed so unrealistic until recently, considering the way Ariel Sharon decimated the Likud bringing it down to 12 seats.

The only thing about it that disturbs me is that all those Likudniks who stuck with the party during the past few years when it went through some very difficult periods, all those loyal Likudniks are going to suffer by being pushed down the list for these big names who will likely win higher spots in the primaries. Primaries are democratic, and if that is who people vote for, then that is the way it works, but it is a shame to see the people who really stuck with the Likud and worked hard to get it back to where it is going, those people are the ones who are goign to lose out despite that loyalty.

I extended the deadline for voting in the poll running at the top of the sidebar for another week... so if you have not taken the opportunity to vote, you now have more time...

CHEN is a party that has done some great work in the Bet Shemesh City Council. Their problem is really in marketing, because based on their performance, based on their success, and based on their integrity, they should be a much larger party. (And perhaps some better marketing of themselves would also help...)

CHEN only had one seat in the outgoing City Council. Their one mandate has been threatened with Rav Alon leaving CHEN and merging with TOV. That left a nice hole that CHEN has to figure how they will fill, if they plan to make it past the minimum threshold in the upcoming elections.

It is possible. Zvi and David are optimistic about their chances. I don't like relying on polls (polls are giving CHEN low numbers), because everybody uses the numbers differently and polls have always been unreliable, but CHEN's numbers have been going up recently, and according to the basic count Zvi detailed for me, it looks like they will surpass the minimum threshold. I hope they do, because it would be a great loss if we did not have them fighting for the city in City Hall.

Some people are worried about the overlap between CHEN and TOV. While it would have been nice to see a merger between the two parties, ensuring the joint success, it did not happen, for whatever reasons. An interesting piece of irony I noted is a point that was mentioned in a recent interview in a local newspaper Tmura with Zvi Wolicki. The article mentioned that Zvi was always a supporter of the (now defunct) Poalei Agudat Yisrael, and would be again if they made a comeback. TOV is a reincarnation, of sorts, of the Poalei Agudat Yisrael party.

I say the more the merrier. If they can both get in, we gain that much more by having more people fighting for us.

Look at the flyers below put out by CHEN, and you can see they are non-partisan. They work to improve the quality of life of Bet Shemesh residents, no matter who or what group you are affiliated with. I personally know of numerous cases in which CHEN simply helped people solve problems, even though they knew that the petitioner had not voted for them and would not vote for them in the future. They just want to improve our quality of life.

And with Ephrayim Naiman joining the CHEN list, it made an already great team even better. there is nobody in RBS, and I mean literally nobody - not a single individual, who I would prefer to have as a representative over Ephrayim.


(this should also remove any preconceptions generated by previous posts that I work for TOV or that I fully endorse TOV. I support TOV. I like TOV. But I also like other parties. not every party is for every person. In addition, there are still other parties I like and support. I might write about some of them, I might not. Maybe more on this idea in a later post.)

If you have any questions about CHEN - who they are, what they do, what they want to do, what they have done, whatever, ask them in the comments. Either I will try to get answers, or hopefully I will try to get a chen person to answer directly...

There is talk about the possibility of Rahm Emanuel being appointed as the next White House Chief of Staff in a future Obama presidency (if he should win the upcoming elections).

Not only did he serve in the IDF, and not only is his family originally Israeli (I think even originally pre-state Palestinian), but, even more importantly, his father was my pediatrician when I was growing up in Chicago. He was the greatest of doctors, and unfortunately retired a few years ago.

That alone qualifies Rahm Emanuel to be the White House Chief of Staff....

I am from Chicago. That should mean that I am an expert at cheating at voting multiple times in an election.

Unfortunately that is not something I ever learned how to do.

I have a unique opportunity. It pretty much fell in my lap, but I have no idea how to use it.

My brother served in the Israeli army. he is not an Israeli citizen. he was a volunteer in the Macha"l program.

He is no longer in the army, nor in Israel. He finished his service, almost a year ago, and went back to the USA.

He used our address as his mailing address, because he was moving between apartments every couple of months, and figured his mail would be safer if it came to us. Most of his mail has been notices about job opportunities in security, bank stuff, and pretty boring stuff.

Until last week, that is. Last week he received a voting notice telling him where his polling booth is in the upcoming Bet Shemesh elections. It must be a mistake, because he is not an israeli citizen, unless there is some rule about former soldiers being allowed to vote. Regardless of whether or not it is a mistake, he is not in the country and therefore will not be actualizing his vote.

This presents a unique opportunity to vote twice in the upcoming elections. Once under my name, and once under his name. The only problem is I have no idea how to pose as him, considering I do not have any identification of his.

So, instead of my using his ticket to vote twice, I have decided to take advantage of this opportunity in a different way. I am offering to sell his voting ticket to the highest bidder. You have no comittment to vote for any specific person or party. Just leave your bid in the comments, even anonymously, and let me know how much you would be willing to pay for the ability to vote twice. Afterwards you can contact me by email to actualize the purchase!

NOTE: Being that it is illegal to partake in election fraud, and I have no interest in being arrested over this, I hereby present this disclaimer stating that the offer to sell his voting ticket was humurous in nature and is not a real offer. Though it is true that I received a voting notice for him in the mail.

Who would ever have predicted the day when this would happen? Ha'aretz has come out in support of Haredi candidate for mayor of Jerusalem Meier Porush!

True, they are endorsing him because they reject secular candidate Nir Barkat's recent run to the right in issues involving undivided Jerusalem and Jerusalem borders (I am not sure why Haaretz thinks Porush will be any different on those issues), and that leaves them nobody to enthusiastically endorse, but that the end of the day the secular, left-wing newspaper for the intellectual has come out endorsing the scary looking Haredi with the long white beard!

Ben-Yehuda has posted the Elections Edition of Haveil Havalim. For those counting, it is #189...