Meretz
is anybody still not sure?



Yesh Atid
Dovid's story - fighting for "shivyon bnetel"


Kulanu Kahlon
what do the party leaders not talk about


the video that is 1000 times more anti-viral, about what Yesh Atid did in knesset


Eli Alaluf on the new poor


Habayit Hayehudi
Minister Uri Ariel under investigation for his "tochnit garin"


we need Habayit Hayehdui big and strong


Likud
Tzippi is a danger to the State


Hamachane Hatzioni
Stav Shafir: where is the money?


who we are



Green Leaf
marijuana use during pregnancy and while nursing



Kulanu Na Nach







Yachad - Ha'Am Itanu
jingle

Yesh Atid
Shmuel Chaim Peppenheim's story (according to a comment last night, this was an unauthorized use and he claims to not have shot this film for Yesh Atid but was part of a different video he was involved in regarding Haredim and the workforce. if true, in my opinion, he should sue)


Habayit Hayehudi
Israel - fighting for your freedom


Hamachane Hatzioni
you failed, go home


collecting for a family in distress with housing problems (I think this was the best video of the day, especially filming in front of a bottle recycling cage, until Likud released their Pizza Bujie video)


Bujie's voice (and this is the silliest and most pointless video of the day),, if I understood the point, people are unsure because of Bujie's voice, so he changed it, at least in the video


Likud
Pizza Bujie, with a Tzippi extra (this is the best of the day)


how Tzippi Livni is trying to get to the prime ministerial seat


Yisrael Beyteynu
we succeeded in invalidating Hanin Zoabi

Different narratives shape different memories of the 1948 War for Israelis and Palestinians. In Israel and among most Jewish communities, the war of 1948 is best known as the War of Independence - it is a day filled with joy, pride and celebration. In the Arab world, and particularly among Palestinians, the war of 1948 is known as al-Nakba (the catastrophe) - it is a day filled with sadness, humiliation and longing. This film tells the story of the war, reveals how so many people became refugees, and speculates on what is perpetuating their suffering today.

I am not one who pays too much attention to polls prior to elections.. I find them interesting for the indication of trends, but I normally do not put too much weight on the details they proffer.

The latest polls made me laugh just enough to make me decide it is worth a comment..

The interesting part of the latest polls is that Shas, in the polls, is standing tall at winning just 4 seats. That is barely scraping the top of the minimum threshold.

I think it is worth a comment - of how the tables have turned.

Shas, as well as others especially in the Haredi (but not limited to) electoral community, has made a big deal about not voting for small parties that are a risk of not passing the threshold. Tens of thousands of votes that might be thrown right into the garbage.

So, the tables have now turned. Based on the latest polls, I'd like to hear Shas and UTJ, and others, make a big announcement about not supporting small parties that are at risk of not passing the threshold. They should announce that it is assur to vote Shas for that very reason. Shas should show some responsibility and backbone and withdraw from the race so as not to be responsible for tens of thousands of potentially wasted votes.

It is not going to happen, and I am pretty sure they will get more than 4 seats, but seeing the polls made me laugh and think of that.

I am no economist but news like this seems pretty good...

From Reuters:

Israel's economy is poised to rebound further in 2015 from the effects of last summer's Gaza war after a strong recovery in the final three months of 2014 led to the fastest quarterly growth in nearly eight years.
The fourth quarter of 2014 saw gross domestic product grow an annualized 7.2 percent expansion, a rebound similar to late 2006 and early 2007, when war in Lebanon was followed by a surge in growth.
Fourth-quarter GDP had been forecast to grow an annualized 3.3 percent, according to a Reuters poll.
The Gaza war in July and August held back third-quarter growth as factory output slowed, consumers stayed home and tourists canceled in droves. The economy expanded just 0.6 percent, versus an earlier estimate of 0.4 percent and an initial reading of a 0.4 percent contraction.
A more accurate picture of the economy, analysts believe, would come from comparing the annualized 2.6 percent growth in the second half with the 2.7 percent growth in the first half.
"It's still impressive to keep the same level of growth in a country where for more than a month people were in shelters," Daphna Aviram-Nitzan, the head of economic research at the Manufacturers' Association, said on Monday.
Part of the rebound in the final three months of 2014 also stemmed from a sharp depreciation in the shekel versus the dollar, That boosted industrial exports -- mainly high-tech ones that benefited from a recovery in U.S. growth.
"The growth rate in industry as a whole and industrial exports will be much better this year than last year," Aviram-Nitzan said.
The fourth-quarter economy was also boosted by heavy government spending, mainly on defense, and a change in a tax regime that fueled a car-buying spree before the end of the year.
Growth is forecast at 3.2 percent this year, up from a revised 2.9 percent rate in 2014.
"An 7.2 percent increase in the fourth quarter does not represent the state of the economy," said Alex Zabezhinsky, chief economist at brokerage Meitav Dash. "But the economy is certainly not in a slowdown or recession and is growing at quite a high rate of 3 percent -- a pace that could be the envy of many countries."
Policymakers cited an apparent spurt in fourth-quarter growth when they left short-term interest rates unchanged for a fifth straight month in late January. That pointed to a "relatively good" state of the economy, they said, although they agreed the rebound was partly of correction after the war.
The next rate decision is due on Feb. 23.
Exports, which account for some 40 percent of economic activity, rose 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. Private spending, another driver, grew 6.8 percent. Investment in fixed assets gained 8.7 percent, after declines the previous three quarters.
Government spending jumped 12.2 percent. The business sector GDP grew 8.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

I imagine both Yair Lapid, former Minister of Finance, and Naftali Bennet, Minister of Commerce and Trade, probably deserve at least some of the credit for this. In addition, obviously Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister. And probably also Yuval Steinitz, the Finance Minister of the previous government.

If Netanyahu's governments can have our economy in such a good state, even though it is far from perfect and here are problems, this should serve him well in the coming elections. Why would anyone want to mess with such awesome economic growth?

I was going to save this video for tomorrow's roundup of newest election campaign broadcasts, but I have decided that it deserves its own post now (and maybe I will also include it tomorrow in the roundup as well).

the latest from Yesh Atid:


Shmuel Chaim Peppenheim is unique in many ways. It surely took a lot of courage for him to be willing to make a campaign video for Yesh Atid.

And the funniest part of it is - Shmuel Chaim Peppenheim does not even vote in the elections.

Largest stockpile of gold coins discovered in Cesaria

  -- INN

the discovery was surely in Netanyahu's other house, in Cesaria, after opening his Jerusalem house to publicity via a famous interior designer, and showing its state of disrepair. It turns out he sent everything to his home in Cesaria in advance..
(humor)

Yesterday, as I am sure by now you all know, a minister of Israel died of a rare blood disease. Uri Orbach of Habayit Hayehudi.

I had no personal connection to him, and will not eulogize him, but I would like to point out one thing.

Since his death, actually even before it as he was in the hospital and asking people to pray for him but much more so after death, it has come to light how well-liked he was, how good of a person he was.

What I find impressive is not that he was a good person, BH we have plenty of those. Not even that he was a good person in the Knesset - we have some of those as well.

He was just a good person. He was a mentsch. What impressed me is how everybody, from right to left, from religious to not religious to anti-religious, from every type of news media on the spectrum in both print media and on the airwaves, they all talk about how good he was, how much of a mentsch, how despite their differences in ideology and belief he gave everyone respect, had a smile, a kind word, a witty comment, a way to make them smile and laugh.

Bar none.

I have not seen any news media, and I explicitly heard from reps all the way to Meretz and Labor, and on the far right, and from the haredim, and everyone else, how they felt connected to him, how good he was.

Someone who can make such a strong impression - not by being aggressive or pushy or looking for ways to "lick up" to others, but just by being nice and respectful.. we need more people like that.