Uri Avnery: What The Hell Has Happened?

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Uri Avnery – Gush Shalom 29.3.06

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AT THE beginning of the campaign I wrote that the whole of the political system was moving to the left.

Many thought that that was wishful thinking, sadly removed from reality. Now it has actually happened.

The main result of these elections is that the hold of the nationalistic-religious bloc, which has dominated Israel for more than a generation, has been broken. All those who announced that the Left is dead and that Israel is condemned to right-wing rule for a long, long time have been proved wrong.

All the right-wing parties together won 32* seats, the religious parties 19. With 51 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, the rightist-religious wing cannot block all moves towards peace any more.

Scoop.nz

[Poll_Blind]

1. Uri tells it like it is! I loved his book, "The Other Israel" and would..

...recommend it for those wishing to see some liberal commentary on the matter. It's amazing, the flat-out crypto-fascist bullshit that gets posted by Likudniks, trying to convince people that liberal governments are good- except in Israel, where the same heavy-handed militarism that Bush subscribes to is practiced- nay, fine-tuned, made more efficient...

PB

[Coastie for Truth]

2. Take the time to read the article - worthwhile

I know some will conflate Avigdor Lieberman with, e.g., Amir Peretz or Shulamit Aloni. To those who so conflate I give you the ancient Ashkenzic toast "KMT".

Further down in the Averny's column:

THE JOYFUL scenes at the Labor Party's Headquarters may seem at first glance exaggerated. After all, the party got only 20 seats, as against 19 last time (to which must be added the three of the small party led by Amir Peretz at the time). But the numbers do not tell the whole story.

First of all, the political implications are far-reaching. In parliament, it is not only the raw numbers which count, but also their location on the political map. In the next Knesset, any coalition without the Labor Party has become impractical, if not completely impossible. Amir Peretz is going to be the most important person in the next cabinet, after Ehud Olmert.

But there is more to it than that. Peretz, the first "oriental" Jewish leader of any major Israeli party, has overcome the historic rejection of Labor by the immigrants from Muslim countries and their offspring. He has destroyed the established equation of Oriental = poor = Right as against Ashkenazi = well-to-do = Left.

This has not yet found its full expression in the voting. The increase in Oriental voters for Labor has been only incremental. But no one who has seen how Peretz was received in the open markets, until now fortresses of the Likud, can have any doubt that something fundamental has changed.

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3. I am pleased.

Even the thoroughly brainwashed Israeli voters seem to have figured out that they are sliding down a glass plate covered with snot, and that the right is all about themselves and screw everybody else. This can only be good for everybody, although I don't expect Olmert is going to be very helpful anytime soon, given his unrealistic policy statements.