Kadima, Labour Gain Ground in Israel

[oberliner]

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Israel’s legislative election could be very close, according to a poll by Maagar Mochot released by Israel Radio. A prospective tally shows that the right-wing Likud party would secure 30 seats in the February election to the Knesset, with the governing Kadima a close second with 28 mandates.

The Labour party is third with 16 seats, followed by the International Organization of Torah-observant Sephardic Jews (Shas) and Israel Our Home with 10 mandates each, and Vitality-Together (Meretz-Yachad) with seven seats each.

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/32530/kadima_labour_gain_ground_in_israel

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. This is very bad news

It means that Shas will remain the key to forming a government. I am willing to have a Likud majority if it gets Shas out of the government

[oberliner]

2. Couldn't there be a Kadima, Labor, Meretz coaltion without Shas?

Maybe add the Pensioners?

[Mosby]

11. I read somewhere that Livni

will try and bring the Arab parties into the coalition (if she wins) which could be enough to give them a majority.

[LeftishBrit]

3. So more of the same, it seems

At least there is some hope of not getting Netanyahu; but it looks as though whatever happens, the religious-right parties will still be holding the government to ransom.

[IndianaGreen]

6. Thus, lies the reason a 2-state solution is a pipe dream

A one state, secular federal republic, with full citizenship to Israeli and Palestinian alike, is the only realistic solution. We wouldn't accept a Christian state in America, so why do we accept the concept of an Islamic or a Jewish state? Let's be consistent here.

Religion! How it dominates man's mind, how it humiliates and degrades his soul. God is everything, man is nothing, says religion. But out of that nothing God has created a kingdom so despotic, so tyrannical, so cruel, so terribly exacting that naught but gloom and tears and blood have ruled the world since gods began.

Emma Goldman
Anarchism: What It Really Stands For

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/goldman/works/1910s/anarchism.htm

[Meshuga]

9. Jews are a PEOPLE Judaism is a RELIGION

The term "Jewish state" can be used to describe a state for the Jewish people as the majority of secular Jews who live in the state and don't follow Judaism (the religion). It doesn't have to mean a religious state as in a "Christian state" and "Muslim state" because Muslim and Christians are followers of the religion and Jews are not necessarily followers of Judaism. Jews are a people and a Jewish state (whether you agree if it should exist or not) is meant to be a safe haven for the Jewish People (from the atheist Jew to the ultra-religious Jew) and not a theocracy. In other words, your argument is bullshit.

[IndianaGreen]

12. The way the religious rabble have muscled their way in Israel

you know that instead of having a State for Jews, we got a Jewish state, with the "Jewish" part defined by them. You obviously are unaware of ultra-Orthodox inspired incidents such as when women rabbis were attacked for carrying a Torah to the Western Wall, the vicious attacks on LGBT Pride Parade in Jerusalem, the parasitic existence of religious that are subsidized for not working, etc.

[Meshuga]

13. That's a different issue

That is a problem that American Jews and secular Jews have to deal with in Israel. Haredim not only attack LGBT but the majority of the world Jewish population for not falling in line with their bullshit. But the haredim issue is an issue that most Jews agree with you so I don't see where you are going with this. I mean, most Jews who support Israel support a Jewish state and not an Ultra-Orthodox state. There is a difference there. You are trying to connect dots here to create an argument that doesn't really work unless ignorance is a factor.

If Israel becomes an Ultra-Orthodox state then it can no longer be considered a Jewish state since it would only represent a 10% minority of Jews.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Bombing Arab cities and villages always wins votes in Israel

The results of the elections are not that important because Israel doesn't want peace at all, it only wants Palestinian land and water. There will be no peace for as long as Israel occupies one centimeter of land taken in 1967.

Of course, we can end this nonsense immediately if Israel were to formally annex all the land taken in 1967, grant full and unconditional Israeli citizenship to all Palestinians, and hold free and democratic elections for a new government in what will become a secular Israeli-Palestinian federal people's republic.

[The Magistrate]

5. Such Annexation, Ma'am, Would Violate International Law

'One State' is not going to occur, and you know that perfectly well.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Israel violates international law 24/7

2-state solution is a fraud and sham! 41 years of history have proven it to be a hoax!

[The Magistrate]

8. Everyone Involved Does, Ma'am: It Makes Little Difference

But such an annexation ought not to be recognized by other countries, and would only be recognized by states hostile to Israel which recognized it as a death-warrant for the Israeli state. But of course, my old friend, you know that perfectly well, and this is simply a pleasant way to pass your time on a holiday morning....

[Joanne98]

10. Here's more......

The Trend, Jan 1.2009: Ehud Barak's Labor is going up, thanks to Gaza op. The table doesn't yet show it but another poll from this morning gave Labor even 16. In another poll, the right-wing Hatikvah gets 3 mandates, but we do not yet have it in the table. I want to see first if it will show in other polls too. Remember: 2 and down means nothing in the Knesset.

We added the Arab parties instead of having "Arab Parties" column. Chadash in good shape, Balad barely makes it.

New polls will be added when they are published. You only see the last 5, but the "Trend" takes into account previous polls too.

Rosner's Poll Trend is based on a statistical formula developed with the help of 2 pollsters and 2 political consultants.

CHART AT LINK
http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/rosner/entry/the_rosner_s_election_poll