What Netanyahu's Victory Tells Me

[theDoctorisIn]

BTW, I'm don't necessarily think that Bibi is "racist", I think it's more likely that he's just pandering to racists.

 

[TemplarKormac]

It told me that security and safety were paramount, always has, always will be. While having some concern over cost of living and social issues, Israelis still recognized the threats being posed to their nation by Iran and Hezbollah. No amount of meddling by American President Barack Obama's former campaign operatives was going to change that feeling. An attempt by the selfsame operatives to compromise a foreign nation's elections failed miserably, and that tells me Israelis were smart enough not to fall for it. Israel chose wisely.

Congratulations, Mr. Netanyahu, a well fought and well earned victory is yours!

That is all.

Really what it tells me is he made a last minute appeal to racism to narrowly save his ass and in doing so showed the rest of the world his true colors

I'll also point out that if Arabs are allowed to vote and hold seats in the Knesset, Netanyahu isn't racist.

How do you figure?

Do you think the Prime Minister of Israel has the power to disenfranchise millions of Israeli citizens?

No. So, given that fact, he isn't racist. Plain and simple.

 

[TemplarKormac]

BTW, I'm don't necessarily think that Bibi is "racist", I think it's more likely that he's just pandering to racists.

So, explain the difference?

 

[theDoctorisIn]

It told me that security and safety were paramount, always has, always will be. While having some concern over cost of living and social issues, Israelis still recognized the threats being posed to their nation by Iran and Hezbollah. No amount of meddling by American President Barack Obama's former campaign operatives was going to change that feeling. An attempt by the selfsame operatives to compromise a foreign nation's elections failed miserably, and that tells me Israelis were smart enough not to fall for it. Israel chose wisely.

Congratulations, Mr. Netanyahu, a well fought and well earned victory is yours!

That is all.

Really what it tells me is he made a last minute appeal to racism to narrowly save his ass and in doing so showed the rest of the world his true colors

I'll also point out that if Arabs are allowed to vote and hold seats in the Knesset, Netanyahu isn't racist.

How do you figure?

Do you think the Prime Minister of Israel has the power to disenfranchise millions of Israeli citizens?

No. So, given that fact, he isn't racist. Plain and simple.

I'm not following you.

Bibi doesn't get any credit for "allowing" Arabs to vote, because he doesn't get to make that decision. It's not within his power to "allow" or not allow Israeli citizens to vote and run for office.

Whether or not Bibi is a racist has nothing to do with whether Arabs can vote.

 

[Lipush]

Lipush

What do the Israeli "talking heads" say were the driving factors in this victory?

Now they seem (including the Zionist Union pary itself) to be very confused, some say the 'ZU' just miscalculated things, people try to understand how this epic fail happened.

If you hear things, I'd love to hear an analysis of it in this thread. Makes for an interesting discussion and this has been a really educational thread on Israeli politics!

Okey Dokey

 

[theDoctorisIn]

BTW, I'm don't necessarily think that Bibi is "racist", I think it's more likely that he's just pandering to racists.

So, explain the difference?

I think it's pretty self explanatory. It's the difference between what people think and what they say.

 

[TemplarKormac]

Whether or not Bibi is a racist has nothing to do with whether Arabs can vote.

Okay then. So why are people calling him racist?

 

[Coyote]

Let me first off proclaim: Mahapach! What a tremendous upheaval!

"Mahapach" was a term first used by the Israeli media when Benny Begin's Likud Party won the majority in the Knesset for the first time in 1977.

Netanyahu's win in last night's elections told me that the security and safety of Israel were paramount, always has, always will be. While having some concern over cost of living and social issues, Israelis still recognized the threats being posed to their nation by Iran and Hezbollah. No amount of meddling by American President Barack Obama's former campaign operatives was going to change that feeling. An attempt by the selfsame operatives to compromise a foreign nation's elections failed miserably, and that tells me Israelis were smart enough not to fall for it. Israel chose wisely.

Congratulations, Mr. Netanyahu, a well fought and well earned victory is yours!

That is all.

By the way, did you realize that former campaign "operatives" were also working on behalf of Netanyahu's campaign?

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Whether or not Bibi is a racist has nothing to do with whether Arabs can vote.

Okay then. So why are people calling him racist?

Because prior to the election, he used high turnout amongst Arabs as a boogeyman to rile up the ultra-nationalists in support of Likud.

It's not that far from a Republican trying to rally support by saying "you better support me, because lots of blacks are voting for the other guy".

 

[Daniyel]

Let me first off proclaim: Mahapach! What a tremendous upheaval!

"Mahapach" was a term first used by the Israeli media when Benny Begin's Likud Party won the majority in the Knesset for the first time in 1977.

Netanyahu's win in last night's elections told me that the security and safety of Israel were paramount, always has, always will be. While having some concern over cost of living and social issues, Israelis still recognized the threats being posed to their nation by Iran and Hezbollah. No amount of meddling by American President Barack Obama's former campaign operatives was going to change that feeling. An attempt by the selfsame operatives to compromise a foreign nation's elections failed miserably, and that tells me Israelis were smart enough not to fall for it. Israel chose wisely.

Congratulations, Mr. Netanyahu, a well fought and well earned victory is yours!

That is all.

By the way, did you realize that former campaign "operatives" were also working on behalf of Netanyahu's campaign?

This is the endless sway of politics, however most of the propaganda I've seen that is against Bibi claimed to be 'Likudniks' (Likud voters) that had this change of heart and decided to turn to the Avoda (which by the way hid their name quite well including Livni)

 

[TemplarKormac]

By the way, did you realize that former campaign "operatives" were also working on behalf of Netanyahu's campaign?

Were they using American taxpayer money to do it? If so, I wouldn't be surprised. But I would need to see links first.

 

[Coyote]

By the way, did you realize that former campaign "operatives" were also working on behalf of Netanyahu's campaign?

Were they using American taxpayer money to do it? If so, I wouldn't be surprised. But I would need to see links first.

Unknown. It's also unknown at this point whether American taxpayer money was used here as well.

 

[TemplarKormac]

Because prior to the election, he used high turnout amongst Arabs as a boogeyman to rile up the ultra-nationalists in support of Likud.

Actually what he said was that "US money is driving higher Arab turnout" given the existence of V15, I'd say he wasn't too far off the mark.

"Voter turnout in the Arab sector is three times higher! The threat is real: Abu Mazen's calls and American money are getting the Arab vote out. Go and vote"

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Because prior to the election, he used high turnout amongst Arabs as a boogeyman to rile up the ultra-nationalists in support of Likud.

Actually what he said was that "US money is driving higher Arab turnout" given the existence of V15, I'd say he wasn't too far off the mark.

"Voter turnout in the Arab sector is three times higher! The threat is real: Abu Mazen's calls and American money are getting the Arab vote out. Go and vote"

So he was using both Arabs voting AND "American money" as boogeymen. How does that change anything?

 

[TemplarKormac]

It's also unknown at this point whether American taxpayer money was used here as well.

Like I told you yesterday, they suddenly filed for a different status under IRS regulations after they had been accused of abusing government grants.

Two words: Smoking. Gun.

 

[TemplarKormac]

Because prior to the election, he used high turnout amongst Arabs as a boogeyman to rile up the ultra-nationalists in support of Likud.

Actually what he said was that "US money is driving higher Arab turnout" given the existence of V15, I'd say he wasn't too far off the mark.

"Voter turnout in the Arab sector is three times higher! The threat is real: Abu Mazen's calls and American money are getting the Arab vote out. Go and vote"

So he was using both Arabs voting AND "American money" as boogeymen. How does that change anything?

It says a lot, Doc. If American money is involved, via a campaign that uses the slogan "anyone but Bibi" you can safely say that would synergize with Arab sentiment in Israel. Its not hard to see.

 

[Mindful]

It’s being reported that the President of the United States is pretty unhappy with certain campaign statements that were made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In light of this reaction, it seems fitting to highlight some statements that Obama himself made when he was campaigning.

Just to review, let’s start with this one: “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” That is what then-Senator Obama said to an audience at AIPAC in 2008, during his first presidential campaign. Based on many of his actions since then, it seems fair to infer that he didn’t mean it at the time, and he certainly didn’t stand by it.

Obama s Double Standard For The Israeli Prime Minister by Mirabelle Ward Israellycool

 

[theDoctorisIn]

It's also unknown at this point whether American taxpayer money was used here as well.

Like I told you yesterday, they suddenly filed for a different status under IRS regulations after they had been accused of abusing government grants.

Two words: Smoking. Gun.

It's really not the smoking gun that FOX News thinks it is.

OneVoice has not filed for new status. It's still a 501c3.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Because prior to the election, he used high turnout amongst Arabs as a boogeyman to rile up the ultra-nationalists in support of Likud.

Actually what he said was that "US money is driving higher Arab turnout" given the existence of V15, I'd say he wasn't too far off the mark.

"Voter turnout in the Arab sector is three times higher! The threat is real: Abu Mazen's calls and American money are getting the Arab vote out. Go and vote"

So he was using both Arabs voting AND "American money" as boogeymen. How does that change anything?

It says a lot, Doc. If American money is involved, via a campaign that uses the slogan "anyone but Bibi" you can safely say that would synergize with Arab sentiment in Israel. Its not hard to see.

The fact that Bibi is impling that "Arab sentiment" is a bad thing is kinda the whole point.

These are Israeli citizens we're talking about.

 

[TemplarKormac]

It's really not the smoking gun that FOX News thinks it is.

Oh? So just being Fox discredits their news or their contentions? Wow, I never expected that from you.

The fact that Bibi is impling that "Arab sentiment" is a bad thing is kinda the whole point.

You misunderstood my statement, Doc. And from what I read of the statement, he said nothing about "Arab sentiment."

Having a American NGO there stumping for the opposition would mean to me they were playing to drum up the Arab vote. The "Arab sentiment" was that sentiment possessed by the Arab voters towards Netanyahu, not that of which Netanyahu supposedly had towards the Arab voters. All the NGO needed to do was play on Arab sentiments regarding his policies and/or a two state solution.