Israel general discussion

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

While I agree that under international law that Israel can't unilaterally change international borders, I can't imagine a single reason why UNESCO should pass such a resolution.  It's not their job to point that out and it's counterproductive.

[Silent Hunter]

Meanwhile, Hamas tries to have its cake and eat it.

[SATW]

Meanwhile, Hamas tries to have its cake and eat it.

Hamas is clearly still reeling from the 2014 war and wants to avoid a conflict w/ Israel for the time being. Even with that in mind, its a bit confusing, to me at least, on what Hamas is trying to do.

Are they trying to get more PR-savvy by pretending to moderate? hard to tell. They are talking out of both sides of their mouths.

[Hnv1]

Meanwhile, Hamas tries to have its cake and eat it.

Hamas is clearly still reeling from the 2014 war and wants to avoid a conflict w/ Israel for the time being. Even with that in mind, its a bit confusing, to me at least, on what Hamas is trying to do.

Are they trying to get more PR-savvy by pretending to moderate? hard to tell. They are talking out of both sides of their mouths.

They don't give a toss about Israel in that manifesto, it's for interior Palestinian reasons and maybe some distance hope of mild legitimization in Europe to boost the financial situation in Gaza.

[Mike88]

Why did the government closed channel 1?

[Hnv1]

Why did the government closed channel 1?

It was garbage for decades, hardly anyone watched it and it was synonymous with public inefficiency (also very prone to political influence).

[DavidB.]

Willing to take a bet that Israel is not actually withdrawing from Eurovision.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Willing to take a bet that Israel is not actually withdrawing from Eurovision.

It's not, the European media just misunderstood. Hopefully the new broadcasting corporation will be able to get us back in.

[DavidB.]

Willing to take a bet that Israel is not actually withdrawing from Eurovision.

It's not, the European media just misunderstood. Hopefully the new broadcasting corporation will be able to get us back in.

They didn't misunderstand, Ofer Nachshon literally said that because he wanted to take a political jab at the government for shutting down the IBA.

[Hnv1]

Lets not split hairs over it, this a tournament where the Italian contender performed with a Gorilla.

Now politics:
Shelly gained support from most of National Electric Company workers which is interesting...the race became tighter now.
The Labour race is predictably very noisy. Peretz-backed FB pages spread all sorts of negative stories on Gabbay (who he sees as his rival). Margalit's re-branding as the leftist candidate gave him some boost but I'm not sure it could see him through to the second round. Levin is basically the leftier version of Bar-Lev and both seem rather thick talking about anything other than security. Herzog is running a bizarre desperate campaign sponsoring opening primaries for the entire centre-left bloc.

Serious concern in the right regarding Trump's imminent visit, especially of the possibility he will demand Bibi to present his 2-states border proposition. Instead of backing Livni to be a UN USG and getting rid of her, she's now working in full cooperation with Trump's envoy.

[ApatheticAustrian]

Why did the government closed channel 1?

It was garbage for decades, hardly anyone watched it and it was synonymous with public inefficiency (also very prone to political influence).

the government closed a state-run channel cause it was prone to political influence?

[Hnv1]

Why did the government closed channel 1?

It was garbage for decades, hardly anyone watched it and it was synonymous with public inefficiency (also very prone to political influence).

the government closed a state-run channel cause it was prone to political influence?

Well the main reason was because it was garbage, there was an independent public broadcaster that was supposed to open instead but some political fiasco thwarted that plan

[Famous Mortimer]

Any official word on what will happen with Hatnuah? Have their MPs just joined Labor yet?

[Hnv1]

Any official word on what will happen with Hatnuah? Have their MPs just joined Labor yet?

Unclear, really depends on the primary results, but I could see most joining Labour

[Hnv1]

With 30% of the votes counted (high turnout of 45%) Nissenkorn leads Yechimovic 59-41, full results tomorrow but I expect the margin to narrow not turn. So Shelly stays in the Knesset and will probably back Gabay for leadership.

* as suspected, countless claims of election fraud. Doesn't really matter
** I don't like Yechimovich but she ran Nissenkorn hard, impressive all in all when you consider she ran against a strong establishment and pretty much all the parties there including her own (part for shas)

[America Needs R'hllor]

With 30% of the votes counted (high turnout of 45%) Nissenkorn leads Yechimovic 59-41, full results tomorrow but I expect the margin to narrow not turn. So Shelly stays in the Knesset and will probably back Gabay for leadership.

* as suspected, countless claims of election fraud. Doesn't really matter
** I don't like Yechimovich but she ran Nissenkorn hard, impressive all in all when you consider she ran against a strong establishment and pretty much all the parties there including her own (part for shas)

I don't agree with her on everything, but I respect her. I really think that she was a much better candidate for the job than Nissenkorn, who is basically a corrupt member of the establishment that made the Worker's Organization so terrible.

[Santander]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4967031,00.html

Czech parliament recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and calls for ending payments to UNESCO for its anti-Israel actions.

[Famous Mortimer]

President Zeman is quite pro-Israel. I remember when he was Prime Minister in the 90s he suggested nuking the West Bank.

As far as I know, the parliamentary majority isn't favorable to him. I wonder what the party breakdown of that vote was.

[America Needs R'hllor]

President Zeman is quite pro-Israel. I remember when he was Prime Minister in the 90s he suggested nuking the West Bank.

As far as I know, the parliamentary majority isn't favorable to him. I wonder what the party breakdown of that vote was.

Yeah, leaving the whole of Israel in a radioactive cloud is a famously pro-Israeli position

[ApatheticAustrian]

zeman is mostly a corrupt, soft-authoritarian drunkard but i am kind of impressed he is pro-israel.

isn't such a common stand between local "right-wingers".

[Famous Mortimer]

zeman is mostly a corrupt, soft-authoritarian drunkard but i am kind of impressed he is pro-israel.

isn't such a common stand between local "right-wingers".

Well culturally at least, he's a man of the left. He mostly just hates Muslims.

[ApatheticAustrian]

Well culturally at least, he's a man of the left. He mostly just hates Muslims.

i know, but i haven't seen a lot of difference between him and his "conservative" predecessor.

[DavidB.]

Partisan breakdown of the Czech vote here. All parties voted for except for the Social Democrats (most abstained, 8 yea, 4 nay) and Communists (most opposed it). Czechia is pretty pro-Israel.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Netanyahu chose Ayoob Kara as Minister of Communications. He was previously a Minister Without Portfolio, and the first Druze Minister in Israeli history.

[ApatheticAustrian]

Partisan breakdown of the Czech vote here. All parties voted for except for the Social Democrats (most abstained, 8 yea, 4 nay) and Communists (most opposed it). Czechia is pretty pro-Israel.

do you know anything about this?

seems to be more the exception than the rule in the region.