Israel 2009

[Thomas216]

Just something to note for the unwary, Gil apparently underpolls ridiculously; they were below the threshold in most of the polls prior to 2006 and won 7 seats.

Gil was underpolled in 2006 but chances are that the party will vanish in 2009, it's a fringe party that had no influence since 2006 though it might (unlikely) get up to 5 seats.
The Greens is unlikely to get above the threshold and Social-Justice also unlikely (though more likely then the Greens).

The Arab parties will get about 9-11 seats and will stay in the opposition just like they did in very Knesset I believe since they were founded, the competition then will be between Livny and Bibi, or the Likud and Kadima.
I believe Bibi will take it and I'll probably vote for him (or maybe for the National Union) though I am proud of having a woman as a major candidate, it's just that Livny is unqualified and too to the far-left as far as I'm concerned.

[Thomas216]

The 2009 Knesset election's list of the Labour party:
1. Ehud Barak (b. 1942, former PM and current leader of the party, didn't participate in the primaries as the chairman of the party)
2. Isaac Herzog (b. 1960, current minister of Welfare and Social Services, son of former president of Israel and Labour MK Chaim Herzog)
3. Ofir Pines (b. 1961, former minister of internal affairs and a powerful figure in the party, I'd say one of the frontrunners in future Labour chairman elections).
4. Avishay Braverman (b. 1948, a man of the academy, former president of a university and the head of a powerful Knesset committee, resembling the committees of appropriations and of the budget in US congress combined)
5. Shelly Yachimovich (b. 1960, former journalist and a future prospect of the party)
6. Matan Vilnai (b. 1944, former general and Deputy Chief of Staff in the IDF, current deputy defence minister)
7. Eitan Cabel (b. 1959, didn’t participate in the primaries, slot reserved to the Labour general secretary)
8. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (b. 1936, minister of National Infrastructure, former Labour chairman and defence minister)
9. Yuli Tamir (b. 1954, minister of education, 9th slot reserved to women, otherwise would have been 10th)
10. Amir Peretz (b. 1952, former Labour chairman and defence minister during the last war)
11. Daniel Ben-Simon (b. 1953, a new-comer, former journalist)
12. Shalon Simhon (b. 1956, minister of Agriculture, the slot reserved to the Moshavim, a rural sector in Israel)
13. Orit Noked (b. 1952, the slot reserved to the Kibbutzim, traditionaly a pro-Labour sector)
14. Einat Vilf (b. 1970)

Most polls today shows the ILP with 7-8 seats though I won’t be surprised if it get up to 12 seats.
All in all can't say I'm surprised with the primaries results.

[Thomas216]

Rubi Rivlin (69, Likud) was confirmed today as the new speaker of the Knesset.
This will be his second tenure as the speaker after he served as the 14th speaker during the 16th Knesset (2003-2006).

I love this guy, he’s funny, he has a sense of humor and he's what we call a true "Likudnik", he believes in the Likud platform and follows it.
Though a hardliner Rivlin is well respected by the public all across the board as a decent and humble man.

Here's him singing at Teddy Kollek's 76th birthday, Kollek's the legendary mayor of Jerusalem, Rivlin was a member of the city council and with him singing Uzi Baram, a former Labour MK.
Rivlin's on the left: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bypP2Go8qVU

I'd like to see Bunning and Schumer sing together, bet Schumer has some nice moves