Israeli General Election (2019) II: Electric Boogaloo (17.9.2019)

[America Needs R'hllor]

This is why Israel should switch to FPTP. I actually think in FPTP Bibi may have a chance to lose cause he cant just rely on winning over base voters

Please stop lol, this idea has been completely shut down by anyone with a remote understanding of Israeli politics many times in the past already

Because fundamentally voters are right. It is up to politicians to build a coalition.

Can't say I agree with this tbh. I don't think voters who elected Trump are right, and I definitely don't think voters who are voting for a theocratic coalition promising to make the Knesset a criminal protection site are right. It's up to each person to decide.

[America Needs R'hllor]

The beautiful thing is that a Moldovan Putinist who relies on racist political themes actually ended up saving us from Bibi anyway.

Your emphasis on Lieberman's country of birth is also a bit... racist? And I dislike his politics probably as much as you do.

Racism against post-Soviet Jews is pretty rampant, though in this case it's not really serious. The most racist party against us by far is Shas.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Shmulie Itzhik is running for Labor leader, which is fantastic. I wonder if Stav Shaffir or, more likely, Amir Peretz challenge him.

Where did you hear that?
Also, Shafir is the best we could do imo.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Stav Shaffir as Labor leader would definitely necessitate a Labor-Meretz joint list because they'd basically have the same exact platform and there'd be no reason for them to run separately.

She's probably also cause a fair amount of Labor people to leave the party (in the past, they might have launched a new party but now they'll probably just defect to Likud or Blue and White).

Shaffir would definitely energize the base but I don't think she has much potential to take off with the general public, significantly increase the number of seats from what Labor and Meretz already have. I know all the left-wing Israelis here will shout that I'm wrong but she's obviously a crypto-One Stater. I don't say that as a value judgement, merely as an observation. Given that, her appeal is limited

You don't really know anything about Labour people. In any case, as someone who actually has contact with the general public, Shmuli would be likelier to turn people off because of his socialist reputation.

And there is literally no reason to call her "a crypto-One stater". No one in Labour, and no one relevant in Meretz, even comes close to these views. You probably heard something about her once and now you obviously know all about her hidden opinions, but as someone who actually knows her, this is laughable. That is not to say that a union with Meretz won't be necessary.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Stav Shaffir as Labor leader would definitely necessitate a Labor-Meretz joint list because they'd basically have the same exact platform and there'd be no reason for them to run separately.

She's probably also cause a fair amount of Labor people to leave the party (in the past, they might have launched a new party but now they'll probably just defect to Likud or Blue and White).

Shaffir would definitely energize the base but I don't think she has much potential to take off with the general public, significantly increase the number of seats from what Labor and Meretz already have. I know all the left-wing Israelis here will shout that I'm wrong but she's obviously a crypto-One Stater. I don't say that as a value judgement, merely as an observation. Given that, her appeal is limited

You don't really know anything about Labour people. In any case, as someone who actually has contact with the general public, Shmuli would be likelier to turn people off because of his socialist reputation.

And there is literally no reason to call her "a crypto-One stater". No one in Labour, and no one relevant in Meretz, even comes close to these views. You probably heard something about her once and now you obviously know all about her hidden opinions, but as someone who actually knows her, this is laughable. That is not to say that a union with Meretz won't be necessary.

Might it be that you yourself are biased? That you are so radical, you dismiss even other radicals as insufficiently radical? I see such behavior all the time on the American left, people who attack Chapo Trap House and Jacobin magazine as "Strasserites" and "Nazbols", many such cases.

Or... maybe you just don't know better.

[America Needs R'hllor]

I mostly agree with Hnv and Walmart, but another point- the Haredim might be principally interested in protecting their sector's interests, but those interests touch heavily on the rest of the public. It's not just the draft or education- their demands on shutting down the entire country in Saturdays, including completely secular areas, is incredibly harmful to simple people (I definitely feel it strongly). They won't stand for any gay rights or civil marriages, and they'd segregate any event or location where a Haredi man's legs might someday touch. They're also very dangerous. Their form of theocracy might not be a slowly creeping one like that of the national religious parties, but they want anything public- services and streets- to live by theocratic laws.

[America Needs R'hllor]

At least Ehud Barak has demonstrated an relatively healthy understanding of the concept of "opposition." Compared to Buji Herzog and Avi Gabbay, Barak comes across as a passionate and eminently competent genius. That obviously reflects more on the ideological poverty of the Labor Party than on Barak, but he's at least a step in the right direction. The left in Israel is so shell-shocked they seem no longer able to grasp, let alone articulate, the values of pluralism, democracy, equality, etc. So they keep pushing for cooperation with the egregious offenders of those values and preen an absurd "centrism." Halas. If Barak can at least stop that drift I'll be grateful.

In what way? Barak was by far the worst Labour leader in that respect. He didn't just join Netanyahu's government, he did it after explicitly promising not to, and ended up leaving the party just so that he could remain in it.

Yep. He has literally no appeal- he's a rich elitist who acted only for his own interests as a politician. There's no reason he should be given any leadership, he should just stay out. If Labour wants a chance at an ideological revival, it lies, imo, in people like Shaffir.

[America Needs R'hllor]

At least Ehud Barak has demonstrated an relatively healthy understanding of the concept of "opposition." Compared to Buji Herzog and Avi Gabbay, Barak comes across as a passionate and eminently competent genius. That obviously reflects more on the ideological poverty of the Labor Party than on Barak, but he's at least a step in the right direction. The left in Israel is so shell-shocked they seem no longer able to grasp, let alone articulate, the values of pluralism, democracy, equality, etc. So they keep pushing for cooperation with the egregious offenders of those values and preen an absurd "centrism." Halas. If Barak can at least stop that drift I'll be grateful.

In what way? Barak was by far the worst Labour leader in that respect. He didn't just join Netanyahu's government, he did it after explicitly promising not to, and ended up leaving the party just so that he could remain in it.

Yep. He has literally no appeal- he's a rich elitist who acted only for his own interests as a politician. There's no reason he should be given any leadership, he should just stay out. If Labour wants a chance at an ideological revival, it lies, imo, in people like Shaffir.

Shaffir would be my pick, too. But is there anything, when considering the last, say, five, Labor leaders that makes you think that Labor will choose her and not some excruciatingly establishment figure? Labor can be counted on to almost reflexively do the wrong thing politically.

I mean, last time, voters chose Gabbay. For better or worse, he wasn't the establishment figure, that was Peretz. Sure, I wouldn't bet on Shaffir, but if I had to guess, the winner in an open election (rather than one in the party convention) will be Shmuli or some former General.

[America Needs R'hllor]

At least Ehud Barak has demonstrated an relatively healthy understanding of the concept of "opposition." Compared to Buji Herzog and Avi Gabbay, Barak comes across as a passionate and eminently competent genius. That obviously reflects more on the ideological poverty of the Labor Party than on Barak, but he's at least a step in the right direction. The left in Israel is so shell-shocked they seem no longer able to grasp, let alone articulate, the values of pluralism, democracy, equality, etc. So they keep pushing for cooperation with the egregious offenders of those values and preen an absurd "centrism." Halas. If Barak can at least stop that drift I'll be grateful.

In what way? Barak was by far the worst Labour leader in that respect. He didn't just join Netanyahu's government, he did it after explicitly promising not to, and ended up leaving the party just so that he could remain in it.

Yep. He has literally no appeal- he's a rich elitist who acted only for his own interests as a politician. There's no reason he should be given any leadership, he should just stay out. If Labour wants a chance at an ideological revival, it lies, imo, in people like Shaffir.

Shaffir would be my pick, too. But is there anything, when considering the last, say, five, Labor leaders that makes you think that Labor will choose her and not some excruciatingly establishment figure? Labor can be counted on to almost reflexively do the wrong thing politically.

I mean, last time, voters chose Gabbay. For better or worse, he wasn't the establishment figure, that was Peretz. Sure, I wouldn't bet on Shaffir, but if I had to guess, the winner in an open election (rather than one in the party convention) will be Shmuli or some former General.

Avi Gabbay was proof to me that the Labor Party has ceased to function in Israeli politics in any meaningful way.  He is literally a rich, corporate right winger who was a minister in the last Bibi government who didn't even pretend to see the light. He just saw an opening in Labor for more power and influence and understandably took that opportunity. Labor voters chose him anyway simply because he was new and not Ashkenazi. Frankly, a party that morbid should feel very lucky to have six mandates because they very likely deserve zero. I get the Barak-hatred on the left. But Labor people have no right to clutch pearls when Avi Gabbay and Amir Peretz are the best they can come up with.

In the first round I voted for Erel Margalit, who I still believe was the best choice. In the second, I confess, I chose Gabbay. Peretz was an old face that smelled of the old Labour corruption, and I decided to take the chance. Sure, in hindsight it was easy to see he'd fail, but I can't fault Labour voters for wanting something new. That said, you're right- the party is in a very sorry state and the infighting people like Gabbay, Peretz and Yachimovich have been engaging in is stupid.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Aren't Meretz more of a party that advocates the strengthening and emancipation of Arabs and Palestinian identity within an Israeli (thus somewhat Jewish, although obviously secular) state context? Whereas the two others actively question the existence or necessity of a Jewish state and would favour one state solution? Or have policies changed?

sorry if this is phrased stupidly.

Meretz is a Zionist party and the Arab parties are not. That may seem like a massive gap, but in reality the difference in policy goals of each is negligible because who knows what it even means to be Zionist anymore.

Well if Zionism = Jewish self-determination then I think two state solution is the more obvious choice no? Whereas the one state solution just means a state where Jews can live and feel secure with their identity in but not have seperate political institutions as a Jewish demos (inevitably you probably trend towards a Lebanon-style compromise...but then one could argue the current Israeli state is also heavily fractionised).

Those on the right who are pushing for a rapid expansion of the settlement enterprise in the West Bank in a way that makes a one state inevitable are doing so under the guise of Zionism ("Jews have a natural right of settlement in their historic homeland"). That's now a mainstream position on the to right and those who suggest evacuating settlements to create two states are widely considered anti-Zionistic.

The truth is that the right, left, and Arab public in Israel already realizes that there is going to be one state, even though nobody likes to talk about that openly and publicly because it's so volatile. That one state will either be Jewish or it will be democratic. The debate in Israel today is ostensibly over what that state will look like. When it comes to that question there is no daylight between Meretz and Hadash-Taal.

It's interesting, actually- there's an argument to be made that Labour and Meretz are the only parties currently still focusing on two states. If Meretz does that, Labour will become the only one.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Interesting read:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ahead-of-jerusalem-pride-police-say-theyre-recruiting-transgender-officers/?fbclid=IwAR26sxApM63EVhLlBtqDXsUuYb6R6JZQho_17vXw2cIMo7ihgTEsc45qWws

Meanwhile, in a clear show of support for the LGBT community, police revealed that in recent months the force has recruited several transgender trainees and that one of them has already completed her course and is working her beat, Channel 12 reported.

This is important considering the police's poor treatment of violence against transgenders has been an important issue the LGBTQ community in Israel has been focusing on in recent years.

On Wednesday, police arrested a right-wing activist, Moshiko Ben Zikri, who they said disguised himself as a member of the LGBT community for two consecutive years to enter the parade, climb on the podium and protest against the event.

Ben Zikri’s lawyer, the far-right activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, said police were abusing his right to free speech and protest.

“It’s also permissible to protest against the marchers of the Pride Parade, and if they arrest someone as a preventative move — an illegal arrest — only because he planned to shout at those marchers, then something is wrong here, something is not legal. I ask myself, ‘Where are the knights of democracy and freedom of expression?'” Ben Gvir said.

Bentzi Gopstein, leader of the far-right group Lehava, said his group had received a police permit to protest near the march. Gopstein said they planned to use loudspeakers to disrupt those “bringing disaster to Israel.”

In a statement, Gopstein charged, “The purpose of the march is to dissolve the values ​​of the Jewish family and to turn Jerusalem and all of Israel into Sodom.”

He called the march “LGBT terrorism.”

Lehava opposes intermarriage and assimilation along with LGBT rights and tries to stifle any public activity by non-Jews in Israel. Lawmakers across the political spectrum have tried to designate it as a terrorist group.

Another point, though extremely unsurprising- the Kahanists are the forces of evil on literally any issue. They're pure evil and anyone supporting them should be ashamed of himself.

On a more positive note- I'm going to the Pride Parade today, hopefully it's going to be another show of power that will help spread the light against all the homophobes!

[America Needs R'hllor]

MK Stav Shaffir just announced she's running for Labour Party leader.

The party is a disaster right now- I've seen this in how poorly organized they were yesterday in the Jerusalem Pride Parade, with no one important even coming to march with us. If anyone can revive it, I think it's her.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Aren't Meretz more of a party that advocates the strengthening and emancipation of Arabs and Palestinian identity within an Israeli (thus somewhat Jewish, although obviously secular) state context? Whereas the two others actively question the existence or necessity of a Jewish state and would favour one state solution? Or have policies changed?

sorry if this is phrased stupidly.

Meretz is a Zionist party and the Arab parties are not. That may seem like a massive gap, but in reality the difference in policy goals of each is negligible because who knows what it even means to be Zionist anymore.

Well if Zionism = Jewish self-determination then I think two state solution is the more obvious choice no? Whereas the one state solution just means a state where Jews can live and feel secure with their identity in but not have seperate political institutions as a Jewish demos (inevitably you probably trend towards a Lebanon-style compromise...but then one could argue the current Israeli state is also heavily fractionised).

Those on the right who are pushing for a rapid expansion of the settlement enterprise in the West Bank in a way that makes a one state inevitable are doing so under the guise of Zionism ("Jews have a natural right of settlement in their historic homeland"). That's now a mainstream position on the to right and those who suggest evacuating settlements to create two states are widely considered anti-Zionistic.

The truth is that the right, left, and Arab public in Israel already realizes that there is going to be one state, even though nobody likes to talk about that openly and publicly because it's so volatile. That one state will either be Jewish or it will be democratic. The debate in Israel today is ostensibly over what that state will look like. When it comes to that question there is no daylight between Meretz and Hadash-Taal.

I wonder why Parrot guy didn't jump out to scream "No! No! No! You are stupid! No one in Israel thinks there is going to be one state ever! It's impossible! No one thinks this! I personally know every Israeli leftists and they are all super Zionists and would rather die than consider one state!"

Lmao

[America Needs R'hllor]

Former MK Nitzan Horowitz will run for Meretz leadership. He'll be the front for the Gilon\socialist camp and we'll see a merger with Labour within a month. I expect him to win with ease, so that's another party off the table

Interestingly though, his campaign seemed focused soley on religion and state issues. No mention of anything economic or the word socialism. I had to be told by a Meretz friend that he's a Gilon person. Also, what's the difference between him and Zandberg when it comes to a merger with Labour? She seems to support it, at least.

As for Labour- Tal Russo announced that he's leaving political life and won't run for leadership. Good riddance, he contributed nothing. Currently, Stav Shaffir is the only announced candidate, while Peretz is likely to announce officially too. I'm not sure about other contenders like Shmuli. Yair Golan, another former General who's famous for making comments comparing the extremism in Israel to the leadup in Nazi Germany is also considering. But if it's Shaffir vs Peretz, she'll almost definitely win.

[America Needs R'hllor]

MK Amir Peretz is showing once gain that he's representing the stink of old Labour corruption: after failing to take the voting for leader out of the voters' hands and to delegates alone, he's now trying to advance his proposal in the party convention of switching from electronic voting to paper ballots. That would effectively bar students (like me) and other young people who don't live in the place where they're registered to vote from voting in the place they live, decreasing their turnout and making the old people Peretz is strong with more powerful. It's an outrage and if Peretz wins the leadership I'll strongly consider voting Meretz or Blue&White.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Several Israeli politics updates:

* In Meretz, former MK Mosi Raz and MK Isawi Farij have announced a joint run for leadership. They'd have to ammend the party's rules for this to be allowed. In any case, from what I've seen (Hnv can correct me), they're staunchly in the green camp, so right now it looks like Zandberg vs Horovits vs Raz\Farij. The list will be redone too- I guess if Zandberg loses the leadership, she'd run for the list because she's still too young to retire.
* MK Avi Gabbay officially announced that he'll retire from politics and not run on Labour's party list. That means the current list is 1. Leader 2. Shmuli 3. Shaffir 4. Yachmovich 5. Peretz 6. Michaeli. If Shmuli\Shaffir\Peretz are elected leader (currently they're the only ones running- Yachimovich won't run) they'll be placed first and most everyong else moves up one spot.
* On the right, Zehut leader Feiglin affirmed his party won't run together with the URWP because their patronizing attituge towards secular Jews would scare off his voters. A broken clock and all. He did say a merger with a Shaked\Bennet lead New Right is in the cards, so New Right-Zehut and URWP as the two parties running from Likud's right (other than Yisrael Beiteinu). It's still unknown what Shaked will do, but with Smotrich saying she shouldn't lead a united right list and with the Netanyahus barring her from Likud, looks like New Right-Zehut is her best option. She did confirm she'll run somewhere.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Several Israeli politics updates:

* In Meretz, former MK Mosi Raz and MK Isawi Farij have announced a joint run for leadership. They'd have to ammend the party's rules for this to be allowed. In any case, from what I've seen (Hnv can correct me), they're staunchly in the green camp, so right now it looks like Zandberg vs Horovits vs Raz\Farij. The list will be redone too- I guess if Zandberg loses the leadership, she'd run for the list because she's still too young to retire.
* MK Avi Gabbay officially announced that he'll retire from politics and not run on Labour's party list. That means the current list is 1. Leader 2. Shmuli 3. Shaffir 4. Yachmovich 5. Peretz 6. Michaeli. If Shmuli\Shaffir\Peretz are elected leader (currently they're the only ones running- Yachimovich won't run) they'll be placed first and most everyong else moves up one spot.
* On the right, Zehut leader Feiglin affirmed his party won't run together with the URWP because their patronizing attituge towards secular Jews would scare off his voters. A broken clock and all. He did say a merger with a Shaked\Bennet lead New Right is in the cards, so New Right-Zehut and URWP as the two parties running from Likud's right (other than Yisrael Beiteinu). It's still unknown what Shaked will do, but with Smotrich saying she shouldn't lead a united right list and with the Netanyahus barring her from Likud, looks like New Right-Zehut is her best option. She did confirm she'll run somewhere.

- The convention is gathering on Sunday but they need 60% to amend the party constitution which isn't going to happen (though I'm not sure they have to legally but there's no time for court battles). leadership primaries by the 1K strong convention (probably) will happen on June 27th (I'll be in Moscow) and primaries for the list in mid July.
Zandberg is heading for a colossal defeat it seems, I'll wait and see if she'll try running for the list as well.

- Labour is in shambles, they are going to get all the membership to vote on whether to have a primaries by the membership or by the convention. I think Shmoli is going to win (Shaffir and Peretz are too hated by too many groups).

What do you mean? I believe the convention will choose between a normal primary and a convention election?

Anyway, Shmuli is definitely favoured, but I feel like it depends on who advances to the runoff against Peretz. It seems to me that he has a solid base while Shaffir and Shmuli fight for the same type of voters. In my view she's much more charismatic than Shmuli but who knows, really.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Liberman announced that he is planning to force a secular national unity government between Likud and Blue and White. Given the virtually airtight opposition in Blue and White to sitting in any government led by Netanyahu (and why would they when he'll be in jail in a year?), one has to assume that the real gambit is unseating Bibi while establishing a secular-centrist government in which Liberman would be a prominent feature.

Oddly, this is what I foresaw happening six months ago. I just didn't expect it to take 10 months and two elections to get there. Once again Yvette hits the electorate right in its sweet spot, something Netanyahu used to be brilliant at doing.

He's probably seeing Netanyahu gaining his base of Russian hawks whose purpose in life is to hate Arabs, so he's now going for the secular heroes with the short memory who'd support anyone that makes anti-Haredi noises. That is, KL and (to a lesser extent) Labour voters. Electorally, it'll probably help the right-wing bloc, but if he does make do on this promise it'd be a poisoned pill for them.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Labour updates:
* Former Mossad head Dani Yatom sent a SMS to voters that he's planning on running. I doubt he has a silver of a chance.
* Amir Peretz continues flip flopping on the issue of a primary, and is now pivoting to support an open primary for leader AND list, allegedly as part of an alliance with former MK Eitan Cabel.
* Ehud Barak is looking like this election's wildcard. According to Channel 2, he's trying to form a new party with figures like former IDF Chief Gadi Isenkot, Tzipi Livni, former liberal Likud Minister Dan Meridor and retired general Yair Golan. He's hoping to use this party to unite the entire center-left. He's also negotiating with Amir Peretz and Itzik Shmuli to cooperate with Labour. Could this mean Shaffir is down in the internal polls and these two are the frontrunners? Maybe, I hope not.

In Meretz: MK Ilan Gilon officially endorsed former MK Nitsan Horovits, making it clear that he's part of that camp.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Labour updates:
* Former Mossad head Dani Yatom sent a SMS to voters that he's planning on running. I doubt he has a silver of a chance.
* Amir Peretz continues flip flopping on the issue of a primary, and is now pivoting to support an open primary for leader AND list, allegedly as part of an alliance with former MK Eitan Cabel.
* Ehud Barak is looking like this election's wildcard. According to Channel 2, he's trying to form a new party with figures like former IDF Chief Gadi Isenkot, Tzipi Livni, former liberal Likud Minister Dan Meridor and retired general Yair Golan. He's hoping to use this party to unite the entire center-left. He's also negotiating with Amir Peretz and Itzik Shmuli to cooperate with Labour. Could this mean Shaffir is down in the internal polls and these two are the frontrunners? Maybe, I hope not.

In Meretz: MK Ilan Gilon officially endorsed former MK Nitsan Horovits, making it clear that he's part of that camp.

Israel needs another center left party as much as a person needs a stroke or heart attack.

This is a terrible, terrible idea.

Other than a decrepit and moribund Labor, Israel doesn't actually have a center-left party.

Well, a Barak-lead party with Meridor and some generals won't be center-left either.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Lol, Zandberg's situation in Meretz is really sad. Of the party's top candidates, the bolded support Horovits, the ones in italics support Farij\Raz and only she supports herself:

1. Zandberg
2. Gilon
3. Rozin
4. Farij
5. Salalha
6. Baruch-Ron
7. Raz

Avi Buskila, the number 8, also seems to be supportive of Farij\Raz, or at least a joint Arab-Jewish leadership.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Lol, Zandberg's situation in Meretz is really sad. Of the party's top candidates, the bloded support Horovits, the ones in italics support Farij\Raz and only she supports herself:

1. Zandberg
2. Gilon
3. Rozin
4. Farij
5. Salalha
6. Baruch-Ron
7. Raz

Avi Buskila, the number 8, also seems to be supportive of Farij\Raz, or at least a joint Arab-Jewish leadership.

Freij and Raz dropped out and endorsed Zandberg a few days ago...

They did? Wow, missed that. Looks like she has at least some support then: Freij, Raz and Gaby Leski (number 9).

[America Needs R'hllor]

Lol, Zandberg's situation in Meretz is really sad. Of the party's top candidates, the bolded support Horovits, the ones in italics support Farij\Raz and only she supports herself:

1. Zandberg
2. Gilon
3. Rozin
4. Farij
5. Salalha
6. Baruch-Ron
7. Raz

Avi Buskila, the number 8, also seems to be supportive of Farij\Raz, or at least a joint Arab-Jewish leadership.

Salalha and Baruch-Ron have no power base by themselves and are basically puppets of the Gilon wing

So what happened to the right wing of Meretz? The green liberalism wing of Zehava Gal-On?

Zandenberg from my knowledge is a new-left socialist while Gillon is a more of an old school socialist maybe more left on economics, left but less left on on security, the war and relationship with arabs.

The Galon wing wasn’t the right of the party, that’s the Gilon wing. The Galon wing is split, Rozin is supporting Horowitz, Raz/Freg/Lasky are with Zandberg.

Wait hold on, when parrot guy did his timeline thing/when Gillon challanged Galon it seemed like Gillon was the more left-wing candidate, or is that just on economics which does not really affect the left-right wings within Meretz..

Yeah it's economic. The Gilon wing is more socialist, but I'd say they also have a more strongly zionist ethos.

[America Needs R'hllor]

In an interview, Stav Shaffir said that under her, the party will become truly democratic and that she'll shift the debate to real issues- breaking the religion-state status quo and stopping the "useless debate" about conscripting Haredim to the army, instead talking about bringing them into the job market. She added that no one actually has interest in conscripting them and that we'll need to reach a new agreement of "live and let live".

She continues to show that she's the only candidate running on a real change platform- Peretz is literally running on bringing the party back to the 2000s and freezing it, appealing to voters' survival instinct, while Shmuli is saying there needs to be "a new generation" but is just running on the status quo. She's the only one willing to stand against the corrupt and powerful both without and within (introducing a bill that'd make labour unions more transperant and democratic, she was the only one in the party to support it). She's also the only one running on a message of shifting the debate and reforming the party. The others want the status quo- and that only means death. Gabbay was an outsider, but he didn't really change anything about the party, he was just more blatant about trying to appeal to the right. I truly believe she's the only hope for the party, and even she may fail, but it's better than not changing anything.

.... So of course, she's third in basically all the polls, and will almost certainly lose. She says the race is tight and is making an effort to recruit as many new voters to the party as possible in these last hours before the deadline, but I'm sure she realizes this too. If Shmuli\Peretz win, I think she'll need to convince me to vote Labour again, because the Israeli left needs change and they just won't provide it.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Former PM Barak officially announced his new party. Also joining: prominent anti-Bibi businessman Kobi Richter, feminist activist and Orly Levy's number 3 Yifat Biton and former Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Yair Golan.

Update: Biton just promised that the party will have full gender equality.