Page 3 - Issue 9

Entering the Israeli Election Season

Following Ehud Olmert’s resignation as head of the Kadima party (due to corruption scandals), internal
Kadima primaries were held last September. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was elected as head of
Kadima, and was given 28 days to form a coalition in the Knesset; if she had succeeded in forming a
coalition, she would have become the Prime Minister. However, her unwillingness to bend to the
demands of the ultra-religious parties (particularly Shas, with its 12 seats) resulted in her inability to
create a coalition, and she called for early elections. The elections will be held on February 10, 2009.
As a result of this turn of events, Israel is now in the midst of a very interesting time. Ehud Olmert, now a
lame duck prime minister, has been continuing important negotiations with Palestinian Prime Minister
Abbas, and has made statements previously unheard of by the Israeli right, such as “The notion of a
Greater Israel no longer exists, and anyone who still believes in it is deluding themselves.” In addition,
as the economic crisis has reached Israel, Ehud Olmert has stepped in, in opposition to the Finance
Ministry (headed by Ronnie Bar-On), and in collaboration with Histatrut chair Ofer Eini, to protect a
greater number of people on the verge of retirement from losing large percentages of their pensions.
Current polls are showing that the Likud party, led by Bibi Netanyahu, is likely to win the greatest
number of seats, thereby making Bibi the prime minister again. Polls show Kadima coming in as close
second; its recent activities according to positive values make actions by this party, largely comprising
former Likudniks, an interesting shift to watch unfold. The Labor party, which has been gradually
declining since 1977, is now in severe crisis – polls are showing single-digit seat numbers (only 15 years
ago the number of seats was in the forties). We are now at a critical stage, where Labor will either be
regenerated or completely destroyed. In preparation for the Labor primary on Dec 4, people in the tnuot
bogrim in Israel were involved in promoting the Labor candidates with the best social welfare agendas.
This effort was met with great success (see list below) – the list is now populated with the Labor MKs
having the best history of putting welfare and education at the forefront of their agendas. The question is
now whether this will be enough to salvage the party that did the most to establish Israel as a moral,
socially responsible country, or if, like the Kibbutz Movement and Histadrut, the Labor Party will be
reduced to another anachronism of a bygone Zionist movement.
Sarah Michaels Levy

Labor's list for the 18th Knesset, following Labor primary elections
on Thursday, Dec 4 2008:

(http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/1043960.html)

1. Ehud Barak
2. Isaac Herzog - 24,788 votes
3. Ophir Pines-Paz - 24,336 votes
4. Avishai Braverman - 22,801 votes
5. Shelley Yachimovich - 19,650 votes
6. Matan Vilnai - 18,494 votes
7. Eitan Cabel - slot guaranteed by virtue of his title as party
secretary
8. Benjamin Ben-Eliezer - 17,912 votes Mauri Cohen exercising his right to vote in
9. Yuli Tamir - 15,869 votes Israel’s recent municipal elections
10. Amir Peretz - 16,881 votes
11. Daniel Ben-Simon - 15,338 votes