Nobody ever could say our electoral process is simple. Not only do we have the whole coalition nightmare but we also have a distribution of “excess votes.”
We have an electoral system based on nation-wide proportional representation so that the number of seats that each party receives in the Knesset is proportional to the number of votes it received. Unlike most of the Western parliamentary democracies, the system in Israel is followed in an extreme manner, and the only limitation on a party which participated in the elections being elected is that it should pass the qualifying threshold, which is currently 2%. (If this seems low, and it is, it is better than it used to be — 1% used to be all that was needed).
Well but what about all those votes for parties (remember 34 parties ran in this election) that did not make it to the 2% threshold? We don’t simply discard them. Every vote counts here –toward something even if it is not the something that the vote caster intended. Instead, those “excess votes” are distributed to the lists with the largest number of voters per seat. Prior to the election two parties can reach an agreement regarding the distribution of excess votes between them –and believe me, they do. The question now is, what agreements were made and how will that affect the number of seats between Kadima and Likud?
Something else I’d like to mention regarding Israeli elections and the importance of votes cast. Every citizen’s ability to vote is considered of prime importance and every effort is made to insure that every citizen can vote. In places like the U.S. and other places, a citizen can lose (permanently!) the right to vote if, for instance, they commit a felony. So criminals can’t vote in the U.S. Here, criminals vote no matter what their crime. Voting units set up shop in the prisons so that all citizens incarcerated there can cast their vote. Mobile voting units also go to hospitals and nursing homes and visit each individual bedside of those who cannot get up to give them the opportunity to cast their vote if they so desire.
Yael, it seems all the reporting about the elections that we can read or watch here, abroad, always focuses on the “Palestinian” issue. The tenor among the main stream media of course is that Bibi and Lieberman are the devils, and Livni is the angel (even though most of the media really bemoan that Labor has gone under, who they think of course would be even more dovish). While it surely will be interesting to see how any of the two could work with Lieberman’s pretty unconventional ideas, I actually miss discussion about other important issues in Israel.
Therefore I would like to ask you as the insider, to tell us a bit more about all the other political problems the country faces and the parties’ ideas about solving them. I can imagine that the world economic crisis creates big problems in Israel, as well. And what about social issues?
Since Kadima is an offspring of Likud, is one safe to assume that their positions on these issues are similar? Would there be a basis for cooperation between the two, as Livni seems to desire? How do the religious parties figure in these issues?
Israel is more than the Palestinian question, which, in my opinion, actually is pretty moot for now. The “two state solution” is dead as long as Hamas, Hizbollah and their Iranian leaders rule in the neighborhood.
I actually envy the israeli electoral system and wish we had something akin to it in the U.S. where two corrupt parties hold the country hostage. Coalitions mean it is harder for one group of people to run rough over everyone else. It also means wider representation and as you mention votes really do count there. It may seem more complicated but it gives everyone a chance to get involved and no matter what the issue a person is concerned about, if nothing else, you can form a party to address it. Here if you can’t afford a lobbyist, you’re just out of luck.
Jett –yeah there are some advantages which is why I would not give up a parliamentary system but do think it needs to be reformed a bit.
Sir John –yikes, what problems don’t we have here. Our educational system is in dire straights ranging from the fact that our kids are incredibly low-performing compared to the known universe, our teachers are paid criminally low salaries and work under bad conditions, and we have 3 separate educational systems: the one for arab kids (it is not discrimination, they demanded their own separate educational system) with its own curriculum that does not conform to national/international standards, the haredi school system (ditto –they don’t teach any math or science for instance!) and the regular system. Kadima wants to standardize the systems, Likud’s Netanyahu Netanyahu met with the seven religious Likud candidates at the Shalom Hotel in Jerusalem to sign a covenant between Likud and Religious Zionists. The covenant solidified Likud’s obligation to protect the viability of religious education and services –in other words wants to ignore and leave as is, Shas would like control over all to bring in a religious program of education, and I’ve not heard Y.B. address the issue.
(Wow this should really be another post probably or whole set of posts!)
We’ve got water problems. Big ones. And not just with the current major drought we are undergoing. Simply put, we don’t have enough. We need some long-term, economically and environmentally viable solutions for a growing population. We also have energy problems and quite serious pollution problems. While touching on some of the standard issues like water, energy, and pollution, the Likud platform fails to provide any specific goals, except that Likud will fight to prevent a second coal-burning power plant in Ashkelon. Kadima proposes plans for sustainable development, water management, public transportation and cleaning up the beaches, among others but it it lacks any mention of an increase to the Environmental Protection Ministry’s budget needed to pursue any of those things. Y.B. mentions most of the big issues, but doesn’t go into details as to how to handle them. Shas offers little more than declarations about general laws which would be passed to protect the public (e.g. “we would pass a law to protect the environment”).
Economic issues (even beyond the current world economic crisis that is hitting us hard) –see post above this one.
Then we have things like the right to civil marriages rather than religious only –and if you don’t fit the religious bill you can’t get married in this country –being able to choose how/where/and next to who you are buried (e.g., civil burials), care for holocaust survivors many of whom are living under dreadful economic circumstances, transportation issues, help for the peripheral communities, and many others. On most of these issues, most of the parties are all really really vague about what they would do.
Thanks Yael, I will comment on the post above.
Why don’t you just give your government over to Obama.
He could solve all you problems just like he is solving America’s.
You aren’t racist are you?
[...] Yaeli, who blogs at Aliyah! Step-by-Step: Making a Life in Israel, remarks: Nobody ever could say our electoral process is simple. Not only do we have the whole [...]
[...] Yaeli, who blogs at Aliyah! Step-by-Step: Making a Life in Israel, remarks: Nobody ever could say our electoral process is simple. Not only do we have the whole [...]
[...] frattempo Yaeli, che scrive sul blog Aliyah! Step-by-Step: Making a Life in Israel [in], osserva: Nessuno potrebbe mai sostenere che il nostro processo elettorale sia semplice. Non [...]
I had a nightmare last night and I am still shaking. I know there must be some deep and hidden meaning behind it and I am hoping that someone out there might be able to help me interpret this dream. I dreamt that I was the meat in the sandwich between Tzippi Livni and Sarah Palin, you know what I mean, that I was “Lucky Pierre”. But when I woke up in the morning, I had a terrible taste in my mouth and found myself between Golda Meir and Madeline Albright. Oy, gottenyu!!
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NOW LET’S SEE……….WOULD IT BE A MORE WORTHWHILE USE OF MY PRECIOUS TIME TO COMMENT ON THIS BLOG OR TO PLAY WITH MY PETZY……….HMMMMMMMM………GUESS WHAT, PETZY WINS AGAIN!………SHALOM FOR NOW !
CHILDREN MUST BE INCULCATED AS TO THE BENEFITS OF MASTURBATION IN THE ATTAINMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF A HEALTHY MIND AND A HEALTHY BODY! PENT UP SEXUAL FRUSTRATION IN CHILDREN HAS NEVER BEEN HONESTLY AND ADEQUATELY DISCUSSED AND DEALT WITH IN JEWISH DISCOURSE AND DOCTRINE. MODERN LIFESTYLES AFFORD INDIVIDUALS THE PRIVACY AND HYGIENIC FACILITIES NECESSARY TO MASTURBATE IN A PRIVATE, DIGNIFIED AND SANITARY MANNER. ONE CAN WELL UNDERSTAND THE IRE THAT WAS AROUSED BY MASTURBATING INDIVIDUALS FOUR THOUSAND YEARS AGO WHEN AN ENTIRE LARGE FAMILY LIVED TOGETHER IN A TENT IN AN ARID LOCATION. NOBODY WANTED TO HAVE A WAD OF FLYING JISSUM HIT HIM IN THE EYE OR LAND IN HIS HUMUS. WATER WAS SCARCE AND ONE HAD TO WALK , SOMETIMES LONG DISTANCES, TO THE WELL TO GET IT, IF IT WAS AVAILABLE AT ALL. UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES IT WAS A CHOICE OF WATER FOR DRINKING OR WATER FOR WASHING EJACULATE OFF OF ONE’S HANDS. THIS IS WHY THE EARLY SAGES WERE SO VOCIFEROUS IN THEIR CONDEMNATION OF MASTURBATION. WE JEWISH PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A HORNY BUNCH AND, IF THERE WEREN’T THESE SEVERE STRICTURES AGAINST MASTURBATION AT THAT TIME, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN ERRANT CUMSTAINS ALL OVER THE PLACE AND THE SMELL OF FRESHLY RELEASED JISSUM WOULD HAVE WAFTED FAR AND WIDE, EVEN WITHIN THE HALLOWED HALLWAYS OF THE SACRED TEMPLE ITSELF. TIMES HAVE CHANGED. IF PARENTS TODAY STRESS THE BENEFITS OF MASTURBATION TO THEIR CHILDREN, THEY WILL HELP LESSEN THE OCCURRENCE OF STDs, AND UNPLANNED PREGNANCIES. SCHOLARSHIP LEVELS WOULD INCREASE DRAMATICALLY WITH THE RELEASE OF PENT UP ADOLESCENT EJACULATORY TENSION.. IF NECESSARY, PARENTS SHOULD SET AN EXAMPLE FOR THEIR CHILDREN AS TO THE PROPER METHODOLOGY FOR THIS ACTIVITY AND FOLLOW UP AND MAKE SURE THAT THEIR CHILDREN ARE MASTURBATING REGULARLY AT AN OPTIMUM FREQUENCY. KEEPING A MASTURBATION DIARY COULD BE A VERY USEFUL TOOL IN MAINTAINING THE PROPER SCHEDULE. EVERY PARENT SHOULD ASK HIS CHILDREN ON A DAILY BASIS, “DID YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND MASTURBATE TODAY?” OH, OF COURSE, THE CHABADNIKS AND THE FRUMNIKS WILL YELL OUT, “BUT RAMBAM SAID THIS, AND RASHI SAID THAT AND RABBI AKIVA SAID THIS, AND THAT, ABOUT THE EVILS OF MASTURBATION.” PROBABLY ALL THREE OF THEM WERE MASTURBATING WHILE THEY WERE WRITING THESE STRICTURES, ANOTHER CASE OF “DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO”. WE MUST NOT CONTINUE TO LET OTHERS DO OUR THINKING FOR US UNDER THE GUISE OF RELIGIOUS EXPERTISE. SHALOM AND ZEI GEZUNT!
One day, while I was vacationing in Hong Kong, I misplaced the key to my hotel room. I called the hotel manager and told him that I needed a new key as soon as possible. Three minutes later, a prostitute showed up at my door saying “Manager tell me you want nooky quick-quick. You give me hundred dollar, I give you number one nooky!” I tried to explain to the young woman, “No, I want a NEW KEY, not your nooky!” She got angry and yelled at me, You want nooky but not MY nooky! What wrong with MY nooky? My nooky clean, just wash this morning!” “You don’t understand me”, I told her, “I need a NEW KEY!”. “And I need hundred dollar!”, she replied at the top of her voice. “Well“, I thought to myself, “since I can’t leave without a new key, I might as well avail myself of the opportunity.” That is when I got my Chinese nickname. When I took my drawers down, the young woman exclaimed, “You hung so lo!, you hung so lo!” “No, I told her, my name is Moshe Rabeynu, I’m not Hung So Lo. I’m not even half-Chinese.” “For China“ she replied “you hung so lo!” So that is how I became known as Moshe “Hung So Lo” Rabeynu in China. I went to the hotel manager and told him, “ I need a new key for my room!” “I already send up nooky for you”, he told me and added, “number one nooky. What the matter, she no go your room?” “Yes,” I answered, “a girl came to my room, and yes, she was quite spectacular and I gave her a tryout but she wasn’t what I really wanted. I need a New Key!” “Ah, now I understand”, said the manager, you no want girl nooky. You want new key from Sum Yung Boi! I get Sum Yung Boi for you!” “No, No”, I exclaimed quite embarrassed, “I do not want some young boy. I want a new key!” The manager appeared to be losing his patience and exclaimed, “If you want new key, you have to get Sum Yung Boi to go to room!” “But sir”, I tried to explain, “I am not gay. If some young boy came to my room, it would be a waste of time!” “How can be waste of time”, he answered, “you want new key, Sum Yung Boi give you new key!” With this, the manager picked up his phone and spoke rapidly into it. “I paged for Sum Yung Boi, he be here soon!” , he told me. I was mortified and wanted to leave the lobby but the manager continued conversing, “Before, when you asked over phone for new key, I thought you wanted nooky. Ha Ha Ha, we have misunderstanding. Now I realize that all time you needed Sum Yung Boi!” “No No“, I responded, worrying that I would never be understood, “I don’t want some young boy. I’m not gay! I need a NEW KEY, A NEW KEY!” At this moment an elderly man came up to us dressed in some kind of work uniform. “Here is Sum Yung Boi”, said the manager, “He go up to room with you and give you new key. Make you happy” “But, I don’t want nooky from this fellow, and, besides how can you call him some young boy? He looks to be seventy or seventy five years old.” The manager looked as if he reached his point of exasperation and yelled at me, “This man’s name is Sum Yung Boi! He is locksmith for hotel! He will check lock to room and give you NEW KEY! You want New Key for room from Sum Yung Boi or not?” “Yes”, I replied, totally embarrassed. “I’ll go up to my room with Mr. Sum Yung Boi and he will give me a new key. I‘m sorry for the misunderstanding!”
Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, from your friendly former exotic dancer, Moshe Rabeynu. I am interested in establishing a “Chippendales” type establishment in Israel. What type of assistance and tax benefits does the Israeli government provide to new businesses of olim chadashim? Are there many such entertainment facilities in Israel? I would like some idea as to how stiff the competition would be. Do Israeli women, as a rule, like to look at males dancing in skimpy G-strings? Are they generous tippers? Would they put a shekel to the shmeckel? If I hire other olim chadashim as dancers, would they have to pay any taxes on their tips? Can I employ dancers who have not had a bris ? I might want to hire one or two to add variety to the show’s lineup. Is a liquor license hard to obtain in Israel. Do I have to bribe any officials to receive one? To whom is it customary to pay proteksia money to start a business and keep it going and approximately how much to they ask for? . It’s not easy having to retire from all the glamour and the excitement. I yearn to shave my legs and pubic area, don my good old G-string once again and to get back into the limelight as the leader of a first rate male exotic dance review. I have put on a little weight over the course of my retirement years but I have started an exercise regimen to tighten my pecs, glutes and abs which the ladies like so much. I am going to undergo penile enlargement surgery while I’m still living in the U.S. to compensate for the “shrinkage” of old age (as George Constanza would describe it). I would have had it done in Israel after aliyah, however, the Jewish Agency Representative told me I would have to pay an import duty on the implant device in Israel because it was over nine inches. The Israeli Government limit’s the size of a penile implant to 4 ¾ inches to qualify for the oleh chadash tax and import duty exemption. I explained that this was a work related expense and an integral part of the Male Exotic Dance business but he told me that Israel as a socialist society and they didn’t see why anyone should require an implant in order to have such exceptionally large genitalia. I asked him, “what about each according to his ability, each according to his needs”. I explained that if I were going to be a success in my chosen line of endeavor, I would “need” to pack the gear. The whole matter is still up in the air and I have come to the conclusion that he is angling for a bribe or payoff either for himself or a cohort. He told me on the QT that it might be possible to fudge the official import manifest paperwork to look like the importation of two 4 ¾ inch implants instead of one 9 ½ inch implant. I could certify that I was orthodox and one implant was “milchadikeh” and one was “flayshekikeh”. This whole rigmarole will have to be steered through the immigration bureaucratic process by unseen hands so I assume someone, somewhere, will require a payoff. Additionally, I have been advised that there might be a problem with the Rabbinate. They feel that it is unseemly for a woman to place her tip in the male dancer’s G-string. They said that they will require that all the dancers carry “pishkahs”
(containers with slots on top) like I had to carry around, when I was in Hebrew school, for the Keren Kayemet. I asserted that if the ladies want to put their sheckels by the shmeckles and get a little peek and a little poke in the process, this is their right as “am chofshi”! The male dancers will be instructed to carry the “pishkahs” but the ladies can place their tips wherever they please, be it in the dancer’s pouch or his “pishkah” slot. I’ll have to sign off for now. I’m getting some new G-strings made up and I have an appointment for a fitting.