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Lior Mizrahi / Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves to supporters at his election campaign headquarters early Wednesday morning in Tel Aviv. Exit polls indicate that Netanyahu was re-elected for a third term and will return to office. Israel had the highest turnout of voters since 1999.
JERUSALEM -- Hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed victory in Israel's parliamentary election, shrugging off surprise losses to center-left challengers and vowing to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
However, Tuesday's vote, which also disappointed religiously inspired hardliners, may deflect the premier's focus on confronting Tehran and resisting Palestinian demands as Israel's secular middle-class demanded new attention on domestic issues.
That in turn might draw Netanyahu toward a less fractious relationship with his key ally, U.S. President Barack Obama, who himself embarked on a new term this week with great ambitions.
Interim vote count results on Wednesday showed the Israeli leader's right-wing Likud and the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu would remain the biggest bloc in the 120-member assembly, but with only 31 seats, 11 fewer than the 42 the two parties held in the last parliament.
That put Netanyahu on course for a third term in office, perhaps leading a hardline coalition that would promote Jewish settlement on occupied land.
But his weakened showing in the ballot, which he had called nine months early in the hope of a strong mandate for his struggle with Iran, could complicate his efforts to forge an alliance with a stable and substantial majority in parliament.
"I am proud to be your prime minister, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity, for the third time, to lead the state of Israel," the 63-year-old leader told a cheering crowd in the early hours of Wednesday at his campaign headquarters.
Netanyahu said he planned to form as broad a governing coalition as possible, suggesting he would seek partners beyond his traditional ultra-nationalist and religious allies. His first call may be to Yair Lapid, a former television anchorman whose centrist, secular party came from nowhere to second place.
"The first challenge was and remains preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said.
Iran denies it is planning to build an atomic bomb, and says Israel, widely believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, is the biggest threat to the region.
Netanyahu views Tehran's nuclear program as a threat to Israel's existence and has stoked international concern by hinting at possible Israeli military action to thwart it.
He has shunted Palestinian peacemaking well down the agenda despite Western concern to keep the quest for a solution alive.
Wednesday's count forecast an even split between right-wing parties and the centre-left, with each bloc taking 60 of parliament's 120 seats.
Lapid's Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party should have 19 seats, the interim count showed - a stunning result for a newcomer to politics in a field of 32 contending parties.
Lapid won support amongst middle-class, secular voters by promising to resolve a growing housing shortage, abolish military draft exemptions for Jewish seminary students and seek an overhaul of the failing education system.
He urged Netanyahu "to build as broad a government as possible so that we can bring about real change in Israel".
The once dominant Labour party led by Shelly Yachimovich was projected to take third place with 15 seats.
Opinion polls before the election had predicted an easy win for Netanyahu, although the last ones suggested he would lose some votes to the Jewish Home party, which opposes a Palestinian state and advocates annexing chunks of the occupied West Bank.
Wednesday's interim count gave 11 seats to Jewish Home.
The biggest casualty was the centrist Kadima party, which teetered between a minimum parliamentary showing of 2 seats and political extinction, depending on the final vote tally due later on Wednesday.
Kadima had gained the highest number in the previous election in 2009, although its then leader Tzipi Livni failed to put together a governing coalition.
Official vote results will be announced on January 30. After that, President Shimon Peres is likely to ask Netanyahu, as leader of the biggest bloc in parliament, to try to form a government.
Whatever permutation finally emerges, a Netanyahu-led government is likely to resist any push for a peace deal with the Palestinians that would come anywhere near satisfying the moderates who seek a viable independent state alongside Israel.
Naftali Bennet, high-tech millionaire son of American immigrants who leads the hard-right, pro-settler Jewish Home party, was a likely coalition partner despite his election showing, which was less than surging opinion polls had predicted.
Bennet, who advocates annexing West Bank land to Israel, told cheering supporters: "There is only one truth and it is simple. The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel."
Britain warned Israel on Tuesday it was losing international support, saying Jewish settlement expansion had almost killed off prospects for a two-state solution.
U.S.-brokered peace talks broke down in 2010 amid mutual acrimony. Since then Israel has accelerated construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem - land the Palestinians want for their future state - much to the anger of Western partners.
Related:
Avast! Israel's Pirate Party aims for 2 percent of electoral booty
Charismatic ex-commando pressures Netanyahu from the right
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
Yesh Atid...as long as you don't lose the battle in your own country to be reasonable. Israel is losing the PR battle because they are doing as much, or more, than any other regional power to make a peaceful solution impossible.
Hello folks, Netsayahoo is on his own if he attacks Iran. Mr. Hagel will get appointed to Defense Secretary and will in short order let Bibi know he’s not as tolerant as General Dempsey and if he
doesn’t fly straight he may see General Dempsey one too many times.
America will not forget that the USS Liberty was attacked in international waters by Israeli forces
on June 8, 1967, killing 34 Americans and wounding another 174. When Israel can't get the U.S. to do its bidding in attacking the countries they want attacked they perpetrate covert military
attacks against the U.S.
General Dempsey, Chairman of America’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the man who flew to Tel Aviv and informed Netanyahu that America wanted no part of his scheming against Iran was the subject of an
assassination attempt in Afghanistan.This wasn’t an act of terrorism or Taliban
militants. It was a mob hit by Israel’s Mosaad against someone who failed to
kiss the feet of Netanyahu. His response was to unleash killers, not a fact for
the public but a fact just the same, one the American military knows very well.
Netsayahoo is pathologically insane.
The Zionist faction of Israel is an evil entity and must be kept at arms length as they will try and lead us into WWIII. I don't kow how the good people of Israel stomach this warmonger.
You do not forget USS Liberty (by Jews) 46 years ago in a war zone, but you do forget the USS Cole (deliberate by muslims), USS Stark (deliberate by muslims), WTC (deliberate by muslims), Ft. Hood massacre (deliberate by muslims), second 9/11 - just a few months ago. Do I get the point across?
Amen, Farideh Kashanian. You are exactly right!
Ditto.
The uss liberty was attacked deliberately in hopes of blaming it on Egypt. pilots are well trained to identify using only a silhouette. The isreali pilot shot off a 5 foot wide antenna aray but claimed he could not see the 40 american flag the crew painted hastily on the bow of the ship. or the 10 foot long cloth flag. it was murder, plain and simple.
The history of isreal is one of terror and murder. the irgun and stern gang killed many unarmed and even killed whole villages. like Deiss Yasseim. The world is getting wiser and the right wing is shrinking. when the right wing is gone, peace will come.
Joey, don't use amen in the same sentence as Israel. Who is a bigger threat in the mid-east with nukes? Israel or Iran? Zionist like Netanyhoo are crazy. Stop this country of their maddness. Quit killing people Israel, this is not from GOD.
"Why should the Arabs make peace? If I were an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it's true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been antisemitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that? They may perhaps forget in one or two generations' time, but for the moment there is no chance." David Ben-Gurion, first prime minister of Israel
"For eight years now, they have sat in the refugee camps of Gaza and have watched how, before their very eyes, we have turned their lands and villages, where they and their forefathers previously dwelled, into our home." General Moshe Dayan, Israeli military hero - 1956
And Farideh, no we all remember those things you mention along with the USS Liberty.
All muslims (parkerjoe) and others posting vile remarks here forget one thing - This was an election in Israel - it is called "democracy". I know it does not happen in arab countries. Get used to it.
NO you don't. How many air strikes have we made against Israel? We send Billions in aid to Israel every year. Did we track down the Israeli mastermind and have Seal Team 6 kill him? Israel has more spies in the US than Russia.
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building by that
MuslimsChristan named Tim McVeigh. Claimed 168 lives including 19 children.We Killed or imprisoned all the people involved with 9-11 / 1st WTC / USS Cole /USS Stark / Ft. Hood. We never even slapped Israel on the wrist fo the attack on USS Liberty.
Yes, because it was an accident no matter how hard the antisemites of the world want it to be otherwise.
the lib - The liberals love to taut "freedom" and "democracy", which is in Israel (the elections you are hating so much), but shut their mouth (or even defend it) when it comes to arab atrocities and murder instead.
We just celebrated our election of our president, but not good enough for Israel who just did the same? but you keep quiet (always have) when muslims kill Americans.
I am sure not are "libs" are like you.
Eli100 - Please, questioning the policy of the state of Israel or the relationship of the US & Israel does not make one an antisemite. Making that accusation indicates you have run out of argument.
fariden - Do you have proof the lib kept "quiet(always have) when muslims kill Americans"? I thought not.
In the US 1st attempt at nation building they chose Iran in 53 , Iran had used western style elections to install a socialist majority , so we booted democracy and installed a monarch who used questionable ta-tics and supposed Jewish and CIA spies to route out Muslims who had favoured the Nazis and now the socialists .With the Shah support the Zionist groups were able to use the Large Iranian/Jewish population to track down enemy of the Jews .
So when the Shah lost power it was the lower caste who suffered under Shah that came out against the US and Israel for their support of the Shah , remember that Iran was one of the first to recognize Israel as a nation and did supply military support at one time . Now it just another nation that claims to kill in the name of God !!
It just seems that the war against socialism has lost its direction , It seems we are fighting a crusade against people we keep killing to save them from themselves . Problem is they have stopped believing we have any concern for them when the set-ups end up like the Kurds
And as far a the commies are concerned , their not too dumb , They have learned how to bankrupt us like we did them , lesson learned
ACCIDENT MY a$$. Ferideh, lets not forget that Hitler was elected. elections don't mean the person or nation is good. And your rants about "libs" is laughable. if you don't like America, you can leave. or maybe we should build a wall across it and let you neo-cons have your glorious south, then maybe us libs can have some peace and humanity. go, cya, bye bye, don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.
oh yeah, don't forget, the Eskimos are god's frozen people. lol
No, it wasn't. The survivors know it was no accident, no matter how much the anti-Americans want to make it so. It was no more an accident than the Lavon Affair bombings against US and british interests, meant to look as though Egyptian Muslims were attacking US and Britain. No more an accident than the bombing of the Patria - where Israeli terrorists killed hundreds of fellow Jews to further their agenda.
Yes, those who hate Israel make up a lot of nonsense.
Indeed, "questioning the policy of the state of Israel or the relationship of the US & Israel does not make one an antisemite", but digging up long-dead conspiracy theories just to pin something on Israel and draw attention away from the crimes committed by islamists in the present does make you an antisemite and "indicates you have run out of argument."
Information on liberty can be found on both sides, see the article online: “USS Liberty: Case Closed” by Michael B. Oren."
F_K
why is it you leave out the parts called "Truth". You twist and churn words to support your untenable point of view. It's Liberals like me that fought to Free people like you. Myself, my for-fathers and son have all fought in wars against Germany, North Korea, North Viet Nam, Iraq. We killed and some died fighting to give you the right to post and lie to everyone on this thread. So don't give me your crap about Libs.
Real Libs would never stand by islamists, those are the exact opposite of liberalism.
gdog, There is no peaceful way for Islam......
Eli100 - "but digging up long-dead conspiracy theories just to pin something on Israel and draw attention away from the crimes committed by islamists in the present does make you an antisemite".
When exactly did I do that?
In the last line of your post, two posts ago.
Oh no, here we go again bashing Netanyahu and Israel.
MSNBC puts these weird headlines out on the Homepage to get the haters out--to write--anti Israel sentiments.
Netanyahu may turn more moderate to accomodate the United States--he is Hawkish, and well should be--he's got every Middle East Country on their doorstep waiting to throw the Atomic Bomb/Terrorists at Israel, and the Jews--Iran can't wait to get their enemy off the face of the map. Neither can the Palestinians who are backed by Iran.
He is the only Leader in Israel that has the guts and backbone to keep enemy fire away, says what he means, and does what he says. For that I respect him---he is not a "Wimp".
At one point Israel offered the Palestinians 97% of what they said they wanted and they turned the offer down flat without even trying to negotiate. The Palestinian leadership has set preconditions to negotiations that they know the Israelis will never agree to. This is because the Palestinian leadership does not want peace with Israel. They need Israel to blame for everything that is wrong in the Palestinian territories. Their inept leadership has their people in poverty with virtually no economy to speak of and little prospects for the future. If there were peace with Israel the Palestinian leadership could no longer continue to blame Israel for the poor state of their people. The people would then look to those leaders and realize they are inept and throw them out on their asses. In order to maintain their power they make peace with Israel impossible with ridiculous preconditions and demands before they will even come to the negotiating table. They need the fighting to continue in order to maintain their positions of power. Until this reality changes there is no way there will ever be peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, even if Israel agreed to give them everything they are asking for. If Israel did this, the Palestinian leadership would simply add on new demands to prevent peace from happening. of course their current demands are so ridiculous, there is no real fear on their part of Israel agreeing to their current demands.
Why exactly should israel offer pallis anything ? There never was a palestine people , no archaeological evidence of coinage , a language , pottery shards traced to a palli ppl , not 1 single evidence of a palestinian ppl , KNOW WHY? There is no such thing, they are displaced arabs , even their language proves it. As for US relations , dont sweat it , we also will turn our backs on them & then all hell will break loose. These happenings were foretold 1000's of yrs ago , watch , news at 11:00 ,,,,,,,,,, maranatha!
JS in SD:
The Palestinian Government is run by the Terrorist Group HAMAS--am sure you know this, as Iran is running most of the countries in the Middle East with their Terrorist Groups, Hezbollah taken from Lebanon, Al Qaida, and other splinter groups---they want to tear the Israel to bits and pieces. As you have stated Palestine is basically in the inside of Israel--many people do not want to believe it--
Abbas claims not to be a member of HAMAS, but certainly follows their Orders--Violence; no Peace--Threats and murders of their own people, just like the Syrian Government.
Persecution to all of Israel has been a threat to Israel for 65 years (1948). The Media, and the Middle East have the Control to make one think it is the opposite actions and thoughts.
Good comments.
Parkerjoe wrote:
Excuse me?!
Who killed 60,000 Syrians just during the last two years? Not, Israel.
Assad's forces, backed by Iran and Hezbollah!
Arabs kill fifty times more Arabs than Israel ever did!
And how many Iraqi citizens did we kill over the last 10 years? I believe the president of ANY country is guilty of treason if he/she allows another country to dictate foreign policy and put the lives of their families at risk.
Ps. The Liberty attack was conducted by a nation state - Israel. Comparisons to terrorists doesnt make much sense to me
@#1.8
Hamas was also elected by Palestinian people - it is no less democractic than the election in israel.
Fair enough Israel has "democractic" election, but it doesn't make it above international law. it is appalling when criminal acts of Israel are brushed under the rug just because it hasve a "democracy"!
Democracy DOES NOT give a license to steal neighbour's land, murder and enslave them, break international laws and expect world to ignore it becauseyou have a democracy! So spare us from this democratic Israel mantra.
Does BENGHAZI ring a bell??? Waiting for Hillary to purger herself!!
Ah yes the Benghazi witch hunt.
Tell me why there was no witch for:
The Beruit Marine Corp barracks bombing,
The attack on the USS Cole,
The first World Trade Center Bombing; and'
9/11?
Compare the death toll of Americans in those incidents vs the unfortunate deaths in Benghazi.
It's nothing but a right wing witch hunt. Anything to discredit this administration.
"President Obama doesn't have high expectations that there's going to be a government in Israel committed to making peace"
The Palestinians have NEVER had leadership committed to making peace. Saying this about Israel displays the incredible hypocrisy that Obama and world leaders have. It's about time the UN puts pressure on Abbas and the PA to come to the negotiating table (for the first time in years), rather than encourage their combative ways.
Obama has shown very little support for Israel and repeatedly demonstrates that he does not have a firm grasp on the situation between Israel and the Palestinians. At one point Israel offered the Palestinians 97% of what they said they wanted and they turned the offer down flat without even trying to negotiate. The Palestinian leadership has set preconditions to negotiations that they know the Israelis will never agree to. This is because the Palestinian leadership does not want peace with Israel. They need Israel to blame for everything that is wrong in the Palestinian territories. Their inept leadership has their people in poverty with virtually no economy to speak of and little prospects for the future. If there were peace with Israel the Palestinian leadership could no longer continue to blame Israel for the poor state of their people. The people would then look to those leaders and realize they are inept and throw them out on their asses. In order to maintain their power they make peace with Israel impossible with ridiculous preconditions and demands before they will even come to the negotiating table. They need the fighting to continue in order to maintain their positions of power. Until this reality changes there is no way there will ever be peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, even if Israel agreed to give them everything they are asking for. If Israel did this, the Palestinian leadership would simply add on new demands to prevent peace from happening. of course their current demands are so ridiculous, there is no real fear on their part of Israel agreeing to their current demands. Israel has recognized the reality of the situation and is simply doing what they want to do to try and put an end to the issue once and for all. The Israeli government has recognized that the Palestinian leadership will never agree to a peace deal so they are moving forward with a one state solution, realizing that a two state solution is never going to happen so long as the current Palestinian leadership mentality persists. This solution entails building more settlements and at some point will offer the Palestinians a choice, they can either accept Israeli citizenship or they can leave Israeli territory and go to some other country.
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/how-israel-will-be-destroyed-without-one-shot-being-fired.premium-1.492271
check it out..
Exactly CynicL1, JS in SD does not understand that the one-state solution will actually be the end of Israel. There are more Palestinians than Jews, and Israel will find itself a non-Jewish state very quickly. They have pursued a policy of self-annihilation through their short-sightedness.
If Israel had been smart, they would have made a peace plan and a 2-state solution long ago - if they truly had a deal that gave the Palestinians 97% of what they wanted, just give them the other 3% and be done with it, and consign the Palestinians to their own failed state forever.
Now, and for the foreseeable future, they will be responsible for the Palestinians plight and cause their own pain.
Every time the palestinians have gone to the table with Isreal, they have lost something and isreal has gained. the Oslo accords for example gave isreal control over the west bank water. so now isreal has water and the palestinians are shorted. yeah, lets have another round of three card Monty.
A few months ago, there was an article here that said the people in Gaza where rebuilding the tunnels used to bring in weapons and food. now we all understand why they would need tunnels to smugle in weapons. But ask yourself why it would be necessary to "smuggle" food. Who is blocking food shipments? oh yeah, that would be Isreal blocking food. Gee I wonder why people in Gaza are so angry with Isreal.
@bob, they painted themselves in a corner. it goes like this. In order for them not to be out birthed by arabs who live in isreal, they have been engaged in a policy of emigrating as many Soviet Jews and other jews into Isreal as they can. They don't have the resources to supply the growing population, especially with water. So they build settlements in the west bank to control the water there and pipe it in. and the cycle continues and they dig themselves deeper and deeper in a hole.
george - Israel delivers trucks of food to Gaza everyday. You know that, but conveniently overlook it. In you favorite arab countries, example Syria, they murder them. So you are barking at the wrong tree.
JS in SD
So tell me how an arm chair quarter back in frigged S D can have better intel than the POTUS? It's because he has more information than you that he does what he does.
Tell me how G W Bush did any better, with his very close ties with the Saudi Bin laden family.
Well, in the long-run Obama still stands by Israel, he is less happy about it than all other presidents before him (including democrats), but he still does.
So, Joe, I am happy that you agree that our president stands by Israel "because he has more information than you".
Feridah, BULL @#$%, who told you this? Uncle netinyahoo? they systematically block food from a number of aide groups trying to bring in food and med supplies. get efin real dude.
george - It is called the "world news", "international news", BBC, even AlJazeera. People who have minimal intelligence can google it, others are at loss so they use profanity because they cannot defend their position.
The only groups they block are those who in fact try to bring weapons, which they seem to consider more important than food.
Israel isnt the Likud Party and thats a good thing because we can disagree with their govts policies without being against Israel. Too many of our own politicians make this mistake. The present govt is controlled by extremest religious settler groups they are isolating Israel except for America which seems to swallow anything this govt does.
Agreed DUDE but you'll have a tough time convincing them of this reality.
Netanyahu will continue to get along with our Yahoos.
You guys can thank Hamas, they pretty much made the election for Bibi.
If Palestinians want to get rid of Likud, all the need is to stop shooting, that's all it would take.
Are either of the two folks ranting above Jewish??? No, I didn't think so. Why is it that so many Americans think that all Israeli's are of one mind? Just as exists here, there are many different factions in Israel, Conservative, Moderate and Liberal. The fact is that Netanyahu is rightly considered a far Right ideologue.
If you want our President bossed around by a foreign leader then I guess you're going to be disappointed. Netanyahu bet on the wrong horse and tried his best to embarrass Obama, a slight which I promise you will not go unnoticed. Many Israeli's feel that the P.M. is too militaristic, and needlessly antagonizing the Palestinians. Yes, I support Israel, that does not mean I support everything it does, just as I don't support every action my government here takes. It's a complicated issue and will only be solved by slogging through endless negotiations and many false paths and disappointments. Just as Jimmy Carter did with Egypt all those years ago.
Do you think one must be female to have an opinion about pregnancy?
DENVER, it sure as hell helps to know something about the country, particularly if you've never been there.
And frankly, the GOP has proven repeatedly that they know NOTHING about woman's reproductive needs and rights by holding panels on woman's issues WITHOUT A SINGLE WOMAN BEING INCLUDED!!!
Or how about "If a woman is raped her body has ways of shutting down the pregnancy". LOL
You Righties sure are LOL funny.
Agreed.
That goes back to my original comment. Do you believe that men shouldn't be gynecologists? And I am perfectly agreeable to keeping my opinion out of the "women's reproductive rights" debate if you are agreeable to keeping my wallet out of it.
Not nearly as funny as someone who fallaciously stereotypes almost half the country according to comments made by one person. Would you be offended if I characterized all Lefties as gay pimps just because Barney Frank's boyfriend ran a prostitution ring from his apartment? Or promiscuous junkies because Marion Barry was re-elected after being filmed smoking crack with a prostuitute? Or amoral idiots because he was re-elected again after he was released from prison?
To..denver"""
And what you don't....
Funny how men want the right to m ake decisions about women's reproductive health, and bitch about paying for birth control, but never have any problem forcing taxpayers to pay for their erectile dysfunction drugs!
so when is "reproductive health", i.e. code for elective procedures to eliminate unwanted pregnancy (note the word unwanted) the same as medication to combat an actual medical condition? you chose and were capable of having sex, your body works as advertised, so you can choose to pay for the protection or the results of a personal decision. nobody is talking about denying you coverage for cervical cancer, yeast infections, or some other condition that makes it physically impossible for your body to work correctly. boner pills are treatment for a medical condition in which the body doesn't work as advertised, the individual is not capable of having sex at all. apples to oranges comparison. a vasectomy would be a better argument, an elective proceedure, and i have no idea if that is covered.
but thats a pointless political side track to an article on israel...
yessir, I do seem to remember that the Netanyahoo voted in the US elections. Now he'll want Obama to have his back. Maybe he can call his pal Romney who would willingly send his sons to fight for Israel?
Neither country is interested in peace.I fail to see why in this modern day countries are killing each others citizens over a piece of land.It's time for the U.S. to stop siding with Israel and let Palestine and Israel settle their own disagreement.
if you really want the answer, start by reading "brothers in blood" by Ovid Damaris. it's the only pulitzer prize winning book that was taken out of print. you will have to buy a used copy, but it is available. If you do read it, you will never be the same.
I am OK with USA letting "Palestine and Israel settle their own disagreement" if that means not giving money to Palestinians, and not holding Israel back when they hit Hamas and Hezbollah with everything they've got.
I hope you guys will be OK with that too.
Had we - and europeans - not intervened with Israel and not forced our own policy preferences on them, Israel would have settled the problem long ago.
The rise of Yesh Atid in the Israeli elections is a hopeful sign. Theocracy always leads to problems. It doesn't matter if it's a Jewish, Christian, or Muslim theocracy. It almost always leads to war and suffering. And it doesn't matter if the government is "officially" a theocracy or not. I think it's pretty obvious that Israel is a functioning Jewish theocracy, just as are the many Muslim theocracies that surround it. They would all be better off if they would institute a very strict separation of religion and government.
Google "Arab members of Knesset", then see if you still think that Israel is a theocracy.
I'm glad too!!!
☺
chefaz, I'm glad to because he will be the down fall of Isreal. Isreal has never been so isolated and it will only get worse.
Israel has never been safer, and it will get better.
Eli , as much as i love israel , i have to disagree , the day of jacobs trouble is soon coming & as they say in israel (never again) im sad to say it will happen again & then , israel will call on Yahweh , Yeshua , Adonai . Elohim & then , they will finally know peace & true victory. Not until then .
This is the beginning of the end of the zionist regime of israel. Her ill policy leads to her own destruction, no amount of jewish support from US or AIPAC will save this miserable sob facist rogue state.
nn
Democracy in action. Israel is the only functioning democracy in the middle of theocratic dictatorships of the Middle East. The liberal left loves to taut "freedom" and "democracy" until it points to.....Israel.
We just finished watching the left and right battling one another for the White House, and we just celebrated the results of the elections, and we called it freedom and democracy. Exact same thing just happened in Israel. I respect them for that.
farideh pleaseeeeeeeeee stop the hasbara pleaseeeeeee
Democracy is spreading, the internet is spreading, the truth is out and you can't stick it back in the box. of course you could just take the attitude that you are right and world is all wrong lol
Absolutely right, George, you have assessed yourself perfectly.
parkerjoe, I perfectly understand why you hate israel so much. Your arab/muslim countries cannot, and never have, elected to be democratic. You miss that, but you are lucky that you can make vile remarks from behind your computer..... you are in a free country (are you not in the US?)
I doubt he is Muslim, he sounds a lot more like a KKK wannabe.
He is muslim. He posted that admission about a year ago. There is nothing wrong with being a muslim, but parkerjoe is blind and hateful rambler, not intelligent.
I've seen his posts where he claimed to be christian, even one where he claimed to be Jewish (that was especially funny right next to a post where he described a case of antisemitic discrimination as a positive).
May be soon he will make a post where he claims to be Buddhist.
Hamas was also elected by Palestinian people - it is no less democractic than the election in israel.
Fair enough Israel has "democractic" election, but it doesn't make it above international law. it is appalling when criminal acts of Israel are brushed under the rug just because it hasve a "democracy"!
Democracy DOES NOT give a license to steal neighbour's land, murder and enslave them, break international laws and expect world to ignore it becauseyou have a democracy! So spare us from this democratic Israel mantra.
Israel has many factions, from super orthodox Jews to left wing liberals. One of the problems emerging in Israel is the growing influence of the orthodox, militaristic right wing. Netanyahu isn't even the furthest right. There are others even further right than he is. Continuing to build settlements on occupied land is exacerabating the conflicts enormously. Netanyahu continues to encourage the establishment of new settlements. He is choosing to escalate the conflict. He does this because he believes he can bully the US into backing him no matter what he does or how wrong he might be. It might not be a bad idea to tell him that we will not support him if he continues to build settlements and antagonize the Palestinians.
While I don't necessarily support the Palestinians, they have some legitimate beefs and those complaints are treated with contempt by Netanyaha. What bothers me the most is that Israel (as represented by Netanyahu) is losing their commitment to freedom and democracy in favor of religious and political extremism. They shame their founders. They shame the people who fought and died for freedom just so Netanyahu can deny freedom to others. These are not the survivors of the Holocaust. These are just people who are turning into bullies.
The settlements are built in the are that was won by Israel from Jordan.
Israelis allowed Palestinians to live there, and they were rewarded with highway shootings and suicide bombings. Those convinced Israelis that giving Palestinians land is not the way to make peace, so instead they allowed the most hotheaded among themselves to build their own settlements in the area, built a wall to make it harder for Palestinians to shoot at Israeli cars and established the check-points to make it harder for Palestinian suicide bombers to sneak into Israel. All those things worked, terrorism in the area decreased.
So, Israel is sticking with what works, and if you don't like that, thank Hamas and Fatah for convincing Israelis that the other way does not work.
They should stop calling them "settlements" and call them what they are, squatter camps.
And an excuse to beat up the local version of ni**ers, called Palestinians. Smooth.
The excuse to beat up Palestinians is provided by Palestinian suicidal bombings and rocket attacks, no other excuses needed.
We as Americans WILL support Israel. even though Capt Nappy in the white house may not want to tough sh!t . he will have too ! Ban democrates , not guns . world would be a better place F.U. feisty and pigotry . up yours Alaska girl ya bunch of skanks !
Did you stand with Israel when they attacked U.S. liberty and killed american people and destroyed are ship. No you stand with them based on christian views. That is what's going to destroy this nation. This isn't a republican or democrat issue. Just because Israel hates someone and goes to war. It doesn't mean we have to follow.
you WILL learn to OBEY Israel needs . every one knows Iran is going for the nuke now . even that butter head knows it
Cliff, speak for yourself.
Pakistan has nukes, have they used them? India, china, Russia, America, England, France. has anybody used them>???? oh yeah, America did. Even if Iran got nukes, do you think they would use them? did North Korea use them? no, and they wont. nobody will. it's all bull. just bragging rights. Iran knows that if it ever fired a nuke, there would be no Iran. they may be crazy but they are not stupid.
Cliff, I guess you haven't noticed but "real Americans" think think "Capt Nappy" is a great man doing a great job. and all I can say is FOUR MORE YEARS, FOUR MORE YEARS, FOUR MORE YEARS. AMEN
Yes soarer - Even if YOU attacked USS Cole, USS Stark, WTC, you know the rest. What can I say about liberal/muslim dhimmi partnership. It goes back to before WWII.
Georgey buddy . here is a pry bar . now get your head out of your ass son ! truct me buddy . Iran already Stated he would fire on Israel . that my friend is a direct threat to them . whats you gots to say about that . cup cake ?
I don't trust Israel at all. If they have there way with us. We will be at war in many countries in the next few years.
Soarer, do you trust Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to carry out his many threats against Israel? I do. I trust Mahmoud Ahmadinejad more than anyone else in the Middle East to carry out his threats upon the State of Israel once he has nuclear weapons. Yes, I do trust Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to keep his word.
soarer, are you with the iranian theocratic dictators? Go back to 1979, then Lebanon, Sudan, Iraq and afghanistan, Nigeria, Venezuela and start reading some history, then come back, and we will talk some more.
It is becoming more and more apparent that Israel could care less about peace, they want war and to be the bully in the region.
Remember Israel, Hitler wanted the same thing and look what it got him...
Israelis just did what the US did, celebrated a democracy. We had the left and the right battling for the WH, and we called it "freedom and democracy", the liberal's favorite buzz word. Israel did just exact same thing and elected someone from the right, and we don't like their choice? who are we?
I respect israeli people for upholding democracy and democratic elections while existing in the middle of theocratic dictators of the Middle East. A shining example of democracy. I respect them for that.
Hell yeah . nicely put
farideh - Agreed, which is also exactly what Israel and the US did when they didn't like the outcome of the Palestinian elections.
Theo,
A party that starts their term with a civil war followed by splitting the country into two and refusal to recognize any more elections, not to mention simply killing anyone who disagrees with them, goes a bit beyond being just "someone on the right."
However, if you think that Hamas is no more than another rightist party, that does tell us a lot about you.
them? or us? You mean us dont you?
Leave it to NBC to spin Netanyahu's huge win as a "surprising loss". GEEZ, whatever happened to reasonably balanced journalism ?!?!? Even Russia Today is more objective nowadays.
To..motor"""
fox news....
fox news is another website. we are all here on NBC. completely pointless retort, who cares...
The evil guy sure has tricked Israeli people real good. Lets see how many more deaths he will cause around the middle east.
Say thank you to Hamas, they made the election for him with their recent stunts.
See how many deaths they will cause.
How stupid some people are. For most smart people it is not about sides, it is about unwanted human loss. War is stupid and if you keep pushing, otherside will push back. Just because Israeli government has our money and good weapons, doesn't mean they have the right to go and kill people, including putting their own at risk. What does this evil guy lose when he is sitting there and ordering wars. What if you faced somebody like Hitler again? Although from the look of it you are alot like him.
wade , your onesided memory shows either willfull ignorance or deception . DO YOU NOT REMEMBER all the missiles fired into israel daily?
I hope Israel stops Iran with what ever it takes. This muslim leaning person in the White House wont do anything but bow and kiss their hand.
Actually, you're the ignorant redneck I want to congratulate. If you think Obama is a moslem you have no farking clue. Thanks.
Theocracy is death. Human values must prevail.
Would you please tell that to Hamas.
Thanks, you're an ignorant redneck who couldn't tell his ass from his elbow. Get a life.
Don't give an opinion based on other peoples opinion. Go to Israel and see for your self. PLEASE put brain in gear before engageing mouth.Know your fact before you act!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good news-PM Netanyahu wins; bad news-PM Netanyahu has to deal with Obama for 4 more years.
Having absolutely no use for religion myself, if I could I would move all the Israelis over here and give them Nevada - similar climate, etc., in about the same way the UN gave them Palestine in 1948.
Left where they are they will continue to bleed our treasury and eventually drag us into WWIII.
The project to move Jews somewhere out of the way of good Christians, Muslims or Atheists has been tired plenty of time sin the past, it would always end with quick switch, but something would always go wrong along the way.
Thanks, but no thanks, we are not going down that road again.
they should have been given a home in europe, where they had lived for hundreds of years. not having the homes of the palestinians taken and re-allocated to them. the western world created that mess.
You need to ease up a bit Eli. I'm not suggesting they be moved to get them "out of the way of good Christians, Muslims or Atheists". I'm suggesting moving them would get them out of harms way. I know it's a fantasy but why not dream for peace.
The other alternative is this open sore which will fester forever draining our treasury and costing many many lives on both sides. All for a so called holy land? It should rightfully be renamed to something more accurate like bloodshed land or slaughter land.
When we achieve energy independence and I believe we will, we could pretty much ignore the middle east were it not for the presence of Israel.
If israel is a democracy , WHY do we see the same faces with different positions all the time ? The truth is that israel has a PSUEDO deocratic system whereby one vote is for a PARTY and not a candidate. The party chooses the candidate to run. So much for people's choices.
and it really just amazes me how sharon got to be health minister. I guess he was slapp on the wrist that year that they re-divided the pie ...
The leaders of the hagana and stern gangs begin, shamir and rabin eventually became their leading politicians and prime ministers and they stayed in power all throughout their lives. How could anyone call that a democracy ???? Another ridiculous MYTH or LIE purveyed by zionism.
No matter, israel's future is doomed with citizen poverty, discontent and demographics that will eventually have 10 Arabs for every israeli. We'll see how they spin that into a democracy then ...
Nonsense, those who stayed in power longer than you wanted them to, were in power because people voted for them, and people voted for them because they were good for the country.
That is the true democracy.
The Arab Israelis also understand, that for all it's flaws Israel makes much better place to live than any country ran by islamists, that's why most of them stand by Israel, and many even serve in IDF.
The likes of you have been repeating that Israel will collapse any day now for 65 years. I am sure you will keep repeating that for 65 more.
Nobody wants Israel to collapse. I just want them to treat the palestinians better than dirt. That way maybe peace would be possible. All these years, Netanyahoo hasnt said one damn thing about peace. Just more settlements.