Reflections on conference call with Meretz leader

Zehava Gal-On meeting with us in Tel Aviv, Oct. 2012 (photo by Hillel Schenker)

Judging from the Q & A, callers joined us from at least as far away as Britain, California and Canada.  In this second direct encounter I've had with Zehava Gal-On (albeit via the phone this time), she continues to impress me as warm, thoughtful and principled -- not the dogmatic left-wing firebrand that most Israelis probably imagine.  

She has won praise for leading Meretz back from the brink of extinction at three seats to six (almost seven), and the kudos continued during this talk.  But I did experience a small disappointment -- less about her than the weight of Israel's Arab/Jewish divide.  

Based upon our Israel Symposium's session with Hadash/DFPE (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) Member of Knesset Dov Khenin, the highly respected lone Jewish MK in their four-member parliamentary team, I asked if a joint list of Meretz and Hadash might be possible.  The two parties share views on most issues regarding a negotiated two-state solution and equal rights for Israel’s Arab citizens, and they often cooperate, but she feels that their rhetoric changes substantially depending upon whether their leaders are addressing Jews or Arabs.  

Apparently, differences make for too heavy a lift to create a single list: Meretz is a solidly

Politics of gayness in Israel ('Pinkwashing')

My review of "Yossi and Jagger" was published in the New Jersey Jewish News issue dated April 24, 2004 (see copy of entire article beneath this post). My piece on its sequel, "Yossi," has been published in the current issue of this same newspaper.  The main character in both, Yossi, played by the same actor (Ohad Knoller), has changed his status in life from being a junior infantry officer who loses his lover, Lior Jagger, in combat in Lebanon, to a career as a cardiologist in a Tel Aviv hospital.  But he has not yet moved beyond his grief.  He remains deeply depressed.  

And while Israeli society has changed to the point that being gay is no longer as stigmatized as it was ten years before, Yossi Gutman, M. D., has still not emerged from the proverbial closet.  The NY Times reviewer, Stephen Holden, expressed incredulity that Yossi's young new love would be so open about his sexuality and so accepted by his boisterously straight army buddies.  But since the filmmaker is Eytan Fox, a gay Israeli who generally explores this reality in his films, who are we to doubt it? 

Unfortunately, the relative advance for gays and lesbians in Israel is a source of contention that bleeds into the Arab-Israeli conflict and the overwrought polemics of pro-Israel defenders and anti-Zionist detractors. Pro-Israel elements will focus upon advances for gays

Post-election Hope for Change and Normal Life

I hear first "Crow on the Cradle" sung by Jackson Browne/Graham Nash from No Nukes, then "Teach Your Children Well," Crosby, Stills and Nash, on the Saturday Oldies program -- yes you can tell the politics of the DJs. They also love to play "My Favorite Enemy," a fascinating post-Oslo Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian-International musical project, worth checking out. 

Here's what I just published as part of my thoughts on the outcome of the Israeli elections, at the Times of Israel website: "Israelis Voted for Change and a Normal Life."

There was a very energy-filled post-election party convened by Tammy Zandberg -- 36 years old, just elected as # 6 on the Meretz Knesset list -- Friday afternoon, at a trendy Tel Aviv cafe on Sderot Ben-Gurion.   Hundreds of people attended -- almost all in their 30s and under.   I was one of the few "veterans" there!

Missed opportunity? Final vote count leans Right

Late-tallied ballots from active-duty soldiers have pushed the needle to the right, breaking the 60-60 tie between the right-wing/ultra-Orthodox bloc and the center-left and predominantly Arab parties. Ahmad Tibi's United Arab List/Ra`am-Ta`al lost one seat from five to four, with Naftali Bennett's HaBayit HaYehudi (the Jewish Home) going from eleven to twelve. Details and insights can be garnered from news articles in the NY Times and Ha'aretz.

This gives Prime Minister Netanyahu a decided advantage, barring completely unexpected defections from "his" half of the spectrum, in negotiating a new coalition.  If the announced intentions of both Netanyahu and second-place finisher Yair Lapid (head of the centrist Yesh Atid/There is a Future) to join in government do not work out, Netanyahu has a narrow right-wing and ultra-Orthodox majority to fall back upon.  

But the expectation is that Netanyahu will come to an agreement with Lapid on his left and Bennett on his right for a majority of 62, perhaps strengthened with the now tiny centrist Kadima (two seats).  It's anybody's guess if one or more ultra-Orthodox or center-left parties might join, but Lapid's number one issue of "equal burden sharing" by the Haredim makes the former unlikely, and Tzipi Livni's participation (for example) probably depends upon the unlikely prospect of a Netanyahu government credibly committing itself to a peace initiative. 

Elections: Not a win, but a blow to the bad guys

        I was at two parties on Monday and Tuesday night.  Monday night was the Obama Inauguration party at Zolli's Pub in Jerusalem, and Tuesday night was the Meretz watch for the election results at the Tzavta Club in Tel Aviv.

 

        Monday night I told a reporter that "the good guys won" in the States, and "we can only hope that the good guys will win in Israel tomorrow as well."

 

        Well, maybe the good guys didn't win, but the bad guys definitely suffered a serious blow, and at the Meretz gathering, there was a tremendous amount of young energy -- for the first time in years.   Tzavta was packed -- standing room only, and when the sample results came in -- there was a huge roar from the crowd, a sense of genuine achievement and rejuvenation, punctured with shouts of "Bibi Habayta" (Bibi go home) and "Hu ha, mi zeh bah, medinat harevacha" (Look what's coming, the social welfare state).

 

        A lot of work was done to double the number of Knesset seats from 3 to 6 (almost 7).  And many people were involved in bringing about the achievement.   And there was also an outpouring of appreciation for Zehava Galon and the whole team that masterminded and managed the campaign.  

Israel has voted; the coalition game begins

Yesterday, Israel's voters surprised Prime Minister Netanyahu and themselves by returning a closely divided Knesset, presenting him with a challenging task to pull together a majority coalition. Our friends in Meretz doubled their representation from three to six seats, constituting the largest of four "left" parties but still half of its proportion of the vote upon its launch as a bloc of three small dovish parties in 1992, and as Rabin's main coalition partner. 

The big winner is Yair Lapid's brand new centrist Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, the likely key to a new coalition.  A possible achievement of a coalition led by Netanyahu and including Lapid is an effort to integrate the ultra-religious Haredim into "burden sharing" in national service (military conscription or some agreed upon substitute) and in the economy, meaning jobs instead of welfare for an inordinate number of "Torah scholars." What is not likely to result from such a coalition is a realistic peace initiative.  

Our thanks to Lilly Rivlin for sharing this YouTube video of a fascinating talk by Yair Lapid to a mostly Haredi audience.
Here are the election results as transmitted by J Street's Israel representative, Yael Patir:

Roger Cohen's 'Blight of Return' Article

In an important NY Times column, Roger Cohen begins by contrasting the Palestinian Authority's moderation, as expressed by Salam Fayyad's support for a two-state soluiton, with Khaled Meshal's "awful speech" in Gaza recently:

“Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north,” he declared. In other words, forget compromise on the 1967 lines with agreed land swaps: Annihilation of the state of Israel remains the goal.
Then there was Mohamed Morsi. ... now the Egyptian president, was chief of the Brotherhood’s political arm. This week it emerged that in this role in 2010, he said: “We must never forget, brothers, to nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for them: for Zionists, for Jews.” He called Zionists “bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs.” And he called for all Palestine to be freed.
.... When the United Nations called in 1947 for the partition of Mandate Palestine and the establishment of Jewish and Palestinian states, the proposed Palestinian state occupied about 42 percent of the territory. Arab armies went to war and lost. Today, with the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians stand to get about 22 percent of the land under any two-state peace. The annihilation ambition has been a recipe for Palestinian defeatism, victimhood and loss.
Wide swaths of the Palestinian leadership have drawn the lesson. ... New policies — of nonviolence, responsible governance, elimination of militias, central control of security and economic growth — have been embraced to lay the groundwork of statehood, a state explicitly envisaged as existing side-by-side in peace and security with Israel.

Hopeful Notes on Zahava Gal-On & Meretz

Arieh here.  From Ha'aretz, here's some slight hope for some slight optimism in a very bad political / electoral situation:  

On Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard, Meretz wins the battle, if not the war 

Zahava Gal-On ((photo credit: Abir Sultan/Flash90/File)

"'Oh, I have to take your picture, my husband is your biggest fan!' gushed a passerby to Zahava Gal-On. By Ilan Lior | Jan.20, 2013"

And, after focusing upon Hadash MK Dov Khenin, columnist Ari Shavit lauds the apparent revival of Meretz under Zahava Gal-On: 

The ideological optimism of left-wing parties Hadash and Meretz
.... The 2013 election campaign is being fought under a pervasive feeling that Israel is becoming nationalist and religious and illiberal. In the 2013 election, the left seems not to exist. The initiative and the momentum are in the hands of the right wing, and the agenda is that of the right. But when Zahava Gal-On enters one of the cafes on Ahad Ha’am Street, she brings an unexpected gust of energy, grit and hope.

The (Likely) Shape of the Israeli Election

 Paul Scham

As I write this, there is not much more than 24 hours until the polls open in Israel.  For many months, most of us who follow Israeli politics closely have concluded, resignedly or otherwise, that Bibi Netanyahu will emerge as Israel’s next Prime Minister, succeeding himself for a third term.  However, unlike the norm in American elections (2000 excepted), the shape of the next Israeli government only starts to take place after the votes are counted. 

What can we expect?

The most likely outcome is more of the same, only worse.  The safe money would be on Bibi’s Likud Beiteinu getting around 32-35 seats (“mandates”).  If so, he might first seek to get the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox party Yahadut Hatorah (around 5 seats) and the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas (9-11) on board his nascent coalition.  If so, that gives him 45-50 mandates to start with, within striking distance of putting together a governing coalition.

Now he has the choice of moving towards the center (less likely) or moving towards the right (more probable).  We’ll look at the former first.  The venerable Labor party, whose leader, Shelley Yacimovich, has declared it a centrist and not a “leftwing” party, has promised not to enter a coalition with Netanyahu.  Labor may get 15-18 seats.  She may – or may not – keep her promise; either eventuality is not unknown in politics.

A variety of predictions on next week's election

A long-time acquaintance of mine,  CUNY political scientist, Mitchell Cohen, a former co-editor of Dissent magazine and a veteran Labor Zionist observer and writer on Israeli politics, has written an article in the Huffington Post on next week's election.  He comments somberly on what seems to be in the offing:

.... Bibi, a prime minister responsible for untold damage to his country's image, looks to come in first in elections scheduled for January 22 -- regardless of a record of ineptness and the indictment of Avigdor Liberman, his (now ex-) foreign minister for fraud, breach of trust and possible "moral turpitude." Liberman, once Bibi's protégé, leads a secular ultra-nationalist party that has amalgamated with his mentor's Likud. Some of their vote, polls say, is being lost -- but to an even more radical party, both religious and right-wing, led by Naftali Bennett, another Bibi protégé.

.... Israel is indeed demonized like few other countries. ... It is impossible, however, to exonerate Israel's rash right-wing government for its current difficulties. It is one thing to thwart Muslim extremists who shoot missiles from Gaza; it is another to settle Jewish fanatics in the West Bank. ....

In the meantime, my friend and colleague, Ralph Seliger, has just published a detailed overview of what to expect at the In These Times magazine website. In a mere 1200 words, he helpfully

Two Documentaries - one Israeli, one Palestinian/Israeli - Vie for Oscar

'Five Broken Cameras' co-directors Davidi (left) & Burnat

It's fascinating to see two documentaries - one Israeli and one Palestinian-Israeli - picked as finalists for the Academy Award.  Ralph Seliger interviewed Guy Davidi, the Israeli co-director of "Five Broken Cameras" and blogged about it here.  

This is a rare year in recent cycles that an Israeli film has not been a top contender for Best Foreign Language Film honors, but it will be a tribute to Israeli cinema if one of these two finally wins a coveted statuette in the documentary category.  Yet some Israelis will not be pleased.

Reviews of "The Gatekeepers" include one in The American Prospect, "An Inescapable Truth" by journalist Gershom Gorenberg, beginning as follows:

As I watched The Gatekeepers in a small hall in Jerusalem, [these] thoughts kept repeating in my mind. The first was that if the new Israeli documentary were showing on prime-time television rather than in tiny cinematheque auditoriums, the country's vapid election campaign might morph turn into an urgently needed debate on the occupation. ... The film's Oscar nomination for best documentary will not be celebrated in those organizations.

Pacifist roots of religious Zionism

On the evening of Jan. 8, I attended a lecture in New York, sponsored by Mechon Hadar, a unique egalitarian yeshiva/Jewish studies institute.  It has a liberal Orthodox (or "Conservadox") feel to it, but I understand that it's really non-denominational. 

Rav Kook

Rav Reines

The photo at the bottom of this post is of the lecturer, Rabbi Shai Held, a remarkably engaging and learned teacher, who discoursed mainly on the lives and work of Isaac Jacob Reines and Abraham Isaac Kook, two giants in the history of religious Zionism.  Contrasting their views, he characterized Kook as mystical and messianic in his pronouncements, while Reines (founder of the Mizrachi religious Zionist party) had a more practical vision.  Reines justified Zionism philosophically on the principle of Pekuah Nefesh, the commandment to save lives.  Kook saw the hand of God in the work of the overwhelmingly secular (even atheistic) majority of the Zionist movement in rebuilding the Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Rabbi Held indicated that, with Theodor Herzl, Reines was motivated by a sense of urgency for Jews to leave the danger zones of Europe, and in that spirit, both Reines and Herzl initially accepted the Uganda proposal offered by Britain as a possible place of refuge.  And with Herzl, Reines conceived of the Jewish homeland -- which both really saw in Palestine -- as a tolerant, enlightened country.

Media Stars as Political Candidates

Following in the footsteps of Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism who was Paris correspondent for the Viennese newspaper, the Neue Freie Presse, journalists and media personalities are very prominent in the 2013 Israeli election campaign.

Yachimovich

Shelly Yachimovich, the leader of the Labor Party, ran the popular Hakol Diburim (It's all talk) news magazine daily radio program, and was the moderator of the Israeli Saturday prime-time Meet the Press TV program.  Incidentally, her first job was as the reporter in Beersheva for Al Hamishmar (the newspaper affiliated with Mapam, a predecessor of Meretz, published from 1943 to '95) and she voted for the left-wing Hadash party in 1996.

Lapid

As for Yair Lapid, who has launched the Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, he was the host of popular magazine talk show programs on TV, and wrote a popular weekly personal column in Yediot Ahronot, along with being an actor, writer, and general "personality", or "celeb" as it's known here.  He actually won "the election" at the Blich High School in Ramat Gan, always considered to be an important indicator.   Among first time voters, the attractive "young" faces are Lapid and Naftali Bennet of Habayit Yehudi (The Jewish Home), an extreme right-wing party (Bennet is Netanyahu's former bureau chief and a former head of the Yesha Settlement Council, and a hi-tech millionaire).

The Labor Party is disappointing -- again

This is not the first election in which the Labor Party has been a disappointment.  Every time I think they have made every mistake possible -- they come up with some more.  Although they are to some extent a rival to my party, Meretz, it saddens me that they repeatedly miss out in helping pull the left together -- and up. This time it seems to me they've made at least three big mistakes.

Click here for my profile

First, early on in the race, Shelly Yachimovitch came out in support of Netanyahu's handling of the war in Gaza and hinted that she'd be willing to form a government with him, saying she wouldn't discount any possibility (this was probably also meant in part to be a criticism of Meretz, which stated early on it wouldn't join a government with him -- and be "fig leaf" for his freeze on any peace initiative). Then, just a week or so ago, when it was clear that the Labor Party (which had 42 seats under Rabin!) probably wouldn't reach 20 seats, she announced (days after reiterating on the news that no party was taboo!)  she would not join in any government that Netanyahu heads.  Couldn't the party have thought this through earlier? And is anyone willing to place bets that the Labor Party won't end up crawling into another government with Bibi, as it did last time? Or split over the issue?  Or both?

Second, Yachimovitch is so focused on economic issues the party doesn't seem to address any other ones. In a country that just fought a war (albeit a "small" one), that has a large neighbor, Syria, in the midst of a bloody civil wat, and after a revolution in our neighbor Egypt ( a mere 80+ million citizens), did she really think she could run a serious campaign and avoid any mention of national security? With all due respect to the social protests -- and as a person who spends most of her time dealing with socioeconomic problems -- I must say I don't understand what she is thinking.

Optimistic Notes from J Street's Israel Rep.

J Street's staff person in Israel, Yael Patir.

The Partners "Israel Symposium" met with Yael Patir, J Street's representative in Israel, in Tel Aviv late in October.  We were impressed by the intelligence and moral sensitivity of this young woman.  The following is most of what she shared with the J Street "Forum," on Jan. 6 (Jeremy Ben-Ami is allowing us to quote from what is normally a confidential email discussion): 

....  First, about the polls: you ought to know that they are not 100% representative of all voters and that our system has a tendency of producing last minute surprises. In 2006, for example, the surprise was the Pensioners Party that went from 2 seats in the polls to 7 in the ballots. This is partially due to the fact that polls are not allowed to be published in the five days leading up to the elections (from January 18th). These are days of intense campaigning, including TV ads which only start this Tuesday and they can change people's minds. Especially given that 30% of Israelis still have not decided who to vote [for], which counts for about 18 mandates/seats that can go in different directions.

Polling in Israel [is] mostly conducted by landline phones, a method that misses many voters, mainly young voters, who use only mobile phones. Lastly, as I wrote in the past, when it comes to the center-left bloc, much is dependent on the voters' turnout. Last election, 300,000 eligible Arab voters and 700,000 Jewish, who are most likely to vote for the center-left, did not vote. This is about 10 seats. Many efforts of different parties with our political affiliation are conducted to get people out to vote. ... 

Gideon Levy: Include the Left (Meretz, Hadash, etc.)

Gideon Levi has been an early voice, a passionate voice, and a voice of conscience on the Left.  He is also one of the most prolific columnists on Ha'Aretz.  Here's a link to his latest column, "The racism of leftist nationalism," which includes the following:

Only Meretz and Hadash speak the language of the old left....
At the end of the week the left-center bloc seemed somewhat reinvigorated. Talk of coordination between its three parties provided some meager hope.... But this hope is lost from the outset because this bloc is keeping out Meretz, not to mention the Arab parties and their voters.
.... The left-center must overcome its racism now and turn to the Arab parties and their voters.
.... The only reservoir of votes that can stop the left-center's fall is in Taibeh, Nazareth and Kalansua. These voters must be brought to the polls on January 22. They won't vote en masse for Labor, Hatnuah or Yesh Atid, but if they know that these parties listen to their problems, if they know that Meretz, Hadash, United Arab List-Ta'al, Balad and the Da'am workers party could have some impact after the election, they might change their minds and vote. ... 

Behind the Hagel Debate

by Paul Scham

By now, the battle lines on Chuck Hagel have largely been drawn, and numerous able commentators have exposed the absurdities of claiming Hagel is outside the mainstream, as well as the bizarre and offensive nature of the assertions that he is not only anti-Israel but even an anti-semite.  However, this debate is often mischaracterized as being about Israel.  It’s really not.  It’s the Republican Party and the ideological rightwing shamelessly trying to continue the campaign against Obama even after he resoundingly won a second term, hoping to split the Democratic Party and thus derail Obama’s agenda on domestic as well as international issues.  It’s part of the process that began twenty years ago to make support for Israel a rightwing issue, as opposed to its former composition, which was then dominated by liberal Democrats.

We saw something of this back in the 1990s as well when AIPAC and other mainstream Jewish organizations were notably cool to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the Oslo peace process.  Then, however, Israel was still not a Republican litmus test, Neocons were still to some degree outliers among both Jews and Republicans, and this was largely an intra-Jewish community matter.  Since then, however, for a variety of reasons, Republicans and most of the right in this country (apart from paleo-conservatives like Pat Buchanan and mavericks like Grover Norquist) have adopted support for the most rightwing of Israeli parties as a rallying cry, as we saw in the Republican primaries.  Absolute and unquestioning support for Israel’s current government  now seems to resonate not only with a few billionaires like Sheldon Adelson, but even more with conservative Christians around the country who know little or nothing about the real Israel but cheer whenever it is brought up, partly for theological reasons.

T. Mitchell Reviews Book on Israel's Radical Right

"The Triumph of Israel’s Radical Right" by Ami Pedahzur (Oxford University Press, 2012, 211 pp.) is  reviewed here by independent scholar, Thomas G. Mitchell, Ph.D., the "Self-Hating Gentile" blogger:

Prof. Ami Pedahzur

    In 1991, Israeli political scientist Ehud Sprinzak published his landmark study, The Ascendance of Israel’s Radical Right,  tracing the roots of Israel’s extreme Right from the Revisionist Zionist movement of Ze’ev Jabotinsky and the Marxist territorial maximalism of Ahdut Ha’Avoda and the Jewish Defense League of Rabbi Meir Kahane. Sprinzak estimated that about 30 percent of the MKs from parties of the Right belonged to the Radical Right.  Ami Pedahzur’s sequel (he is a former student of Sprinzak) briefly recaps some of Sprinzak’s analysis, and then begins his own narrative starting in 1973-74 with the founding of the Likud by Ariel Sharon and the rise of Gush Emunim, the militant settlement pressure group, and the emergence of Rabbi Kahane as an Israeli political figure.

    Brought up and educated in Israel, where he was also a journalist, Pedahzur is a professor of government and head of Israel Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.  He takes the narrative forward to the end of the Gaza war of January 2009.  Whereas the anticipated further rise of far Right representation in the Knesset in this month's election is outside his book's scope, it's timely as background on what is likely to happen.

H. Schenker: 'Confidence Building' Not Enough

The following is from Hillel Schenker, our chaver and fellow blogger who is currently co-editor of the Palestine-Israel Journal.  He writes thoughtfully in The Times of Israel ("Time for a new American peace initiative in the Middle East") on the recent speech by Dennis Ross at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, mostly with praise, but also suggesting that the situation is too urgent for "confidence building measures" ("CBMs") alone:  

.... Ross’ 16 Point Plan contains six recommendations for Israeli CBMs, six for the Palestinians, and four joint recommendations.

For the Israelis, he recommends:

1)    Declare that you are ready to provide compensation for settlers to return to Israel proper;

2)    Start building housing in Israel for settlers who will leave the West Bank;

3)    Building only in the settlement blocks which it is assumed will be part of a future land swap – nothing west of the separation barrier, i.e. nothing within the 92% of the area which will definitely be a part of the future Palestinian state;

4)    Since 6l% of the West Bank is Area C under Israeli control, open area C up for Palestinian economic activity;

5)    21% of the West Bank is Area B, and the level of Palestinian police responsibility for security in that area should be increased;

6)    18.2% of the West Bank is Area A, under almost full Palestinian control. Israel should designate guidelines for security considerations in Area A, and only if those guidelines are broken will Israeli security forces enter the area.

For the Palestinians, he recommends:

Hamas and Israel: The Best of Enemies?

by Paul L. Scham

I have believed for awhile that Hamas is, unfortunately, the wave of the future in the Middle East, or at least an important aspect of it, and that Israel will have to find a way to deal with it (other than by war) sooner rather than later.  Somewhat to my surprise, this may now be happening.  See these recent articles in al-Monitor and Ha’aretz, for example.  They seem to indicate that the current government is making an effort to coexist peacefully with Hamas in Gaza, not something an Israeli government has previously done, and it is a complete about-face from this government’s rhetoric and actions before and through its mini-war in Gaza just a couple of months ago.

It also comes at a time when right-wing Israeli parties are heating up their bellicose rhetoric and the government seems to be positively anxious to get under the skin of the US and the Europeans, as well as that of the Palestinian Authority. It almost seems that Israel is bent on attacking its friends and ignoring - or even improving relations – with its enemies. 

A conservative writer who's sensible on Israel

I have a politically right-wing friend.  Greg's not a neocon militarist; he's what is sometimes called a paleo-conservative, a believer in pre-Eisenhower, anti-New Deal, isolationist conservatism. His heroes are Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul.

The basis of our friendship, from my side, is that he's intelligent and very witty.  I think he likes me because we find many of the same things funny and he appreciates that when we discuss politics, philosophy and religion (he's Catholic, by the way), I can disagree with him respectfully.

One year, Greg gave me a gift subscription to The American Conservative, a very right-wing magazine founded by Pat Buchanan about ten years ago.  It advocates an agenda that is basically for small government and an anti-war, anti-interventionist foreign policy.  Its articles on Israel tend to be very critical, even hostile, and sometimes include harsh Israel critics associated with the left, like Philip Weiss and M. J. Rosenberg (although Rosenberg is not anti-Israel in the way that Weiss is, he often writes as if he is). 

Recently, via a link provided by J Street's daily email News Roundup, I've discovered Noah Millman, someone who chucked his Wall Street business career in 2010 to pursue literary and journalistic ambitions.  He writes with uncharacteristic modesty for The American Conservative, including with intelligence and sensitivity on Israel.

Elections: A lot of confusion -- and a little hope

I am your new blogger, Laura Wharton

The current election campaign in Israel is certainly the most confusing the country has ever seen. The largest party in the current Knesset, the centrist "Kedima", now holds 28 seats -- but according to all the latest polls is not expected to pass the minimum percentage required to get even a single seat in the January elections.   A relatively new party, "Habayit Hayehudi" on the far right, has taken in several young and popular former members of the Likud, together with their supporters: it is now expected to garner at least 12 seats, up from 3 seats in the current Knesset. A former television host and columnist, Yair Lapid, has formed a new party composed of a hodgepodge of mayors, a former police officer, a rabbi, an author, and other people he personally selected. Tzippi Livni, once acting prime minister, formed her own new party after having lost in the primary elections to lead her former party -- the ill-fated Kedima. Livni has managed to enlist the support of a former head of the Labor Party, who left the party in frustration with its new chairman, the former radio journalist Sheli Yehimovitch.

Where does that leave the voters? In a mess. Polls say that with elections only three weeks away 30% of the electorate still hasn't decided whom to support.  It's no wonder: not only have most of the parties shifted, merged or been subject to hostile takeovers -- the issues are not clear.  Netanyahu has gone on record as supporting a two-state solution but in the last four years has done absolutely nothing to progress in that direction (rather, quite the contrary).  Yehimovitch, head of the Labor Party, talks almost exclusively about domestic economic issues and skirts questions relating to the settlements, a peace initiative, or the ultra-orthodox. Livni talks about foreign policy, although in her time as prime minister she accomplished little; she is vague on all economic issues, perhaps because she herself has been a strong supporter of massive privatization but has taken onto her list politicians like Amir Peretz, former head of the National Trade Union. The currently governing Likud has merged with its former rival, Israel Beytanu, and has published no party platform -- perhaps a reason for its steady decline over the last several months.

In this context it seems to me refreshing that Meretz has taken a clear stance on all the issues,