Party Politics in Israel Archives

Best books of the past year

March 24, 2023

My fifth annual list (for 2022-2023) of favorite books on Israeli, Jewish and other matters, ranging from diplomacy to Torah commentary.

Cool it!

March 10, 2023

Beware the doomsday discourse about irreparable depredations in Israel’s democratic moorings. The poison it pumps into Israel’s soul and standing is far worse than its proximate cause.

The hysterical handwringing about judicial reform – which intelligent observers know will yet be moderated and slowed by the process of negotiating this through the Knesset – only feeds the anti-Israel monster that exists out there in the world, saps Israeli and Jewish self-confidence, and worst of all – creates self-fulfilling prophesies about Israel’s economic isolation. Alas, this is time-worn left-wing trick: Threatening global ruin to scare-off Israelis from reasonable right-wing policies.

Go away, Arye Deri

January 20, 2023

Arye Deri should resign immediately and stay home permanently. His ruinous record in politics is without peer. His brand of blithely sectorial, brusquely cynical politics has been catastrophic. Unfortunately, I expect that we will see Deri back soon as speaker of the Knesset or as alternate prime minister.

Judicial reform is reasonable and right

January 13, 2023

The overpowerful justice system threatens Israeli democracy, not Justice Minister Levin’s counter-revolutionary proposals.

Radicals with “Ben-Gvir-Phobia” purposefully seek to crash Israel’s diplomatic relations

November 11, 2022

I am less concerned about the direction of the emerging new government than I am about the hysterical reactions to the possible government by foreign and hard-left observers. People like Tom Friedman and Asa Kasher swiftly grab the opportunity to declare Israel a lost cause, and seem only-too-happy to jettison their associations with Israel and Judaism.

Ten Tips for Netanyahu

November 4, 2022

Rule emphatically but be as inclusive as possible. Keep the foxes (Deri, Ben-Gvir) out of the henhouses. Prepare for war the right way. Build in Jerusalem. Engage the Jewish world. And more.

Nobody to vote for?

October 28, 2022

Consider one of the lesser-known parties running for election to Knesset. They serve as an antidote to widespread cynicism about Israel’s political system.

Vote your conscience

October 21, 2022

Israelis should forget the “threshold,” and be strategic and principled, not tactical and cynical, voters. They should vote their conscience, even if that means their ballot for a niche party “goes to waste.” Fact is that their vote also might not go to waste! And anyway, Israel seems headed to another political stalemate with repeat elections likely in April 2023....

Israel’s merry-go-round elections: A primer

October 9, 2022

Israelis are not faced with a choice between good and evil. What they face is another muddy election in a convoluted Israeli political system where negative campaigning and personal animosities are at a peak.

Category: Party Politics in Israel