With Early Israel Elections, Netanyahu Banks on Strengthening Support

@alanore Israel's outgoing IDF Chief of Staff (Izenkot) has opined that, the withdrawal of 2000 US personnel will not change much with IDF's overall all capabilities to keep pounding Iran's military forces in Iraq. The only sad part is the poor Kurds whom - both US & Israel have been supporting with their struggle against their Muslim counterparts.

@Greg What are getting at? Most Israelis want a PM that can stop the terrorism Hamas constantly places on them as well as one that can make peace. If they see that Bibi isn't doing a good job, he will be voted out on the next election otherwise he will stay as Israel is a democracy. For the record, I'm no fan of him, but his fate will be decided by the votes on whether he will stay or go. As for the Palestinians, I take it most of them are alright with a terrorist organization such as Hamas running their government, which is why they voted for them even if not by choice in some areas. Keep in mind that elections are hardly ever help in the Palestinian territories while some of their politicians consider themselves for life on what are supposed to 4 or 6 year terms.

@Tal Barzilai Tal, here in France we are very proud of the resistance mounted during the Nazi occupation. Palestinians have every right to be proud of their own resistance. In fact the UN passed Resolution 3314 giving the Palestinians the right to resist the Israeli occupation, and to use any and all means at their disposal. The "terrorism" card no longer works.

@Greg First of all, the UN has hardly ever supported Israel. Then again, that's mainly because the majority of their members happen to be third world nations that are mostly authoritarian to start with. Also, nothing that Hamas does is a form of resistance but rather terrorism especially when it comes to killing civilians such as the recent ones who were killed at a mall parking lot or even waiting at a bus stop let alone throwing rocks and bombs at others. Most of who Hamas kills are nothing but innocent bystanders who had done nothing to them. A real resistance group actually goes after those they know are really the problem such as the military, but not civilians. If the founding fathers attacked civilians in their protests, then more would want the US to stay under British control in the claim that they won't be killing them at random. As a matter of fact, there were even attacks on Jews by Muslims in the Mid East on what's now Israel that go as far back as 1839, and that was long before Theodore Herzl even thought about having a Jewish state there. Overall, I find it both an irony and appalling when there are those who defend groups such as Hamas and even Hezbollah in that matter while condemning any other terrorist.

@Assaf Me-tsu-yan. Moreover, Israeli society is much more pragmatic & dynamic - where people are by far more opinionated then other democracies. With a population of 8.7m, there are no less then 14 political parties - ranging from atheists (A. Lieberman) all the way to ultra-Orthodox Jews (some dub them "the Penguins"). Unlike US system, the beauty of Israel's parliamentary system is that - through coalition, even minority parties have a voice in the system.

@Marc That is false and inflammatory. I don't like Netanyahu personally, but your accusation is not where it's at. Is he afraid of a peace deal? Absolutely, for many reasons. 1. Does an unelected "leader" of the Palestinians really represent them? Of course not, and the majority don't want a deal, either, nor could Abbas, or whoever, sign for them. 2. What international guarantees does a peace deal come with? Do I hear a stony silence to that? You think President Trump is going to send one soldier to guard whatever borders are determined? You know the answer to that. 3. What does Israel do the day after, with the majority of Palestinians saying, the peace deal is a fraud, and the Americans saying, this is your problem from now on, not ours. The day after will be just like it is now-terrorism, glorification of it in the Palestinian press, and the refusal to accept any Israel as legitimate. Perpetual war isn't what Netanyahu wants, it's what he gets. Where is the decency to call out the Palestinians for their terrorism and payments to terrorists families?

@Marc Palestinians leaders have become very wealthy. Arafat had a net worth of $1 billion, Abbas $100 million, Abu Marzouk $2-3 billion, Khaled Mashaal, $2.6 billion. It literally pays not to make peace.

@Marc Exactly!

@Eddie B. Many countries that we consider democracies have parliamentary systems with many parties. Israel was ranked #26 by Global Democracy Rating http://democracyranking.org/wordpress/rank/democracy-ranking-2016/ Even Palestinians think that Israel is a democracy. “57% say democracy in Israel is good or very good” http://pcpsr.org/en/node/723

So you're saying any country with a parliamentary system rather than a 2-party presidential one is not really a democratic country? How about Italy, for example? How about on the other hand a country in which only two parties monopolize the entire political process, basically preventing any candidate whose ideas are outside the box from every winning office unless they compromise their values to the blow-dried and freeze-dried platforms of the two ruling parties? Is that democratic?

@Eddie B. Yes, there are 34 parties during the elections - but only those with minimum 5 mandates (seats) are qualified as members of Knesset. Today there are "only" 14 parties in Knesset. I will take that over our system of election here in U.S. where a party with only 25% of voters - gets absolute control of all 3 branches of government.

@Greg In all honesty, every politician has some criminal past to hide no matter where they live hence making none of them good according to your logic.

@Tal Barzilai Tal I'm not too fond of any politicians any where , but really now, Israel does take the cake when it comes to leaders charged with criminal activity.

@Cornelis the fact is that there is something that could drastically affect his reputation. This sentence suggests the possibility of scandal is enough to tarnish his image.

@Rosalie Lieberman There is no mention of legality and morality in your comments, two principles that most of us see as very important. I detest deception and dishonesty (Netanyahu and Trump). Don't you think it possible to have strength and honesty in the same body?

@Greg Hi Greg - just like the USA has done by electing Mr Trump.

@Greg "Human rights abuses and violations of international law" must finally be specified, instead of dangerously reciting the same tired grossly inaccurate slogans from 50 years of propaganda. When Arafat and his gang went to North Vietnam and Soviet Russia, Ho Chi Minh and Soviet leaders started the whole accumulating snowball of human rights jargon offences. The rest is history. Pathetic.

@eve ben-levi All it takes would be for you to read the Fourth Geneva Convention. I think that would be specific enough.

@Greg Nonsense. Do you really think that if a different government is elected anti-Semitism will cease? The anti-Semites will hate the next Israeli government and Israel, too.

@DH No, I fear anti-semitism will always be there to contend with. But another radical Israel government will fan the flames. This we do not need. We don't need more. We need less.

@DH While there may always be Anti-Semitism, Israel itself is Guilty Of and Does Not Require being Anti-Palestinian in order to exist. Being safely on your side of a stout border and shooting unarmed protesters on their own land, protesting being cut off from the rest of the World. Legally and Rightfully Protesting, and the state of Israel not only refuses to allow the people in the Gaza Strip access to progress, they are used as Live Target Practice by the "Defense Force". And after Israel shoots and kills over 100 of them, they decide to send, in (internationally dubious, legally) crude, unguided munitions rockets that 'might' cause property damage. And then jump on THAT as an excuse to use ultra-modern jets to precision-bomb pre-selected targets, for political value. Israel has become the nation of "Bu, Bu, Bu, They Hit US Back First!" And do not see how that relates to their actual meaning of Chutzpah. Poor Orphans Indeed! Wake Up Israel, throw out your tyrants and open your eyes to the wider world of the harm YOU do for the little safety You get, and how your present 'leadership' has led your ship of state to dangerous shoals that seek to destroy the very vessel itself, from the inside out due to Corruption, Greed and War-mongering. It is not the Palestinians that are Israel's real enemy, it is the crooks in control there that keep the war and terror going at all cost, to keep ALL the people scared, no matter WHO has to pay. You want to complain? Prove me wrong!

@njglea. Hopefully the “Good People of Israel” won’t give a darn what you, safely and soundly sitting in Seattle, think.

Perhaps not when they vote, no, but the annual aid package won’t be refused either, now will it?

@njglea Tell that to Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran.

@ubique Israel was ranked 30 out of 167 on The Economist's Democracy Index. That's better than Belgium, Greece, Cyprus & at least a dozen other European countries.

@ubique The charges that Bibi and his wife face are actually small time corruption, and don't come close to the level of corruption in the Trump administration. Try forgetting your hate for Israel for a few moments before making such silly posts.

@m1945 - Surely you mean the "Democracy for the Majority" index.

@Paul Israel will get intl. condemnation no matter what it does. The World is biased against Israel For example, the UN criticized only one country for its treatment of women. It was not Saudi Arabia where women were not allowed to drive. It was not Egypt or Iraq or Yemen where girls suffer from female genital mutilation. It was not Palestine or Jordan or Iran where women are subjected to honor killings. It was Israel – a country that has had a female prime minister & female fighter pilots. The 10 worst countries for human rights are: Syria, Sudan, DR Congo, Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, Yemen & Nigeria. So why are there more UN Resolutions against Israel than against the 10 worst countries combined? There is no boycott of China even though China invaded Tibet & transferred millions of Chinese settlers into Tibet. There is no boycott of Turkey even though Turkey occupies part of Cyprus and Turkish settlers have moved into occupied Cyprus. There is no boycott of Morocco which occupies part of Western Sahara. Unlike China, Turkey and Morocco, the Israel's occupation began because Israel was attacked. Also, unlike China, Turkey and Morocco, Israel offered to end the occupation if Palestinians would sign a peace treaty.

@m1945 "The World is biased against Israel". This is becoming very true. It is also very unfortunate! The world did not view Israel in the company of Syria, Sudan, DR Congo, Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, Yemen and Nigeria. It once viewed Israel as a liberal democracy. Now it is seen becoming a fascist theocracy. It is this change that has created the bias.

@m1945 and Greg thank you for your replies. There is plenty of blame to go around on both sides. If one plays the I am pure and you are not game and I never did anything wrong you will embolden the extremes. The origins of this conflict between Jews, Arabs and Christians started when religion was introduced to the state by Abraham, Moses, and Moh. We can thank our founding fathers for creating it and Lincoln for saving it, that we did not do this and thus saved ourselves from the horror story going on in that area since the beginning of time. Save separating religion from state in that area, which will never be done because it makes too much sense, the next closest thing is to realize that Arab and Israelis are both semites and work on that. If not, we will be condemning the area to more wars or worse, nuclear annihilation for the next 3,000 yrs.

@MIKEinNYC The purpose of negotiations is to achieve compromise. Netanyahu isn't interested in compromising with Palestinians, only in defeating them. An Israeli interested in that would definitely want Netanyahu running things. Israelis who are interested in compromise with Palestinians, who believe that compromise is the only way to long-term, sustainable peace, want Netanyahu gone. politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com

@MIKEinNYC And since you're an American, did you applaud Netanyahu's crass and immoral meddling in OUR election? He is a danger and an obstacle to any hope for Peace.

@Ecce Homo Palestinians need to compromise, too, if they want peace. But do they want peace? ‘son's death was "best day of my life," says Palestinian mother’ How can a mother who loves her son say that his death was the "best day of my life?" The explanation is that she believes that her son's becoming a martyr by dying while attacking Jews gives him instant access to Paradise & eternal happiness. People who believe as she does don't want peace. They want conflict because conflict provides an opportunity for martyrdom.

@Fespaco: “formalise” and “upcoming elections”. My apologies.

@Fespaco In 1947, the scholars at Al-Azhar University (The highest authority in Sunni Islam.) declared holy war to return Palestine to Islamic rule. Therefore, as long as most Palestinians are devout Muslims (85% of Palestinian Muslims want sharia law.) and as long as the Jewish State controls even one square inch of land, peace is impossible.

For real, substantive peace, you need a partner that truly wants peace. As long as the Palestinian Authority celebrates martyrdom, and Hamas teaches hatred and violence to their children, there is no partner.