This tells me something: there is severe problems in Israeli society such that after two elections the persons who have been elected cannot agree on governing the country. These folks cannot reach even compromises among themselves.
With this as the backdrop, how can we expect these folks to come to any agreement with the Palestinians, whose lands they have been grabbing for decades. It is impossible. Furthermore, they are doing the same thing they had done in prior 2 elections. What is going to change in the third? Is there an expectation that the election results will be different? I doubt it. A solution would be to disqualify the current elected persons and bring in new candidates, w ho might be able to reach some consensus on forming a government.
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This is fascinating to watch, but I hate to think what might happen if the U.S. was a parliamentary democracy. We are probably just as polarized. I can't fathom having no duly elected government for months on end. The party not in power would be crying foul over every move, declaring it illegitimate. That's almost what happens here, but we at least have an orderly transition of power, even if half of us don't like the answer.
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@Ken L
" I can't fathom having no duly elected government for months on end." Where have you lived the past 3 years?
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@expat Not everything is about Trump.
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It is inherent in our blood, go figure we can't even pick a leader that will project our common need as a people.
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A crook & demagogue is ready to throw his country under the bus for the sake of staying in power and not going to jail.
A deluded base is also ready to tear their country apart for the sake of not letting go of the alternative facts forming their delusion of reality.
Why does this sound so familiar ?
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@nestor potkine Not everything is about Trump
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Netanyahu's rage against corruption?...Netanyahu is corruption personified. He has been indicted. He needs to go and face his music, and enjoy his unearned financial benefits that he has questionably gained for awhile.
There has to be a sufficient number of Israelis who believe it's time to move away from corruption. Israel, can handle that!
And unfortunately, we here in the US could use the same break here, too! We're better than that, too!
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You can keep a good man down ... but not for long ... especially in a country threatened by desperate Mullahs in a falling-apart Iran.
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This is funny. Nobody can be this blind.
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Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting the outcome to be different is the definition of insanity. Likud: Pick someone other than Bibi.
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Are they spending all the handouts from us on elections? Bibi is like the unwanted son in law of Israel. Useless, but won't go away.
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Do us a favor, though, Israel. Elect Trump your prime minister.
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Three strikes and you’re OUT, Bibi.
Let’s hope.
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Notwithstanding the laments and grandstanding of NYT commenters, Israel will continue to flounder forward.
It is a democracy in which the PM is under indictment and at least two prior ones have served prison time.
Arabs have more rights which they enjoy than any Arab land. They are not all anti-Zionist as some might believe.
It is a majority Jewish country, the only one ever.
Don't worry. They will somehow make it through and continue to lead the world in technology, education, science, and pure brains.
And also continue to be condemned by the ignorati of the world.
Happy Hannukah to all.
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Three elections in one year for Israel in which Arab parties run; no elections for the PA and Hamas in over a decade.
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@Dave
Perhaps this is because the Americans, the Israelis, and Abbas know that Hamas would win.
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@Dave
The PA and Hamas can hold elections if they so choose.
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Money has poisoned Israeli politics and corrupted its institutions just like it has ours. Their "stalemate" looks more like Italy in the 80s than our standoff but, essentially, we are all at a standstill and all at the mercy of an oligarchy that is hungry for power.
The Adelsons get to pay off politicians here and in Israel while pushing imperialist policies.
Will Israel's justice system be strong enough to break the stalemate? I hope, for Israel's sake, that it is.
May justice win!
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The similarities between the polarizating and corrupting forces in Israel and the United States continues to shock and amaze me. There are forces in the world seeking to bring down democratic forms of government wherever they can and they keep fanning the flames of religious extremism and corruption. Facts and reality are the enemy of autocrats but the only way democracies can survive. At some point, it seems reasonable to assume that institutions like The New York Times will be attacked in ways disallowed by The Constitution.
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@AGoldstein Mainly greedy money mongers like Netanyahu and Trump. They both lie with ease and both promote policies that enrich themselves and their probability of re-election. Two horrible people promising that they are the only ones who can protect the population from their chosen enemies du jour.
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One is always tempted (in that America first monolithic view of world order) to think that; Trump begat Bibi, Trump begat Boris, Trump begat European right wing nationalist redux, but perhaps it was Likud all along that begat Trump. Please show me where I'm wrong...
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@William Why do I have this sinking feeling there is no need to show you that you are 100% right ?
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Bibi won’t give up power without a fight. Sad to say he’s dragged Israel down with him.
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Just like America; Criminals like Trump get away with anything
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"Until a new government is created, Mr. Netanyahu remains prime minister..."
Seems clear who is winning this showdown, plus Mr. Netanyahu knows that the timing of the allegations against him help make the case to voters of their deeply political nature.
I predict that six months from now, and beyond, Mr. Netanyahu will still be Israel's prime minister, and that's good news for Israel's national defense in a very hostile neighborhood.
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"Israel’s inability to break the logjam has raised questions about the political system its citizens often boast is the only democracy in the Middle East."
I mean if you ignore the millions of Palestinians whose lives are dictated by Israel, but can't vote in the electoral process that results in their oppression, sure. Please stop fostering the illusion that Israel is in any way a democracy.
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Perhaps you meant to say: "A democracy often compared to that of Britain or the United States is now evoking comparisons to the less stable governments of Britain (about to vote for the third time since 2017) and the United States (where impeachment is in progress)."
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Netanyahu is subject to the same kind of nasty attacks as President Trump, and nothing has been proven against him, they are all allegations, just like those against Trump. In Trump's case, enough has been made public that no one with a brain thinks he will be found guilty, since you cannot be convicted of a felony on hearsay alone. If a court with full cross-examination of the witnesses against, and the introduction of witnesses and evidence in favor, rules against PM Netanyahu, then I might change my mind, but not until.
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@Starman535 Of course they are both innocent. They said so, right? And Starman, like so many Trump supporters, you would always claim "fake news" at any facts presented. In Trump's case, why would he prohibit any subpoenaed witnesses from testifying? Why would he not encourage them to testify under oath to clear his name? Of course, those of us with no brain think Don is 100% guilty of attempted bribery in Ukraine and obstruction of justice as it pertains to his ongoing cover-ups. Only people like you with a brain think he is innocent. As for Bibi, the evidence there is also pretty conclusive for this of us without a brain.
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This isn't happening because of flaws in the electoral system. It's happening because Mr. Netanyahu's goal is staying out of jail rather than governing the country. The good news is he will probably lose the election. Third time's the charm.
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Netanyahu has to plea bargain? He can't pardon himself? He is running for president of the wrong country. In the USA, the crookeder the president is, the more he gets away with.
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I would like a trifecta.
Netanyahu voted out and found guilty of all charges against him.
Boris Johnson voted out and the UK continuing to be part of the EU.
Finally Trump and his Republican enablers to be voted out so that the USA can return to being a shining example to the world.
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@kensbluck
And Trump indicted and found guilty of all charges about to be filed in NY and, once out of office, by the feds.
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@kensbluck I'll buy you a beer if that happens. That would be great.
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@kensbluck dream on. All three will be around for the next 10 years or more.
Not only does Netanyahu face 3 criminal charges at home, his wife is under criminal investigation, he and his government is under investigation for war crimes at the ICC, his friend Trump is under 3 criminal charges in the US, and his friend the Saudi MBS is under suspicion of murder.
And Israelis still consider voting for him?
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Let them vote as many times as needed until they get it right!
Netanyahu and Likud do not contribute to Israel's quest to
justify the displacement of millions of Palestinians, and to live at peace with their Biblical brothers, the Arabs.
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@AynRant How can Israel live in peace with the Arabs when the Arabs can't live in peace with each other?
‘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.
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@m1945 That’s a generalization - like judging all Americans by trump.
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Israel needs to cure itself of corruption before the country can run efficiently, sooner than later.
Netanyahu's days are over, and has standing indictments. It's time for him to face the music, and stand down for another successor.
Israel doesn't need a king. Israel needs an honest leader, so it can move forward!
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Yair Lapid is the former finance minister, not foreign minister.
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As time is running out for both Netanyahu and Trump, it is also running out for the publication of their Middle East "Deal of the Century". The plan has been developed by Kushner, Netanyahu and Greenblatt with massive funding from Saudi Arabia. The public exposure of the proposal has been delayed several times because of Netanyahu's troubles, Trump troubles, and the furor over the Saudi killing of Khashoggi.
Now the window of opportunity is clearly limited, and the "Deal" must be publicly tabled very soon. It will be a very hard sell, given the current political climate and the recent support for Palestinian justice at the United Nations.
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@Greg On Dec. 2, 1947, just days after the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to partition historic Palestine into Jewish and Arab-ruled sections, the Ulama or chief scholars of Sunni Islam of Al-Azhar University in Cairo– the leading university of the Arab World– issued a fatwa calling on the world’s Muslims to launch a Jihad to destroy the incipient Jewish state. It was reiterated by the Ulama, in April 1948, days before the Egyptian Army and three other Arab armies attacked Palestine, giving the campaign a “religious imprimatur.” The fatwa was reissued later that year.
“It was clear the Arabs had lost the war,” Morris said, but reissuing the Fatwa signaled it was meant “to stand for future years, for future generations, for whatever bout there will be against the Jews.”
As noted in his book and repeated at the conference, Matiel Mighannam, a Lebanese Christian woman who headed the Arab Women’s Organization in Palestine, affiliated with the Arab High Command, told an interviewer: “The UN decision has united all Arabs as they have never been united before, not even against the Crusaders.” She added that a Jewish state had no chance to survive and “All the Jews will eventually be massacred.”
http://www.theseniortimes.com/1948-was-a-holy-war-for-arabs-historian-says/
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.
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@m1945
So this is the reasoning why Israel must control and occupy land beyond its legally accepted borders? This is why vast sums of money are going to try to buy Palestinian legal and human rights?
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@Greg There are no legally accepted borders. Official borders are set by treaty. There is no treaty between Israel & Palestine setting official borders.
The Palestinians of Gaza have no freedom of speech, no freedom of the press, no freedom of assembly no freedom of religion & no vote.
It makes no sense to blame the Israelis or the Jews because there are no Israelis or Jews in Gaza. Jews lived in Gaza for centuries, but were ethnically cleansed by the Palestinians in 1929. If the people of Gaza want freedom, if the people of Gaza want their rights, they need to overthrow Hamas.
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I hope your readers are interested in this because very few people here in Israel really care.
What parts of government that do not function are not felt by most people. What budgets that are not approved are not those with immediate impact.
So the big news is that elections will be on a Monday instead of a Tuesday.
And the biggest scandal is that the work day is cancelled. As elections take place in schools, children have to get the day off but others could work. Security would not allow so many people wandering around a school when children are there, but there is no reason not to keep everything else open.
Will elections change anything?
The left is dead and stays that way. The right and right/center and center/center will more or less stay the same with nobody being able to achieve a coalition as long as the same problems that exist now still exist.
Will Mr. Netanyahu still cling to the horns of the altar? He should know that this does not always grant protection or immunity from punishment. I'm sure he knows his Bible.
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@Joshua Schwartz Mr. Schwartz, if you are right, I tremble. Then Jews should not behave like a Polish land gathering (I may as well insult more than one group, I am a Dutchman anyway).
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