Politi.co.il Israeli Politics Blog by Tal Schneider
By: Tal Schneider, Noga Tarnopolsky If it seems to you the Israeli election happened– and then nothing, you are not alone. There is no new government, there are no new ministers and the new Knesset barely managed a somewhat stale toast before dispersing for the long Passover break. Its hard to drum up enthusiasm or a feeling of the novel when the same event takes place every two years. That said, we can only assume that behind the fog of the Passover vacation, coalition negotiations are taking place. The only matter I’d (Tal) stake my reputation –for now– is that the Likud and Labor are not, not ... Read More »
Summing up: #IsraElex with less than a week to go.
March 11, 2015
By Noga Tarnopolsky and Tal Schneider A few points summing up Israel’s Alice in Wonderland election in which nothing is at it had seemed before. ♣ Netanyahu called for an early election in the expectation that this would be a cakewalk; he arranged his congressional address while strategizing that it would come at the crest of a billowing campaign. None of this has happened. The strain is starting to show. Other than Adelson’s supportive `Israel Hayom` Netanyahu has not spoken to the media since early January. Unsure of how to proceed in this topsy-turvy election, he has chosen to lash out ... Read More »
six days to #IsraElex (Herzog wants to look older)
March 11, 2015
By Tal Schneider and Noga Tarnopolsky ♣ Remember Jon Stewart’s humorous dissection of Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, which included, as an aside, wonderment at how the guy just does not age? It turns out he’s not the only one. According to the business tabloid The Marker, Yitzhak Herzog’s enviable baby face has caused a few rumpled foreheads, and the Labor campaign has actually used a Photoshop-like service to add the wrinkles of age and gravitas to its candidate’s unblemished face. Bibi looking good (just not in the polls) ♣ There is a growing sense that the Likud campaign is crashing. ... Read More »
-
by: Noga Tarnopolsky in 2015 Campaign, Boehner, Congress, democracy, Herzog, Labor Party, Netanyahu, Polls, press, StopWatch, Yadlin
Behind the scenes on Mr. Netanyahu’s visit to Washington
March 6, 2015
By: Tal Schneider (in Washington) & Noga Tarnopolsky One of the conclusions I came to after observing Mr. Netanyahu’s visit to Washington is that some of the Republicans who stood and cheered and couldn’t stop clapping should have sat down and taken notes. Netanyahu displayed open contempt for Obama, he preached like a reverend, he was articulate and rhetorical and got covered every point (Holocaust, annihilation, Elie Wiesel) like a boss. He even had Evita-style balcony-ready wave down pat. This is how you run an election, and not on cruddy little scandals like some clogged bridge in New Jersey. On ... Read More »
Netanyahu after #NetanyahuSpeech: #IsraElex with 10 Days to go
March 6, 2015
By: Tal Schneider, Noga Tarnopolsky So here we are, after The Speech. Ten days to go before #IsraElex. Right after his meetings with the bipartisan leadership of Congress Prime Minister Netanyahu’s motorcade sped to Andrews Air Force base, and under a canopy of grey clouds and rain took off for Israel. He was on the ground in the United States for less than 48 hours, in which he received unprecedented international attention, massive social media attention and the glare of American and Israeli media– all two weeks before voting day. Netanyahu declined to speak with reporters sharing his plane both ... Read More »
-
#IsraElex: A Guide to the Perplexed
March 2, 2015
At this interlude between Benjamin Netanyahu’s DC’s speeches, we thought it would be useful to sum the campaign up so far. 1. The Likud campaign crashing. Really. Behind the headlines, Likud operatives fear the party may lose significant power on March 17th, and may even go down to 18 mandates. Israelis are nervous about the economy, and the Likud has yet to come up with an economic platform. At a Kiryat Gat rally, Minister Gilad Erdan was reduced to saying the prime minister had been too busy. Lifelong Likudniks did not appear mollified. Netanyahu himself seems tired and Israelis seem ... Read More »
-
Bennett’s Saturday of Gay Love
February 21, 2015
By: Tal Schneider and Noga Tarnopolsky UPDATE: “I’m a proud homophobe!” boasted Jewish Home candidate Bezalel Smotrich, who holds a rather Louis XIV (“L’État, c’est moi“) view of himself. Asked about gay rights, he declared: “Every person has the right to be abnormal at home, but he can’t ask of me as a state to see the idea as normal.” Then he dug in, the state now standing in for God: “A state may determine what is a normal family unit, of a man, woman and children because that is what the Lord, blessed be He, ruled.” Smotrich, you’ll be happy ... Read More »
-
Netanyahu ‘Rose Garden Strategy’
February 20, 2015
By: Tal Schneider, Noga Tarnopolsky Many incumbents are tempted to run for reelection on a Rose Garden strategy, but few put it into such muscular effect as our PM, Benjamin Netanyahu. He didn’t hold a single press conference during the entirety of his previous campaign, in 2013. That’s’ right: not one. In fact, he refused to meet the Israeli media from May 2012 to July 2014. Between January of 2013, when he took three or four questions in passing before the elections to March 2014, that is, 412 days, at a time when Netanyahu offered strategically placed interviews to much of the ... Read More »
28 Days to go—The Countdown
February 17, 2015
By Tal Schneider & Noga Taronpolsky Happy President’s day! Here in Israel, we still seek a prime minister. 1. While we are in the presidential frame of mind, who remembers Jacqueline Kennedy’s elegant, televised Valentine’s Day tour of the White House in 1962? Tomorrow, Tuesday, Israel’s Comptroller General will release a report detailing alleged misappropriation of public funds at Netanyahu’s official residence. In anticipation of this unpleasantness, Mrs Netanyahu– yes, the same Mrs Netanyahu who Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly begged the media to lay off– appeared in a painfully cloying Valentine’s Day video of her own. Alongside the TV personality Moshik Galamin, she detailed ... Read More »
Why is the 2015 election campaign so shallow?
February 10, 2015
By: Tal Schneider (originally published at i24news.tv, and in Arabic & French as well) Orit Galili-Zucher, formerly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s media adviser, tweeted this week that Netanyahu’s campaign against the Israeli media is “100% cynical and sets out to further weaken the already weakened media and divide and conquer journalists. The Prime Minister who controls Israel Hayom, Channel 2 and some of the IBA (Israel Broadcasting Authority) is whining about Yedioth Ahronoth.” Galili-Zucher lashed out at the man she worked for in recent years, ignoring the fact that she also played a role in formulating such policy, but the essence of her comment was clear. In ... Read More »
-
by: Tal Schneider in Uncategorized