Busy day in the election-watch, as the deadline nears for parties to register for the elections...

comments:

 * Netanyahu surprises at the last minute with somehow convincing Benny Begin to return to politics and sticking him in the 11th slot on the Likud list. Good move. Even if I did not agree with everything Benny Begin promoted, I appreciate his integrity and wisdom, and know we need more like him in the Knesset.

 * Didn't Netanyahu give away the 11th and 23rd slot yesterday to two female security experts? I don't know what happened, but I'd like to hear if he just tossed one of them like yesterday's news or what happened.

 * Suddenly Yoni Chetboun is threatening to abandon Yishai's party, due to the possible merger (technical block, if you may) with Otzma Yehudit. For the past two weeks they have been negotiating a merger, and now he gets upset about it? at the last minute? If he does not like them, why did this go on for him so long with Chetboun saying nothing, and why now is it suddenly not ok?

 * If Chetboun does leave Yachad, will that put an end to the more "chardali" supporters of Habayit Hayehudi leaving for Yachad - as maybe now Yachad is too extreme for them and less chardali?

 * they may not even exist anymore, as rumors are spreading that the entire thing might fall apart. Yishai might not even register as a party in the elections. We'll know for sure one way or the other by 10pm tonight, the official deadline.

 * Danny Dayan does not like his spot in Habayit Hayehudi and has announced that he is leaving the party. He was there for all of about 10 minutes, so no big deal. I'm not quite sure what any of this means about Danny Dayan, but it looks like he was just another of these opportunistic politicians jumping around looking for a sure ticket into the Knesset.
 

Crazy story out of Rehovot I thought you would enjoy..

A couple of kids broke into a car to steal some loose change. In the process they smashed the window of the car.

While I don't understand exactly what happened, it seems th eowner of the car showed up while the burglary was in process. He grabbed the phones off these kids (to make up for the damage they had done) and jumped in the car and drove away.

The two kids went to the police to report the theft of their phones by the driver. They wanted the police to help track down their phones. In the process they admitted to the crime they had committed. The police opened a file on them for the burglary, and at the same time is trying to locate the owner of the car and the two phones.
source: BE106

Darwin award nominees?

wow. they are really scratching the bottom of the barrel.

The latest attack on Sara Netanyahu is that she recycled bottles from the Prime Ministers residence and pocketed the money.
source: Walla News

Even if it is true (and I am not saying it is), and even if it is wrong, that is really scraping the bottom of the barrel, as an attack on a prime minister.

Merkel-Gate a few weeks ago set off a stream of scorn, mockery, ridicule, humor, criticism and anger at the Orthodox newspaper (Hamevasser) for editing out the women (most notably Angela Merkel) from the picture of the anti-terror rally in France.

Michelle Obama just went with her husband to Saudi Arabia to pay condolences after the death of King Abdullah. They could not edit her out of the images and video, so they blurred her out completely.

See the video..


I think they need to hire the Haredi graphic artists in Saudi Arabia who seem to be more talented than the Saudi Arabian graphic artists. The Merkel-gate picture did not look like anything was missing or altered (unless you gave it a close inspection), while clearly Saudi Arabia's work is noticeable.

Will news media around the world make spoofs and comments about this scene?

only one right now..

Hamachane Hatzioni:

the residents of southern Israel..



this is actually a pretty good video, I think. At least, until they compare politics and the voters of Netanyahu to battered wife  syndrome... besides for that, I like the cute videos and messages, but at some point I'd really like to hear some plans. What do Herzog and Livni plan to do differently, both in security and in economics? For that matter, all the aprties should be explaining what they want to do, what they would do in the next government, especially if their plan is different from what has been until now...

Jewish visits to Temple Mount increase by 92% since 2009

  -- Jpost

Yesterday Bet Shemesh was in a bit of a tizzy. Rumors were swirling, and it turns out that there was a possibility that Moshe Abutbol, mayor of Bet Shemesh, was being considered for a realistic spot on the Shas list for Knesset.

The opportunity supposedly came to Abutbol as a result of the arrangement in which Rav Reuven Elbaz was moved into a central spot in Shas, with him being added to the rabbinic council of Shas and his efforts to bring peace and quiet and unity among the ranks, and calm the Shas-voting public. Abutbol, being close to Rav Elbaz, was named as a possibility for the Knesset list.

If Abutbol would take the spot, on the one hand it would be an honor and great for Bet Shemesh to have a[nother] MK and possible minister, while on the other hand Abutbol leaving Bet Shemesh for the Knesset would throw Bet Shemesh into another, probably bitter and divisive, elections for mayor, third in 3 years.

The rumors and wonder were quelled relatively quickly. Last night Moshe Abutbol released a statement in which he said that he has decided to not leave Bet Shemesh for the Knesset. Abutbol explained that after receiving the trust of the residents of the city, twice in a short period of time, it would not be right to leave the city and send it into another election season, with the wounds from the previous ones still not yet healed.

Abutbol says that in the coming period he will help Shas in whatever way possible to succeed in the elections, but only from outside the ranks of the party list for Knesset.

That out an end to the question.

It seems like Nir Barkat, the mayor of Jerusalem, is in a similar, but different, situation.

Recently Netanyahu approached Barkat with the possibility of appointing him Minister of Jerusalem Issues. The issue has remained open, and nothing will happen in that regards until after the upcoming elections, and then only if Netanyahu and the Likud win the elections.

However, Barkat has said he is open to the idea of being a minister for the benefit of Jerusalem, but only if it can be done in a way that would not require him to give up his position as mayor. Legal council has already said this is possible.
source: Mynet

I cannot imagine someone being able to juggle the position of minister and mayor of such a major city like Jerusalem at the same time. I am sure both positions would take up so much of his time and I cannot fathom one person being able to do both, even though there might be some overlap in the issues of the jobs.

Same situation with Abutbol. I cannot imagine how he'd be able to manage the city and work in the Knesset at the same time, though I doubt it has the legal issues as Barkat's situation - meaning, he probably would not be allowed to keep the mayorship while serving in knesset.

This is a picture of 86 year old Joseph Kaufman kissing the feet of Daniel Gillespie, 89 years old. Gillespie was a US Army soldier who saved Kaufman's life in 1945 upon liberation of Dachau.

An absolutely amazing story.. from the Daily Mail:

This is the poignant moment when a man rescued from the hell he endured at the hands of the Nazis met his saviour and gave him a salute almost 70 years later.Joshua Kaufman first saluted his rescuer Daniel Gillespie. Then he kissed his hand and finally, he fell to his feet, exclaiming: 'I have wanted to do this for 70 years. I love you, I love you so much...'.Kaufman, now 87, was a 'walking corpse' on April 29 1945 when U.S. Army soldier Gillespie, 89, marched in with his comrades to liberate the charnel house that was the Dachau concentration camp near Munich.Gillespie, a machine gunner with the 42nd 'Rainbow Division,' moved to block 11 of the infamous complex which was the first camp built by the Nazis to house its enemies in 1933. 
By the time it was liberated more than 35,000 people had been murdered there - in executions, in cruel medical experiments, starved, worked and beaten to death.The first person he saw was Hungarian Jew Kaufman. He was hiding in the latrines with other prisoners, uncertain if the soldiers who arrived were liberators or a Nazi death squad sent to liquidate the camp.
'We were confined to barracks by the guards. This meant most of us were marked for death,' Mr Kaufman said. 'Then I saw the white flag flying from the watchtower and I realised then that the torture was at an end. When the Americans smashed in the door, my heart did somersaults.'Gillespie helped the emaciated prisoner into the daylight and back into the land of the living. Both parted with tears in their eyes - both believed they would never see one another again.
Kaufman, who lost most of his family in the Holocaust, made it to Israel where he became a soldier who fought in the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. He later emigrated to America where he married, fathered three daughters and became a self employed plumber.Gillespie married, fathered eight children and built a career for himself as a successful salesman. Amazingly, neither knew that they lived within an hour's drive of each other until a German documentary crew arranged their moving reunion on the sand at Hungtington Beach, California.Accompanied by his youngest daughter Alexandra, 34, to the meeting, Joshua said: 'I came out of hell into the light. For that, and to him, I am eternally grateful.'Gillespie, who had fought with his comrades through Europe to reach the gates of the Dachau camp, said: 'It was the most profound shock of my life. Its liberation changed my life forever.'We could not understand it. I grew up in California where we had everything in abundance. 'We didn't get how people could let other people starve. They murdered them or just let them die. Again and again the questions moved through my head. And at the same time I was just incredibly angry.'
When they were reunited, Gillespie asked Kaufman: 'How did you survive? What kept you alive?' An emotional and overwhelmed Kaufman replied: 'Dying would have been easier. In Dachau we had to tote around 50 kilo cement sacks. The whole day long.'Whoever broke down was immediately shot. I turned me into an animal. And animals want to survive. I wanted to live.' He described how, to this day, he still sleeps on a thin mattress close to a window so he can gaze out at green grass every day.The meeting, and their stories, will be told in a special for the History Channel Deutschland to be screened on May 31. Kaufman had the last word on the beach when he said: 'I have everything I wanted in life through him. That is the reason for my thankfulness.'Both men are old, both realise they will probably never see one another again. But both said they were humbled by their meeting so many years after Nazism was crushed.

Drone video shows the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp as it is today - 70 years after it was liberated by Soviet troops. The camp in Poland is now maintained as a World Heritage Site and is visited by thousands of tourists and survivors every year. Auschwitz was the largest camp established by the Germans during World War II. More than a million people - the vast majority of them Jews - died there between 1940, when it was built, and 1945, when it was liberated by the Soviet army.

Railway tracks into Auschwitz-Birkenau - Trains filled with victims from throughout occupied Europe arrived at the camp almost every day between 1942 and the summer of 1944.

Ruins of wooden huts at Birkenau - Birkenau (or Auschwitz II) was erected in 1941 solely as a death camp, the wooden huts are now in ruins with only brick fireplaces and chimneys remaining.

Entrance to Auschwitz I -The wrought-iron sign over the entrance bears the words Arbeit Macht Frei - "Work sets you free".

Auschwitz I - The brick-built buildings were the former cavalry barracks of the Polish Army.

Courtyard between blocks 10 and 11 at Auschwitz I - Block 11 was called "the Block of Death" by prisoners. Executions took place between Block 10 and Block 11 and posts in the yard were used to string up prisoners by their wrists.

Auschwitz Birkenau is now a museum run by the Polish Culture Ministry, and a Unesco world heritage site.




and here are  the words of PM Netanyahu at Yad Vashem for International Holocaust Remembrance Day

this is cool.. the employees of Israel Aircraft Industries took a "selfie" using a satellite.. that must have required a very long selfie stick..

Bennet has basically been considered a brilliant campaigner and leader for Habayit Hayehudi. He seemed to be able to do no wrong. He brought the party out of obscurity, from 3 seats that were probably heading to 0, and led them to the promised land of 12 seats. Now he has been polling at 15+ for the coming elections, and his star has been seen to only be rising.

Yet somehow this move, reserving the slot for Eli Ohana, has upset many in his party. Zevulun Kalfa and Rav Ronsky have already announced their resigning the party, and who knows how many voters or other leaders will jump ship.

Did Bennet misread his party so badly? Is this just collateral damage and he will bring in more than he loses?

The news sometimes writes itself.

Shas has been running this great campaign focusing on what they call the "shkufim" - the poor people who are transparent to the larger public and especially to the nations leaders. Shas claims nobody pays attention to them, and only Shas will take care of their needs.

It turns out that Shas has not been paying salaries to its own employees. Many Shas employees, especially in the school system Maayan Hachinuch Hatorani, are complaining that they have not been paid salaries for many months (and some have received partial salaries). They even claim to be opening legal proceedings against Shas over this.

The Shkufim campaign might be a great campaign, but if the shkufim think that Shas will actually take care of their needs after giving them their votes, the shkufim just need to look at how Shas deals with its own internal shkufim. They can guess on their own how things will turn out for them if they rely on Shas. But then again, maybe there's nobody else anyway.

I don't have an opinion on whether giving former soccer star Eli Ohana a reserved spot on the Habayit Hayehudi list was a good decision or not. I know very little about him and his opinions, let alone his capabilities - basically only the little bit I have heard today.

I do have an opinion on something else though. That is, the complaints about Bennet having used a reserved slot for Ohana, rather than for one of the many worthy candidates in the recent primaries who failed to win realistic spots.

This may have been a lousy choice, and as I said I have no opinion about that, but the party gave the party leader, Naftali Bennet right now, the ability to do with those slots as he pleases.

As I see it, the purpose of giving the leader the right to offer x number of reserved spots is to give him some flexibility in putting people to his liking, people he thinks can draw in voters, people who have certain levels of influence that are attractive to the leader. The leaders ability to form the party representatives to his liking is limited. Primaries choose the representatives, not the leader. Reserved slots gives the leader a little bit of an ability to lead - to put in a small number of the people he wants. Even if the entire list would be selected against the wishes of the leader, he gets a couple people to his liking and choosing.

That is why I voted in the referendum of the recent Likud primaries to give the party leader, Netanyahu, the ability to offer two reserved slots to candidates of his choice. I think the party leader should have that limited ability.

Back to the reserved spots in Habayit Hayehudi...

If thoise other candidates, and they were all [probably] worthy candidates were not strong enough to attract enough votes from within the party membership, who says they would have had the ability to attract voters from without, in the general elections in march? Maybe Bennet believes that Eli Ohana, and whomever he offers the next slots to, will attract more voters than the amount Danny Dayan or Rav Ronski can.

Bennet might be wrong, and Eli Ohana might turn out to be a bad choice (or not), but the party members gave Bennet that choice to make. it is his gamble.

The following has been passed around, and was posted on Facebook by Moshe Feiglin, among others..


(thanks to Esser Agaroth for the translation)
The Model of Israeli Irony:

The Jewish Home Party submitted a petition to the Chair of the Elections Committee against the name of "The Zionist Camp" claiming that "they are not really Zionists."

In response, The Zionist Camp submitted a petition  to the Chair of the Elections Committee against the name of "The Jewish Home" claiming that "they are not really Jews."

So the beloved judge who sits as the Chair of the Elections Committee will be forced to rule on and to determine who is a real Zionist, and who is a real Jew.

And what is the name of the beloved judge?

Salim Jobran.

Even "Eretz Nehederet"* could not have written a better skit than this.

The Chief Rabi of Iran recently published a ban on insulting Mohammed and he blamed the victims of the "Charlie Hebdo" terror attack for having insulted Mohammed.

It has been claimed that the Chief Rabbi was pressured to say this by the Iranian government.

What comes to light, though, and I did not know this before (maybe you did?) is that the name of the Chief Rabbi of Iran is Rabbi Ahmadinejad. Rabbi Mashallah Golestan Ahmadinejad, to be specific. same family name as that of the previous president of Iran, a rabid Jew and Israeli hater, founder of the nuclear program.

How rich is that? Rabbi Ahmadinejad criticizes and blames the victims of the terror massacre.

I am not meaning to criticize the Chief Rabbi, and what I said should not be taken that way. It is just commenting on the irony of the last name and it being used in this context. Any such criticism by the Chief Rabbi in this regard should be taken in context, as having come out from within a terror regime and was almost definitely dictated to him with his instructions to make such a statement.

Labor - Hamachane Hatzioni recently released a bunch of campaign videos. I haven't seen any new videos from other parties...

what will they say about us?


the Likud steals slogans..


Bibi - who is even going to call you? a "red phone" response...


we've already paid a lot for this date...



kol isha alert on this one. It seems to not be an official Labor video, but is probably just a fan video..
I can Boojie

I like the latest campaign stunt by Shas. Very creative, very provocative.

Last week I read somewhere about a plan that Shas would do some campaigning in Ramat Aviv. The article said they know they don't have much of an audience there, but they would do something that would make them the talk of the town. Even without drawing voters from that specific neighborhood, they would be provocative enough that they would get a lot of publicity out of it.

Last night Shas plastered the neighborhood of Ramat Aviv with signs saying, if you live in Ramat Aviv, don't vote for Shas, but if you work for the people who live in Ramat Aviv, then vote only Shas.



I don't know if it will work or not, but it is a creative initiative. Not only is it a provocative campaign, but they might actually get some votes out of it - the votes of the people who work but do not live in Ramat Aviv.

Rav Aviner today announced that he cannot support Otzma Yehudit, or support the possible merge with Eli Yishai's Yachad - Ha'am Itanu, due to one factor, despite them being a group that will prevent the continued legislation against the Torah and Judaism. That factor is, the members of Otzma Yehudit, or some of them at least, either go up to har habayit or they support ascending Har Habayit.

Rav Aviner said only if the parties together announce that they are against the ascension to har habayit can he support them.

While I would think that this would be a relatively minor issue, considering the limitations in place and the other major issues that are front and center in these elections, Rav Aviner puts this issue at top priority.

Rav Aviner said that the issue of ascending Har Habayit is not personal, but is one that affects all of Klal Yisrael. He said, this is something that was prohibited by the rabbis of previous generations, and it is not the field of any particular rabbi to allow it. Just like we cannot allow or cause damage to the Torah, we cannot allow or cause damage to Har Habayit.

So, Rav Aviner said, they must denounce ascension to Har Habayit, and if they don't, they should not be cooperated with.

So, the interesting psak is that Rav Aviner says you cannot vote for or support a party that supports going up to Har Habayit.

Dr. Michael Ben Ari and the others have to decide, which is more important to them - Har Habayit or the Knesset. That is, if they want Rav Aviner's support.

source: Srugim

I too have a dream. I believe that Jerusalem, a microcosm of the entire world, can be a model of coexistence between peoples and religions. A person cannot fight for his own liberty without fighting for the liberty of the other as well.

  -- President Ruby Rivlin, in NY, speaking to a Christian group


------------------------------------------------------

Yair Lapid has announced the party list for the coming Knesset.

The list has mostly stayed the same as the list from the last Knesset, with some minor changes -a few MKs have left politics, and a few others moved up slightly with a few moving down slightly.

While it seems the list is not yet 100% final, as of Lapid's announcement last night, Dov Lipman is placed in the #14 list, a boost from last elections slot at 19.
source: NRG

Based on current polls 14 is not realistic, but they have recently been improving in the polls, and it may become realistic before you know it. Last time Lipman was slated at 17 and it was thought to be unrealistic, and yet he made it in despite the polls.

As a friend, even though I am not a supporter of Yesh Atid, I with Rabbi Lipman the best and hope he gets in (though, despite it being contradictory, I don't necessarily want them to get 14 seats, but I would like to see Lipman get back in).

what a difference one person can make! with just a small act!

לא שווים- האם הציבור החרדי מסוגל להיות הפתרון למצוקת אי-השוויון- from חרדים 10 on Vimeo.

fascinating

in Chicago..

Yisrael Beyteynu:
a look at Avigdor Lieberman.. very humanizing, and interesting


Habayit Hayehudi:
the Zionist Camp


Yossi Yonah


in a new series, Bennet goes knocking on doors. the first episode is in Beer Sheva.. interesting and cute..


I don't know who made this video, but it is a spoof on a recent Habayit hayehudi video

not very timely, but nice anyway..

The City of Bet Shemesh has now released a response to the court decision earlier today. To remind you, the Court decided against the City of Bet Shemesh and in favor of the four women who sued the city for not putting enough effort into enforcing the law and removing illegal tzniyus signs.

Iryat Bet Shemesh's response:

תגובת העירייה להחלטת בית המשפט בעתירת המרכז הרפורמי להסרת השלטים:
העירייה הסירה את השלטים הפרטיים כמה וכמה פעמים, אך אלו נתלו מחדש בתוך דקות ספורות ואף גרמו למהומות ולחיכוכים בין המגזרים השונים המתגוררים בעיר.
אין בכוחו של הפיקוח העירוני להתמודד עם סוגיה מורכבת כזו, גם מבחינה מבצעית, לכן פנינו למשטרת ישראל שתיכנס לעובי הקורה ותאכוף את החוק.
לצערנו, בית המשפט לא השכיל להבין את המציאות המורכבת בבית שמש עמה אנו מתמודדים ולא קיבל את טענת העירייה כי החשש לשלום הציבור והפגיעה במרקם היחסים העדינים בין האוכלוסיות השונות והמנוגדות התגוררות בבית שמש, גבר על הצורך המיידי בהסרה חוזרת ונשנית של השלטים.
בעניין זה שגה בית המשפט ואירועי מערכות הבחירות האחרונות לימדו כי עמדת העירייה בדין יסודה. בית המשפט לא היה ער למחלוקות ולפרצי האלימות אשר היו מנת חלקה של בית שמש, והיכולת להביא דברים אלו אל אולם בית המשפט היא קשה ומורכבת. גם בירושלים ובערים נוספות מוצבים שלטים דומים ואף אחד לא תובע את העירייה.
יחד עם זאת, לאחר שהרוחות בעיר נרגעו, תכבד העירייה את פסק הדין, בתיאום והדברות של כל האוכלוסיות ותפעל בשילוב כוחות עם משטרת ישראל כדי להביא לאכיפת החוק והסדר.

my translation:
The Municipality has removed the private signs a number of times, yet they were hanged again within minutes, and even caused rioting and friction between different sectors living in the city.

It is not within the power of the city oversight to deal with this complicated issue, also from an operational standpoint, so we turned to the police to deal with the situation and enforce the law.

To our sorrow, the courts were not wise enough to understand the complex reality of Bet Shemesh that we have to deal with, and it did not accept the city's argument that it the concern about public peace and damaging the sensitive relations between sectors living in Bet Shemesh takes precedence over the immediate and repeated removal of the signs.

In this matter the court is mistaken and the recent elections has taught us that the Iryah's position is set in law. The court is not aware of the disputes and the outbreaks of violence that were a part of the portion of Bet Shemesh, and bringing these issues to the court is difficult and complex. In Jerusalem and other cities as well there are similar signs and nobody there sued those cities.

Together with this, after people will have calmed down, the Iryah will honor the court decision, in coordination with and through dialogue between all the different sectors, and it will work together with the police to bring about enforcement of the law and order.

I am not sure "nobody else sued" is much of an argument. There is always a first. and now that someone sued (in Bet Shemesh), maybe people will sue elsewhere. A better argument, which does not actually exist, would have been that someone else sued and lost. But that did not happen.

The court is not aware of the violence and complexity in Bet Shemesh? Is anyone in the country not aware of it? For a long period of time it made the headlines regularly. I doubt there is anyone in the country who has not heard of it. and this court case was in the local Bet Shemesh court, not somewhere far away.

The Iryah should find a way to enforce the law. Maybe it requires fining the people who put the signs up. Maybe it requires other methods, but clearly just removing the signs does not work.

If the removed signs were replaced within minutes, as the Iryah says, it makes me wonder - did the Iryah just take down the signs and hand them back to the owners? How did they have replacement signs up so quickly, within minutes? It takes time to print new signs.

It is a complex issue. I don't know that leaving up the signs as a way of dealing with a complicated situation with sensitivity is the right method, or even considered sensitive, but it is definitely a complex situation. I would not expect it to be resolved within minutes, days or even weeks. Such a situation probably will take a lot of work and time and effort before it is resolved in a satisfactory way. Letting a bully continue terrorizing victims because the issue is complex can never be described as sensitivity..

I am not sure what was lacking before... when I want to go to the mikvah I do, or at least i can, and when I want to go to the gym I do, or at least I can. I cannot think of a single time I needed or wanted to do both at the same time.

Yet it seems there is some market for that. Gym with a mikvah. Mikvah with a gym.

According to INN:

I am not sure what this adds, but why not. Personally I cannot imagine wanting to dunk in such a mikvah, considering the sweaty people who would be using it, but if others want to...

Will they do this for womens mikvah and gyms next?

what hybrid name could we call it? Gykvah?

It used to be that a kosher gym or a mehadrin gym was a gym that had separate hours for men and women. Now it will refer to a gym with a mikvah. how will we know what a gym advertising itself as kosher or mehadrin will mean?

Ynet and NRG are reporting that the court today decided in a long-open case regarding the women in Bet Shemesh who sued City Hall for not removing the "tzniyus signs" around town.

According to the report, the court ruled in the favor of the women against City Hall. Justice Dovid Gidoni ruled that City Hall failed in its responsibility by not removing the illegal signs. He awarded each of the four women 15,000nis, and court costs, to be paid by the City.

Gidoni said that failing to remove the signs damages the rights of the women of the city, and the City must therefore pay the women for the distress/aggravation caused by the signs and the Iryah's failure to act.

Considering recent reports of the bad financial state the City of Bet Shemesh is mired in, I wonder how long it will take them to get their money... or perhaps the ruling will be appealed..

regarding the ruling - it was decided that the signs, and the City's failure to remove them, caused harm to the women of the city. So, can more women now sue and get 15,000nis in return? was it only harmful to these four women? how does this work?

So now MK Gafni (UTJ) has a new reason why they don't let women have positions in the party for Knesset.

Until now it was supposedly based on halacha and tzniyus; women should not be in such a public position; women should not be in leadership positions; it would create a situation of the men and women working closely together and create possible inappropriate situations. etc.

Recently Yitzchak Ravitz, son of deceased former MK Avraham Ravitz, made a comment (that he now claims was taken out of context) saying that there  is no halachic problem with women serving in the Knesset.

Ravitz has come under attack,  which has led to his retraction, for that, but Gafni was again asked, in light of Ravitz's words, about women serving as MKs for UTJ.

This time Gafni did not turn to issues of halacha but gave a very practical reason why they don't place a woman in the party list.

According to Gafni's latest claim, practically speaking, including a woman on the party list would hurt UTJ. Even though probably close to 50% of its votes come from women, according to Gafni they would lose many of those if a woman was on the list. According to Gafni, the women have gotten more extreme haredi than the men. Gafni claims they would lose 50% of their votes, ostensibly the female half, if a woman was on the list.
source: Srugim

to the practical aspect of it - if a woman was on the list, no women would vote for them? but all the men would? neither side of the argument makes sense. Maybe together it would add up to 50%? but he did not provide any numbers, and only spoke about the women not voting for them.

I don't know if Gafni's claim is accurate or not. I doubt he knows either, but that's a different story. Gafni's claim is weak solely because it is made up, and he did not offer any polls or proof to back it up. Perhaps Gafni seriously looked into it and came to the conclusion that electorally it does not pay, but then he would offer the paperwork of the polls and surveys they commissioned to look into the matter. As it is, he is just saying whatever is convenient in response to who is asking the question. He says whatever necessary just to brush off the questioner.

The Haredi parties will go to the next government with whomever will form it, even if that would be the evil Haman.

  -- MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid)

Last week I wrote my thoughts on Netanyahu accepting Boehner's invitation to speak before Congress. I thought that Netanyahu should have said that he is honored by the invitation but let's wait until after the elections.

On that post there were some very thoughtful comments that made me reconsider my opinion. I almost retracted it, but developments since have reinforced my thoughts that my initial opinion is still correct.

Not only do I think Netanyahu should have said to wait until after elections, or suggest that the invitation go through the White House, but I think that in every aspect this visit and speech will boomerang on Netanyahu. It will hurt Netanyahu electorally, as he will continue to get bashed in Israel for this visit and it will be portrayed as a cynical attempt to use the US to influence local elections, while hurting our relationship with the president of our most friendly country. I don't know much about this, but it may hurt Netanyahu on the issue itself, regarding dealing with Iran. Obama may do the opposite of what Netanyahu thinks is right.

It does not bother me so much that Obama is upset about the visit. Obama has done enough to upset Israel. Also, Obama came to Israel before he got elected, so the actual visit to the USA and Congress does not strike me as problematic on its own. It is only because of everything surrounding it.

I think Boehner turned Netanyahu and Israel into a pawn in his fights with President Obama, and Netanyahu should have refused to be used like that. It will hurt him, it will hurt Israel, and at best I doubt it will help regarding Iran.

interesting interview

The State today told the High Court that it will no longer require an actual sex change operation in order to be allowed to change one's official gender status in the population registry, but it would allow people to choose as they wish whatever gender they want to be listed as.
source: INN

Seems ridiculous to me.

Makes me wonder though what the best uses of this new rule would be:

 * women could change their status when they want to sit in the front section of the bus
 * women could change their status and then demand a higher salary, similar to the male salary instead of the normally lower womens salary
 * the Haredi MKs, or some of them, could change their status to women in order to preempt the need for the new womens party. no more hadarat nashim in the haredi parties!
 * the Haredi MKs could change their status to women and avoid all the criticism of not including women in the party (thanks SB!)
 * religious men looking to get out of army service could change status to female and then apply for the exemption for religious women
 * aliyot in shul will become a headache as the gabbai will have to ask to see an updated identity card before calling anyone up, but women will be able to get aliyot in their reclassification as men


what other ideas do you have?

Details of budgets are not interesting to me, along with often not being understood by me, and therefore not all that newsworthy or comment-worthy.

When I first saw a news item about the passing of the budget for 2015 of Iryat Bet Shemesh yesterday, I was not all that interested, and I was not going to even comment on it.

I just saw another article, on a different news media, about the same city council meeting passing the budget and now I have found something newsworthy about it.

The truth is that my comment is not about the budgetary items or any other details about it. My comment is about the reporting of it.

Here goes:

The first report I saw was from local Bet Shemesh news media Shopping Mekomi.

The main thrust of the article on Shopping Mekomi was regarding the debate over the budget. in 2013 there was a budget shortfall of 15.5million NIS. in the first three-quarters of 2014 the shortfall was 40million nis. blah blah blah.

Along comes the national Haredi news and also reports on the same City Council meeting.

Kikar gives largely the same report of what the mayor said, how they need to increase revenue, less government money so only what he gets will he spend, blah blah blah.

The one thing there is no mention of in the Kikar article is any of the increasing budget shortfalls of the last two years.

Once reporting on what must have been the most boring (by the very nature of it being about budgets) City Council meeting in the country, why not report the numbers? or just don't report anything at all.

If anyone still thinks he's running in #IsraElex, here's definitive proof he's not: @moshefeiglin sets March 17 wedding date for his son.
— Gil Hoffman (@Gil_Hoffman) January 20, 2015

I did not know this existed. yeshiva students are protesting the high price of the Borsalino. Other, cheaper, hats are not acceptable.

a few more have come to air..

Labor - Hamachane Hatzioni:
this, as far as I can tell, has only been released on Facebook. no youtube version yet.
members of the party teach us what Zionism is:





Herzog's video was not particularly good, but it clearly set the tone, at least for a day, and caused other to be reactive and respond to him, and to talk about him, rather than the other way around...


Meretz:
an upheaval in the government with Meretz..

out of the danger of wearing a kippa in public in France, the magical, invisible, kippa has been born..

the kippa is made from hair, and costs between 49 and 79 euro..

Speaker of the House John Boehner just invited PM Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress next month about the threat of Iran and security and terror. Netanyahu accepted and is planning his trip. In the heart of election season.

Perhaps Netanyahu is intending to show Israelis that the US is still his friend, he hasn't caused Israel to be isolated, etc. If that is his intention, I understand.

If it is not his intention, and if Netanyahu is looking for something grander, I think he would be better off suggesting that the invitation be postponed until after the elections. The media will cynically turn it into an election ploy, even if it is not (though it might be), and that is how it will be perceived by the public.

If that is the intention, as an election prop (i.e. look at me, so important the US Congress invites me to speak) it will backfire on him. The public will think, or be made to think, that he did it just as an election ploy and will reject his antics.

Basically, Netanyahu is probably better off just saying not now..

There is the chance that this is an issue that is urgent and cannot wait, but on the face of it...

The terrorist this morning claims in investigation that he wanted to "get to Heaven". I hope that Prison is his idea of Heaven...
— Gidon Shaviv (@GidonShaviv) January 21, 2015

both the France photograph and the Miss Lebanon-Miss Israel photograph make it to Jon Stewart..

an amazing statement at the end of this promo clip, made by Mike Ditka, of all people.

I don't know if this is a promo for an upcoming episode of Amnon Levi's show Panim Amitiot, or if it is just a public service statement... either way, here it is..

this is a recent episode of the comedy show "Matzav Hauma" - State of the Nation. On Matzav Hauma everyone and everything is a target and a butt of some jokes. At 11 minutes in, Orna Banai suggests giving the Haredim guns and letting them kill each other.

Is that too far? Is it just comedy and acceptable?

This morning Aryeh Deri announced that he has come to terms, what he calls a sulcha - a reconciliation, with Yair Lapid and they could potentially sit together in a future coalition.

This despite the non-stop criticism and enmity for the past two years. Despite all the damage that was done to Deri's constituency by Lapid, for the past two years.

I think it is wonderful.

I just wonder why he was suddenly able to come to a reconciliation with Lapid but hasn't been able to do anything similar with Eli Yshai.

Tzippi Hotovely is a class act.

The Likud courts announced their ruling yesterday. They have concluded that Hotovery beat Dichter in the primaries by a grand total of 34 votes.

That means that Hotovely claims the 20th spot on the Likud list and Dichter gets moved down to the 26th spot, which is not considered a realistic spot.

Hotovely, shortly after the initial announcement, called upon Netanyahu o=to give one of the reserved spots to Dichter. That would place Dichter higher than her, though it would not push her out.

win-win, even though she already won. זה נהנה וזה לא חסר.

That is a class act.

The "Haredim Ovdim", the people representing a group, unknown how large, of working-class Haredim who feel slighted by the establishment, are being courted by the various Haredi parties.

They have expressed dissatisfaction with UTJ, so they are considered to be courtable.

UTJ is claiming ownership, saying they are no different than any other Haredi. According to UTJ there is not even a classification of a group called Haredim Ovdim - they are just regular good old Haredim, and should not go anywhere.

Deri has met with them in an attempt to get them to support Shas in exchange for assistance in whatever they need.

Eli Yishai has met with them as well looking for their support.

Who will court them next is anybody's guess.

The funny part is UTJ's approach. They act as if they own these people. Both Yaakov Asher and Moshe Gafni have said that there is no such thing as a group called Haredim Ovdim, and they are just regular Haredim under UTJ.

Last I checked, any group of people have the right, ability, to get together and form a group concerned about common interests, and call themselves whatever they want.

Just like there is a social group called "Haredim", and they are not satisfied with just being called "Israelis", and there are "Israelis" and not just "Humans", so these people can decide for themselves that they want to categorize themselves as "Haredim Ovdim". They do not need Gafni's or Asher's approval.

In addition, MK Gafni also said on radio this morning that his job is to worry about and fight for the Torah-learners, not those that go to study academics. He said this while criticizing other parties that are looking to court these UTJ voters, including parties that might not even cross the threshold and just throw away thousands or tens of thousands of votes.

Gafni has said this before, that his job in the Knesset is to fight for the Torah-learners, the yeshiva and kollel students, and not for those who have left the yeshiva.

So, on the one hand he claims some sort of ownership of this group and says they should stick with UTJ and nobody else should court them, while on the other hand, at the same time, he says we won't fight for your needs.

It is astounding to think that in the past, in and through previous election cycles, these people have stuck with Gafni and UTJ for so long. They are told straight out that their needs as a group are not important to the party, but they stick around anyway. And they probably will this time as well.

I am sure there are individuals who leave, despite the group staying. And perhaps over time more and more of the individuals will leave the group and find their representation elsewhere. For now though, it seems almost like battered wife syndrome.