Ron Forthofer Responds To Yesterday’s Post

Note – I don’t disagree with Ron’s comments about the Israeli Labor Party but I do think that the US factor is somewhere involved here. RJP

This from him:

Thanks for sharing.

I guess I disagree with your conclusion that Netanyahu’s election was in response to Obama’s victory. From my reading of the Israeli press and other analysis of it, I thought Netanyahu had been well ahead in the polls for quite some time, even before Obama was a serious candidate. I think after the Lebanon debacle, it was almost a foregone conclusion that Bibi was going to be the next prime minister. The only blip in this outlook occurred last Fall when Livni had the opportunity to form a government. If she had given in to Shas, she probably could have formed a government. If this had occurred, that may have helped her even more in the election. If my memory is correct though, she actually did receive more votes than Bibi, but Peres realized that she couldn’t form a government since the extreme right received such support. Therefore, he turned to Bibi. So I don’t think his selection was necessarily a reaction to Obama. In reality, I think that Labor long ago committed suicide, setting the stage for the right to come to power. Labor has been a disaster for so long and has almost no credibililty that Israeli voters really had few choices. I don’t recall seeing what the turnout was. I assume that it was pretty low and, if this is correct, it made it easier for the dedicated right wingers to win.