Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.
Yesterday, Israelis went to the polls for the fifth time in under four years. As with the previous rounds, I followed the results with trepidation. It's too early to know yet exactly what Israel's next coalition government will look like, but what we can see now does not bode well for Israel's future.
The politician who will put together the next governing coalition will shape the character of public life in the country and determine its future as a democracy and as a member of the family of nations.
According to initial election results available as I write this article, shortly after the polls closed, that politician may again be Benjamin Netanyahu, the man who has dominated Israeli politics for the past two decades.
Israel is a multi-party system with a 120-seat parliament, the Knesset. To form a government coalition, a Knesset member (typically the leader of the largest party) must cobble together a coalition of parties with a combined total of at least 61 Knesset seats.
The results of Israel's exit polls, which are not final but often provide an accurate indication of ultimate election results, confirm the darkest predictions for today’s election.
|
|
|
|
One would think that after 2016 and 2020, I would be used to the word “election” being synonymous with “potentially terrifying historical turning point.”
I am no stranger to bracing myself for election outcomes. I stayed up past midnight in 2016, the bright blue of my phone blaring the damning results into my retinas at three in the morning. I stayed awake in November of 2020 at my parent’s kitchen table, my mother’s hand gripped in mine as the worst of our fears was, by the tiniest margin, abated.
And now I am bracing myself again. Not for an American election this time, though in many ways, it feels the
same; the way I grit my teeth before checking the news and the way I struggle not to feel nauseous at the reality
of the barely-there line between fascist and politician. It’s almost a relief that I’m not panicking this November
about the death of democracy in the country where I hold citizenship. But at the same time, it doesn’t soothe my
rancor to know that as a diaspora Jew, a country where I have found a second home may be about to reject every
social or political ideal that I hold dear and embrace a government that doesn’t see a problem with societal
inequity, with homophobic and religiously intolerant practices written into law, or with the violent displacement
of its citizens.
I am not alone in this seething anxiety that emerges every time I check the Israeli news. Most American Jews, myself included, are politically left of center. On November 1st, Israel will go to the polls. On November 2nd, an entire community of Americans who feel a deep sense of belonging in Israel may find themselves on the opposite side of a potentially irreparable divide between their own politics and Israel’s governing leaders.
1. Bills &
Resolutions
2. Hearings
3. Media (general)
4. Media & Members
(Middle East in US Elex)
5. Members on the Record
(Palestine)
6. Members on the Record
(Israel)
7.
Members on the Record (Iran)
8. Members on the Record
(Saudi Arabia)
9. Members on the Record (All
other Mideast countries)
New from FMEP:
1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters
SUSPEND ARMS SALES TO KSA) HR 9181/S. XXX (PDF): As reported in last week’s Round-Up, on 10/9/22, Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Khanna (D-CA) co-authored an op-ed (along with Jeffrey Sonnenfeld) making the case that “The Best Way to Respond to Saudi Arabia’s Embrace of Putin” is to “halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia and rebalance the U.S.’s relationship with Riyadh.” On 10/14, Khanna introduced the bill in the House, cosponsored by Welch (D-VT) and Garamendi (D-CA), entitled, “To provide for a temporary 1-year halt to all proposed direct commercial sales and foreign military sales to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of weaponry and munitions.” Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.
