Israeli Media's Interference in Israeli Elections

Israel's media has always been extremely Leftist and anti-Right, Revisionist, Cherut, Likud etc.  All of Israel was like that from the big bosses on down, except for the ordinary man in the street. 

Yesterday I had a ride with a neighbor who's a relative of one of Israel's first popular Eidot Mizrach, North African/Sefardi politicians, a Likudnik of course.  His father was a local labor leader, head of his workers' committee, who categorically refused to be associated with the Histadrut, the powerful Israeli Labor union.

Most aspects of life here in Israel have opened up for those who aren't Histadrut and Labor members, but the Left's last hold-out is the media.  They may have stopped worshipping Stalin, but they're willing to try anything or anyone against the Likud.  Binyamin Netanyahu gives them nightmares.  OK, as you all must know by now, for me, Bibi is too Leftist, but for the mehadrin Left of the Israeli political scene, he's there worst dream come true.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

 and MK Tzipi Livni (Kadima)

 at a government meeting in 2008.

Photo by Alex Kolomoisky

I fell asleep last night listening to the radio news as they talked about an alliance of unpopular, unsuccessful voted out of office Tsipi Livni with felon, tainted with corruption Ehud Olmert and "new face" Yair Lapid.  They're scheming to get all the anti-Likud parties to run as one, backed by Arye Deri's Shas, no that Deri has concluded his waiting time after being jailed for corruption.  The polls predict this Leftist "dream team" as a winner:

Haaretz poll: A Livni-Olmert-Lapid 'super-party' would outscore Likud
If the center and the left together could garner 61 seats, it would deprive Netanyahu of the ability to form a majority government.

Another of their "tricks" is to promote American style debates between Netanyahu and the wannabes.  This may sound acceptable at first, but there are two crucial problems with it. 

• One is that in Israel you don't vote for a Prime Minister.  You vote for a political party and its list of candidates to be MK's, Members of Knesset, Israel's Parliament.  After the votes are counted, the #1 spot of the party with the most seats is offered the challenge of constructing a coalition by the President, of Israel of course.  If he or she succeeds, there is a government.
• The second problem is that none of the other touted debate participants head a party that comes close to rivalling the size of the Likud.  It would almost be as if one of the small, oddball independent candidates in the States would have had been invited to join the debate against Obama and Romney.

If Netanyahu has inherited any of his father's longevity, he'll be around for a very long time, which is a terrible nightmare for the Left in Israel.  The media's machinations will only make a difference if the Israeli public becomes as ignorant as the American one, as seen in this article.