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This thread is intended as a source of information, updates and discussion about the upcoming parliamentary election in Israel on the 9th of April 2019. It's primarily aimed at people not familiar with Israeli politics, and I will be writing my posts with no expectation of any additional knowledge on the part of the reader. I am making this thread with the intention to inform and invite discussion on a topic posters here would not ordinarily have cause to explore at depth, as well as to air my frustrations at the truly dire state and direction of my country. Keep in mind that while I lived my entire life in Israel and follow politics actively, especially lately, I am by no means an expert on any of the things I am writing about, so if anyone spots a mistake, feel free to jump in and loudly set the record straight. It goes without saying that I am a goony weirdo, so my experiences and political views represent the fringe of the fringe of Israeli society. Now, let's jump right in! Basic Background Information Government and Electoral System * Israel is a parliamentary democracy. In order to rule, a government must enjoy majority support in the Knesset – Israel’s parliament which numbers 120 members – or else be brought down by a Motion of No Confidence. As a result, Israel’s governments are always coalitions of several different parties. * There is no formal constitution. Instead there are a series of Basic Laws legislated at different times, which are supposed to be chapters in an eventual complete constitution. In practice, these are what the Supreme Court bases its decisions on when it comes to the constitutionality of laws. * The election is carried out in a single nation-wide constituency using closed-list proportional representation. What this means is that each party registers a list of people ahead of time, each citizen votes for one of these lists, and parties get seats in the Knesset according to their proportion of valid votes. * There is a threshold – a minimum percentage of the vote a list needs to get in order to get into the Knesset at all – it currently stands at 3.25% which translates to 4 seats. It wasn’t always this high, but was deliberately raised about five or six years ago to suppress smaller lists, such as the individual Arab parties. * In order to guarantee their representation, many smaller parties run together in electoral alliances. They present a single list for a particular election, where positions are allocated to the representatives of these parties according to a mutually agreed order that usually respects the parties’ relative strength. The Zionist Project * The very foundation of Israel is predicated on the idea that the Jewish people should have their own nation – Zionism. This idea, created in the latter half of the 19th century and commonly attributed to Jewish journalist and theorist Theodore Hertzl, was explicitly the result of Europe's long-running persecution of Jews in the form of institutional discrimination, general hostility and pogroms. * Early Zionists migrated into Palestine, then under the control of the Ottoman Empire, in order to settle available land and try to establish the foundation of a future state. * After WW1, the League of Nations gave Palestine over to the control of the British, which greatly limited Jewish immigration into the region. Nevertheless, the Balfour Declaration issued in 1917 expressed the British government's support for "the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. * While working to establish settlements, the Jewish migrants established several militias and/or terrorist organizations to “protect themselves” against the local population and attack the British authorities. This was the armed wing of the Zionist movement. * Today, Israel is explicitly (and constitutionally) the state of the Jewish people. Zionism enjoys near-universal support among Jewish Israelis. Among the parties represented in the Knesset, every single Jewish party presents itself as Zionist. The Israel-Palestine Conflict * Israel gained its independence in 1948 from the British Empire after the UN's General Assembly approved a Partition Plan that split the Mandate into two states – a Jewish one and a Palestinian one – and put the city of Jerusalem under international administration. The plan never ended up getting implemented as the Jewish and Palestinian militias instantly started hostilities, with neighboring Arab nations joining in. In the resulting war, Israeli forces were victorious, occupying about 78% of the former Mandate's territory, including the western half of Jerusalem, far more than provided for in the UN Partition Plan. Many Palestinians were forcefully evicted from their homes and many more fled ahead of the Israeli advance. The rest of the territory was occupied by the neighboring Arab nations. The ceasefire borders from the end of the war are known as the Green Line, and are recognized as the "legitimate" borders of Israel by most of the international community. The mass eviction of Palestinians is known as the Nakba and one of the major demands of the Palestinan side of the I/P conflict is that Israel guarantee the Right of Return – the right of those evicted and their descendants to return to their seized homes once more. As an aside, the first ever election in Israel was held during this war. * In 1967, after a conflict known as the Six Day War, in which Israel opened hostilities with the neighboring nations as a response to Egypt's naval blockade at the Strait of Hormuz, Israel gained control of all remaining territories of what was once Mandatory Palestine and more. It later gave back some of its conquests in peace deals with these nations. The remainder are known as the Occupied Territories, and Israel's control of them is considered "illegitimate" by most other countries. Note that, outside of Eastern Jerusalem, Israel never formally annexed most of these territories. Instead, they were governed under a military regime until the 80's. It should be noted that various Israeli groups, some supported by the government and some not, constructed many settlements within the Occupied Territories in order to establish "facts on the ground" that would aid Israel in staking its claim on these lands. To this day, many of those settlements not only still exist but are thriving and expanding with the aid of government funds and support. * As a result of a Palestinian uprising known as the First Intifada and international pressure, Israel and a Palestinian organization known as the PLO signed the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995 (there were several parts). These accords formally divided the Occupied Territories into three areas: A - administered by the autonomous Palestinian government and secured by Palestinian forces; B - administered by the autonomous Palestinian government and secured by Israeli forces; C - administered by Israel and secured by Israeli forces. The accords were greatly divisive within Israeli society and in fact only passed the Knesset by a vote of 61-59. There was a massive right-wing protest movement against former IDF-chief's Yitzhak Rabin's government which signed these accords. It all culminated with Rabin's assassination by a right-wing extremist (or by the Shin-Bet as part of a false-flag against the right, as a semi-prominent Israeli conspiracy theory would have you believe). In the very next election (1996), the right-wing Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu (colloquially known as Bibi), one of Rabin's foremost critics and a principle figure in inciting the protests that led to his death, was able to win control of government from Rabin's (successor Shimon Peres') Labor party. This new government stalled on the implementation of the Oslo Accords and did it's best to sabotage what little was already in place by then. The only truly lasting real consequence of these accords was the establishment of a civilian Palestinian Authority that formally controls Areas A and B, as well as runs its own police forces. * In 2006, some time after the conclusion of the Second Intifada, a years long violent uprising involving the use of terror tactics against civilians, Israel withdrew from the Gaza territory under the direction of (then Likud) PM Ariel Sharon. This action, known as the Disengagement, saw the removal of all IDF forces and the forceful evacuation of all Israeli settlements within the territory. Nevertheless, by retaining control of the border, both naval and land, and conducting periodic anti-terror incursions and bombing campaigns, Israel denies the PA any meaningful notion of sovereignty over Gaza. * Currently, there are three main "camps" in Israeli politics when it comes to seeking a resolution to this conflict. One seeks the eventual formal annexation of the Occupied Territories and giving most Palestinian residents things like "autonomy in local municipalities" and "incentives to immigrate to neighboring countries", while denying them Israeli citizenship, in other words they seek to formalize the current system of apartheid. Another advocates for coming to an agreement with the Palestinian Authority to create a Palestinian State based on the 1967 borders and a series of land-swaps to preserve Israeli control over the largest settlements. The third side, absolutely dominant proportionally, advocates for nothing expect vague notions like "guaranteeing Israel's security" and "moving towards peace, should it prove possible", in other words a deliberate perpetuation of the apartheid status-quo. There are a few people who advocate for formally annexing the Occupied Territories, giving all Palestinians citizenship, and transforming Israel into a "country for all its citizens" rather than "the nation of the Jewish people". These people aren't represented in the Knesset (save for implicit representation through some of the Arab parties, and even then there are major differences in ideology on many points, such as the existence of a Palestinian State) and don't have a chance to ever find their views part of government policy or legislation. When it comes to Israeli politics, they might as well not exist. Secular, Religious and Haredi * The Haredim are known as Ultra-Orthodox Jews in the rest of the world. They are the bearded folks you see wandering around in black suits with tall hats. They have several internal sects, but to be honest I couldn’t really tell you the differences between them other than the hats they wear. All are extremely conservative, insular and exclusive. They usually hold that their extremely strict interpretations of the Torah and Halacha are the only truly Jewish ones and every other denomination (like Conservative or Reform) is either just pretending or deluded. * Haredi communities have separate a separate education system, which consists almost entirely of religious studies. They mostly don’t serve in the IDF, have high unemployment and poverty rates. * Why does this matter? Well, Haredi communities vote as a block for their chosen party. Always. They also have higher birth-rates than secular Israelis. As a result, they have an increasingly large presence in the Knesset and hold great sway with any prospective government. * The relations between religion and government are intertwined in what’s known as “the status-quo agreement” which gives religious institutions authority over “matters of the personal” and leaves everything else in the domain of secular government. What this means is that, for example the only way to legally get married in Israel is through a religious court (though marriages done abroad are recognized, which is how many secular Israelis get married). If you’re a Jew, that means an Orthodox Be’it Din. Similarly, religious conversions, burials, prayer in holy places and observance of religious holidays are also exclusively under their purview. * This is a major source of tension in Israeli society. In particular, inequalities in conscription and a law prohibiting most municipalities from allowing businesses to operate on Saturday are the focal points of the recent political clashes. Another (imo, much more significant) point of concern is the attitude of Haredi’s towards women and LGBT rights. For instance, the Haredi don’t approve of women in positions of power, and some of the campaign posters in this election have been vandalized to remove the faces of female candidates. Ashkenazim and Mizrahim * There are two main “identities” among Israeli Jews: The Ashkenzim trace their lineage from among the European Jewish communities, while the Mizrahim are related to the Jewish communities in African and Middle Eastern countries, especially Yemen, Morroco and Iraq. Mizrahim tend to have darker skin colors and more typical Middle Eastern complexions. * There was and is a major socio-economic and cultural divide between these groups, with the Mizrahi consistently having lesser educational opportunities, higher poverty rates and experiencing institutional discrimination. * This divide was especially prominent in the earlier decades of Israel’s existence, and there was even a violent mass Mizrahi movement in the 70’s called the Black Panthers (Israeli version). However, things got better with time and this is much less of a factor now. There are still racist old farts who use anti-Mizrahi slurs on the regular. * Traditionally, Labor and its predecessor Mapai were viewed as Ashkenazi dominated parties, while Likud and its predecessor Heirut were viewed as more Mizrahi favored. The legacy of this still persists to this day. Judicial Activism * Ever since Rabin’s government in the 90’s, the Supreme Court of Israel has taken an active role in checking government power and disqualifying unconstitutional laws. This is a consequence of the so-called Judicial Revolution implemented by the Chief Justice at the time, Aaron Barak. * The judiciary as a whole and the Supreme Court especially, have long been viewed as an insular club detached from the people. Right wing leaders often state explicitly that the nation is held hostage by an unelected group of old leftists, that the court’s power must be greatly reduced and that its ranks must be diversified by including more conservative judges. Cost of Living * Over the last decades, there is increasing dissatisfaction among Israelis about the rising prices on common goods and the widening inequality between the poorest and the richest. A burning issue for most young people in particular has been completely unaffordable housing. * In 2011, there was a huge protest movement in Tel-Aviv known as the Tent Protest (because they stayed in tents, you see) on the rising cost of living. A special government committee was formed to investigate the issue, which concluded with various recommendations for regulations and market based reforms. The protestors rejected this and had their own expert committee offer alternative proposals. In any case, most of the recommendations from either of the committees were not implemented, the protest movement fizzled and the cost of living continues to rise unabated. * A prominent activist from this movement named Stav Shafir joined the Labor Party and was elected to the Knesset. There, she was involved with various social welfare and government transparency initiatives, but there’s only so much that could be done from opposition. I haven’t heard much about her lately, so I assume she ended up being pretty ineffectual. Government Corruption * Prime Minister Natanyahu is implicated in several high profile corruption cases, and the police recommended his induction on a variety of criminal charges a year ago. Now, the prosecutorial offices have finally decided to move ahead on these, and the only thing left is the decision of Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit whether to indict him or not. This is required because Netanyahu is a sitting Prime Minister. If he were a private citizen, he would already be in the courtroom. * Over the course of these years long investigations, Bibi did everything he possibly could to sabotage them, from spreading misinformation to intimating investigators to discerning the media and judicial system, calling it a persecution by the “leftist establishment”. * Aside from Bibi, there are unrelated corruption investigations into Likud MK and former coalition chair David Biten, as well as Shas Interior Minister Arie Deri (who, incidentally, was already convicted on prior charges, spent several years in prison, before being re-elected and ending up in the exact same Ministry he was in when he committed his prior crimes. Yay, democracy!)
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:28 |
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# ? May 9, 2024 10:45 |
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Important Dates In this thread, I will post about each of the political parties after they finalize, through primaries or otherwise, their candidates list for the Knesset. I chose to do it this way for several reasons: so I wouldn’t be caught off guard by unexpected developments after I finish writing a post about a party, so I could have a well defined order to go over them all and so I could pace myself and not burn out by writing everything at once. For parties that don’t have a publicly available list-making process, I will write the post whenever I find it most appropriate (ie. when the party composition looks mostly settled). A post on each party should go up relatively soon (a couple of days or so) after each date: * The 14th of January – Tkuma Primaries * The 31st of January – Agudat Yisrael Center Determines List * The 1st of February – Hadash Party Committee Determines List * The 4th of February – Jewish Home Party Center Determines List * The 5th of February – Likud List Primaries * The 11th of February – Labor List Primaries * The 14th of February – Meretz List Primaries * The 21st of February – Last Date to Register an Electoral List * The 9th of April – Election Day Table of Contents * Current Knesset * Tkuma * Hadash * Agudat Yisrael * Balad AFancyQuestionMark has issued a correction as of 12:55 on Feb 4, 2019 |
# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:29 |
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I have high hopes for this thread
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:31 |
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so tell me OP, what do you hope for in these elections
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:33 |
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the sweet release of death
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:35 |
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that's too easy, introduce everyone to the different parties of Israel that are due to primary what is Israeli Labor, for example, same with Hadash
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:36 |
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did you even read the opening posts, friend?
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:37 |
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AFancyQuestionMark posted:did you even read the opening posts, friend? I know the story, tell the folks the parties involved, that isn't history who is up for election? there's a lot of shitloads of primaries there
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:39 |
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I mean the whole drat thing is a mouthful, but that's Israel
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:41 |
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also yeah Israel prides itself on being super LGBT-inclusive despite the Haredi, but I'm not sure how they swing it
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:43 |
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Haredi own since they are basically the religious version of anime fans, I want to not work and spent my whole time collecting even more wall scrolls.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:50 |
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Current Knesset I will go over each of these parties in detail later. Note that parties are not the same as electoral lists, so some of these parties may not appear as an option the Israeli voter can vote for independently. The current coalition is made up of the following parties, 61 MKs in total: * Likud (30 MKs) * Kulanu (10 MKs) * Shas (7 MKs) * United Torah Judaism [Agudat Yisrael (3 MKs), Degel Hatorah (3 MKs)] * Jewish Home [Jewish Home (3 MKs), Tkuma (2 MKs)] * The New Right (3 MKs) The parties in the opposition are, consisting of 59 MKs: * Labor (18 MKs) * Joint Arab List [Hadash (4 MKs), Balad (3 MKs), Ra’am (4 MKs), Independent (1 MK)] * Yesh Atid (11 MKs) * Hatnuah (6 MKs) * Yisrael Beitenu (5 MKs), Note: used to sit in coalition, its exit was part of the reason this election was called * Ta’al (1 MK) * Gesher (1 MK)
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:58 |
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thanks OP, I am a huge hardass about one thing and it is Israel
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 12:59 |
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In addition to the parties currently represented in the Knesset, its worth to keep an eye on former IDF chief Benny Gantz's party Hosen Yisrael (Israel's Resilience) - a "center" (right-wing) party premised on maintaining most current policies, but also respecting democratic institutions, the rule of law and decorum. Focused on opposing corruption in government, or more specifically, opposing the image and rhetoric of Likud. According to polls, this looks to be the main challenger to Likud this time around.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 13:12 |
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Tkuma Hebrew: האיחוד הלאומי – תקומה Translation: National Union – Revival Members in Current Knesset: 2, as part of the Jewish Home list Founded In: 1999 Appeals To: Religious Zionists, Illegal Settlers, Jewish Terrorists History: * Back in 1998, Bibi was Prime Minister of his first ever government. The Oslo Accords and Rabin’s assassination were still hot in the public consciousness, and the peace process, though in retrospect well on its way to perdition, was still actively ongoing. Under pressure from the US and the Israeli public to implement the vague withdrawal commitments in the second part of the Oslo Accords, Bibi’s government signed a new deal with the PLO – the Wye River Memorandum – in which it outlined a timetable for Israeli withdrawals from the Occupied Territories in exchange for a climbdown in violent and various other concessions on the PLO’s part. For various reasons, only the first of the promised withdrawals ever took place, and the agreement ended up as little more than a pointless waste of paper. However, the mere ratification of this agreement – the approval of a false promise to possibly withdraw a portion of the IDF forces from some of the Occupied Territories – caused 2 MKs to defect from the coalition and from their own party. They ended up establishing Tkuma. You see, their parent party – Mafdal – had represented the interests of Religious Zionists in the Knesset for decades, and a significant portion of the Religious Zionist movement views the entirety of Mandatory Palestine as the ancestral homeland given to the Jewish people by God. The entire point of constructing new settlements beyond the Green Line is to establish Israel’s claim on that land. These people would not give that claim up for anything. * From its establishment, the party never run in any election on its own. Instead, it always joined other right-wing nationalist parties that would appeal to their Religious Zionist base. In this election, as in the past two, they are running together with the larger party Jewish Home, which is generally recognized as Mafdal’s modern successor. Key Stances: * The two national movements of Zionism and Palestinian self-determination can’t peacefully coexist side by side. Therefore, the Palestinian Authority should be dismantled, the Occupied Territories should be formally annexed into Israel and the local Palestinians given a choice of either remaining as non-voting permanent residents or immigrating to neighbouring nations. There will be violent resistance but with time and with bold enough * Palestinian terrorism should be fought through the use of strong deterrents such as demolishing the homes of terrorists and exiling their families. * All existing settlements in the occupied territories should be legalized and receive government funding and support. The expansions of these settlements and the construction of new ones should be encouraged. * Shin Bet should stop detaining anti-Palestinian Jewish terrorists. Leader: MK Bezalel Smotrich * Detained by Shin Bet alongside other activist for several weeks in 2006 over an alleged attempt to organize a resistance movement to prevent the Disengagement from Gaza. No criminal charges filed. * “The pride parade’s actions are worse than those of animals. We are talking about a group of perverts.” * As an MK, authored a law to label NGOs and human right groups financed by foreign governments, which are overwhelmingly left wing (right wing NGOs are funded by foreign individuals instead), a version of which was eventually adopted by the government. * “If it were up to me, any engagement such as this one [the incident where a Palestinian teenage girl slapped an Israeli soldier in a symbolic act of resistance] would end with a sharp and painful resolution. After a few people like this transition into having to use a wheelchair until the end of their lives, there would likely be less who would try such things in the future.” * Frequently criticized Netanyahu for being concerned only with his own survival and not moving towards formally annexing the Occupied Territories. * “Terrorism is only an action done by our enemies against us and only this deserves the use of extraordinarily harsh measures. Everything else is a crime. A hate crime, perhaps, but a crime that needs to be dealt with through the regular judicial system.” Candidates in List: A bunch of known activists from the “don’t evacuate illegal settlements” scene. Summary: Religious Fascists/Irredentists AFancyQuestionMark has issued a correction as of 16:45 on Feb 2, 2019 |
# ? Feb 2, 2019 16:39 |
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bookmarking this thread https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywq1wXU_HZs
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 16:47 |
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i might also post a lot of israeli circuit party music to listen to while tripping. one of the things about israel that has always fascinated me is that the gay scene is totally over the top and go-go-go while another big chunk of the country are acting like they want to live in eastern europe in the 1800s. just seems like life is cranked up to 11 which might happen when you cram nine million people from all over the world into a country along the mediterranean coast not much larger than delaware.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 17:15 |
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BrutalistMcDonalds posted:i might also post a lot of israeli circuit party music to listen to while tripping. It's basically going from Borat to Bruno all in one night.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 17:18 |
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This is a great OP on giving the background to understanding the rules of this "game," and as an Israeli citizen myself I'd like to contribute as a second point-of-view (albeit a bit more opinionated and less in-depth), without getting in the way of the OP, if they would like that.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 17:27 |
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etalian posted:It's basically going from Borat to Bruno all in one night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsPvERBaw7I&t=3066s
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 17:28 |
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Solar Tornado posted:This is a great OP on giving the background to understanding the rules of this "game," and as an Israeli citizen myself I'd like to contribute as a second point-of-view (albeit a bit more opinionated and less in-depth), without getting in the way of the OP, if they would like that. of course. discussing this stuff is half the point of this thread in the first place
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 17:28 |
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Thank you for this effortpost!
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 17:37 |
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but yeah i'm interested in the parties, and what israeli life is like and how politics interact with people in direct ways also far-right extremist groups (the tkuma post is interesting) but also smaller fanatical hate groups like lehava.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 17:39 |
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please dont poo poo up this thread too much folx.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 17:47 |
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Victory Position posted:also yeah Israel prides itself on being super LGBT-inclusive despite the Haredi, but I'm not sure how they swing it It's super dumb how we pride ourselves with inclusivity but don't allow for same-sex marriage and surrogacy. To get married and have surrogates, they need to go out of the country. The Haredis are themselves such a detriment for cultural progressiveness, that the joke on the left is that the two-state solution is to have a country for them and another for everyone else.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 17:48 |
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nice erasure of the sephardim, OP seriously, though, thanks for the informative posts. i'm a dirty diaspora jew and i do my best to not pay attention to Israel's culture and politics, but i do know that it's fascinating when you get past the long shadow of Bibi. i have a couple of questions, though: -can you talk a little more about the hierarchy of Israeli jews? specifically, is there still a lot of tension between ashkenazim, sephardim, and mizrahim? also talk a little bit more about the sephardim, i've recently wanted to learn more about their culture -my mom passionately hates Bibi, but she thinks highly of David Ben Gurion and feels that Israel today betrays his vision (that's a story for another time). how did Zionist politics go from the socialist-ish version at Israel's founding to the militaristic, nationalist, and religiously extreme version headed by a Putinesque figure that we see now? feel free to dedicate an entire post to this get that OUT of my face has issued a correction as of 17:52 on Feb 2, 2019 |
# ? Feb 2, 2019 17:48 |
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etalian posted:Haredi own since they are basically the religious version of anime fans, I want to not work and spent my whole time collecting even more wall scrolls. their politics are retrograde on the community and neighborhood levels, but they're ultimately a small but annoying part of city- and statewide politics. i can't imagine living in a country where they control significant political power. i'd go insane in a week get that OUT of my face has issued a correction as of 18:03 on Feb 2, 2019 |
# ? Feb 2, 2019 18:00 |
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get that OUT of my face posted:i live ... in brooklyn
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 18:03 |
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Tubgoat posted:You live in America but aren't already insane? A likely story.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 18:08 |
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BrutalistMcDonalds posted:i might also post a lot of israeli circuit party music to listen to while tripping. this is mostly due to israel's false advertising. LGBT acceptance and support drops significantly the farther you get from tel aviv.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 18:42 |
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get that OUT of my face posted:nice erasure of the sephardim, OP BrutalistMcDonalds posted:but yeah i'm interested in the parties, and what israeli life is like and how politics interact with people in direct ways I've read your requests and will try to slot them in alongside the rest of my planned stuff. There's probably nothing else coming today, but I'll be back tomorrow with a post on Hadash and then possibly a post answering one of these questions.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 18:56 |
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i don't want to pile too much for the OP to get to but i just remembered that Israel has horrendous income inequality. i was talking to a guy from israel and when he talked about how it's impossible for anyone but the wealthiest to own a place to live there, i could tell he felt very angry about itBear Retrieval Unit posted:this is mostly due to israel's false advertising. LGBT acceptance and support drops significantly the farther you get from tel aviv.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 19:38 |
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get that OUT of my face posted:wasn't there a pride parade planned in Jerusalem and Jews, Muslims, and Christians united to show their disapproval? there are pride parades in Jerusalem, but they are more of a protest march with no floats and music. they still bring out a lot of angry shitheads and occasionally the stabbing of several participants. Bear Retrieval Unit has issued a correction as of 20:18 on Feb 2, 2019 |
# ? Feb 2, 2019 20:15 |
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get that OUT of my face posted:-my mom passionately hates Bibi, but she thinks highly of David Ben Gurion and feels that Israel today betrays his vision (that's a story for another time). how did Zionist politics go from the socialist-ish version at Israel's founding to the militaristic, nationalist, and religiously extreme version headed by a Putinesque figure that we see now? feel free to dedicate an entire post to this world love to learn about this (& the other things) and i feel like there's certainly recommended reading on the topic — if op just wants to tell me to go check out a book at the damned library that seems like a good plan 2 me
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 20:24 |
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get that OUT of my face posted:i don't want to pile too much for the OP to get to but i just remembered that Israel has horrendous income inequality. i was talking to a guy from israel and when he talked about how it's impossible for anyone but the wealthiest to own a place to live there, i could tell he felt very angry about it my mind turns to the time someone said where they lived like a hundred miles out of Tel Aviv and it looked like they copy/pasted a subdivision from an American exurb, cul-de-sac and all
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 20:29 |
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Victory Position posted:my mind turns to the time someone said where they lived like a hundred miles out of Tel Aviv and it looked like they copy/pasted a subdivision from an American exurb, cul-de-sac and all jesus christ er "goddamn" that's our worst cultural export. why would anyone willingly choose to emulate it omg
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 20:30 |
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my dad never forgave his parents for moving to israel and leaving him in the UK when he was 17. he did make living on a kibbutz sound real good but this was back in the 70s so idk how different it would be now
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 20:36 |
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get that OUT of my face posted:you're probably joking with this post but the haredim are just awful people. they're on par with evangelical christians and salafist islam. i live near two ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in brooklyn and i'm not considered jewish by their standards The ultra-Orthos in Brooklyn are mostly Hasidim, which are Haredim. But not all Haredim are Hasidim. If Haredim are on par with evangelical Christianity, Hasidim are on par with the Branch Davidians.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 21:32 |
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My Cuck Dad posted:The ultra-Orthos in Brooklyn are mostly Hasidim, which are Haredim. But not all Haredim are Hasidim. If Haredim are on par with evangelical Christianity, Hasidim are on par with the Branch Davidians. loving god, this sounds like one of those loving word problems from a PSAT.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 21:43 |
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# ? May 9, 2024 10:45 |
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having an entire section of your society want to be removed from it as much as possible, barley participate in the national army or other institutions, and yet have increasingly greater control over the country's politics strikes me as a recipe for a slow rolling disaster, and that's setting aside Palestine.
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# ? Feb 2, 2019 21:58 |