On the Eve of Election Day

It is Election Day eve, and a tense, anticipatory quiet has descended on the land. Even as campaign volunteers scramble around the country to hand out their last fliers and pin up their last posters, the candidates themselves have entered a law-dictated silence and the nation waits. At 7am tomorrow, members of the public will begin exercising their last and most important chance to influence the outcome of the elections by casting their ballots.

For many pundits and commentators, tomorrow's result is a foregone conclusion. The polling data, though perennially fickle and unreliable, does appear to reflect the inescapable truth of the rightist-religious bloc walking away with the lion's share of mandates.  Still, surprises are an inseparable element of elections here, and one cannot know for certain what will happen. As we were shown in 2009, the party that wins the most seats will not necessarily be the party to form the next government.

In this quiet moment, the peace before the storm, we should reflect on a few key points that we have learned from the last month or so of campaigning.

Firstly, change is in the air. The social protests of the summer of 2011 gave the Israeli public a sense of self-confidence that was lost 18 years ago. The spontaneous passion that lit up the Israeli middle and working classes from North to South showed people that they were not alone, that things could be better. From the hundreds of thousands of people who left their homes to sleep in tents and hit the streets to join the marches, we learned that solidarity is our greatest strength, and that social justice is not a slogan but a basic right. It is true that many of the new parties that have sprouted up recently did so on the fertile ground of 2011's social justice movement. It is also true that the preponderance of so many new parties does not necessarily help our cause, but still, it is worth reflecting on the mere fact that the Israeli public is hungry for change and they believe that they can achieve it. The latter is not something to be scoffed at.

Secondly the right's stronghold is weakening. This may be counterintuitive after a cursory glimpse of the polling data, but prod a little deeper and the truth becomes apparent. Likud Beitenu running on a joint list are polling at 34 seats (as separate parties in the last elections they held 45). The horde of young voters, secular and religious alike, planning to vote for Naftali Bennett tomorrow, have been tricked by a wily and extremely effective campaign strategy into associating Bennett with change and youth, offering voters fed up and disillusioned with Bibi and the Likud a younger, smiling face to turn to. Bennett’s foothold in the next Knesset will allow him, champion of the settlers, to reveal his true extremist self and his anti-democratic policies will surely send those voters back to the center.

Thirdly, social policies are back on the agenda. For the first time in a long time, social and economic policies are vying as equals with security for the public's attention. The Israeli public no longer believes the lie told to them for decades by politicians that they are not entitled to a high standard living while security threats abound. We now know that all the working people of this country are entitled to a share in its prosperity and that only equality can foster the social fabric of a society strong enough to deal with its external threats.

Most important of all, however, is the following. What we are really seeking – the end to all of this – is true change. Politics is but a tool, and a far from perfect one at that. One need only to read any newspaper in Israel over the past 20 years to know that all too often politics can corrupt. Legislation and policies that have hurt Israeli society by privatizing our social services and disintegrating solidarity have come from both the right and the left. Whoever forms the government over the course of the next week will be forced to do so through coalitions with parties that share few of the same platforms, and have very different goals. All legislation will still need to pass through a Knesset seized by large extremist elements – diametrically ideologically opposed to each other.  Change in this forum, as in every other, will be slow.

With this in mind, we should remember that we have in our hands a greater tool for change. Human effort – through education, local activism and community building – can provide the kind of organic, revolutionary change that politics can't. In the political realm words like 'values' and 'social justice' and 'a strong society’ are campaign slogans. On the human level, they are concepts that define lives and the way that we interpret our society, our world and each other. Israeli youth must be educated to believe that a different, better reality is possible and that they have the power to pursue that reality through the choices they make: through the way they treat others, the paths they take in life, their willingness to reach out to the other – least of all by the way they vote on future Election Days. Only truly personal education that places the human being in the center can show us that we are the masters of our own destiny, and that the choices that we, and we alone, make, determine the future for ourselves, our society, our people and the planet. The mandate to shape this future does not belong only in the hands of elected officials, it is all of ours. Whatever the outcome tomorrow, we will never stop pursuing a future of justice and truth for all.

-Why Vote Labor Editors

Let's do it!

Avodah supporters getting excited for yom bechirot!

We've been hitting the streets really hard for weeks. Haaretz reports that we've made five million phone calls and knocked on ninety thousand doors in our mission to explain to the Israeli public why we're voting Avodah.
Now it's finally time to cast our votes.
See you at the polls!

A Vote for Labor is a Vote for Israeli Democracy

Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party celebrated its first anniversary the other week. As absurd as it seems, that is quite an achievement.

It’s a shame that the Israel public has been so easily fooled into treating voting for the Knesset like making a choice at an ice cream parlor. There are so many options to choose from, the nuanced differences between them often negligible or simply fabricated. They have different faces and are painted up in different colors (though in the case of Kadima and Tzipi Livni's Hatnua even that is barely true). The national aspiration for stable, rational government has dissolved in face of the pomp and glitter of an entirely consumerist approach to democracy. I'm not sure who are more to blame: the egoists who flash fry new political parties like they are start-up companies knowing they will eventually sell out to the bidder with the deepest pockets, or the Israeli public for letting it happen in front of our noses, encouraging it even by offering up our precious votes. 

Here are a few key points to consider:

• A full 10 % of seats (12) in the current Knesset are held by parties that did NOT contend in the last elections (what?). One of those parties Atzmaut (Independence), holding 5 seats, will not contend in the coming elections, nor will its founder and leader, Ehud Barak.
• More than 1/6^th (23) seats could be won in the coming elections by parties that did not even exist two years ago (Hatnuah, Yesh Atid, Otzma LeYisrael, Eretz Chadasha, Am Shalem). Hatnuah, slated to win about 8-11 seats, did not even exist two months ago.
• Kadima was formed at the end of 2005 and less than 6 months later won 29 seats in the elections. Eight years later, according to some polls at least, the party is set to receive at best two mandates. With no historical or ideological foundation to stand on, we will not be seeing them in the next elections.
• Bayit HaYehudi, founded five years ago, holds three seats in the current Knesset. Their current leader has held that position for two months, and is set to bring them an additional ten seats in the coming election. A year ago he was a member of the Likud.

In the face of this sweeping whirlwind, it is no wonder that more than a quarter of Israelis, ten days before election day, still didn't know who they would be voting for—it's hard enough just to keep up with the names of all the parties and which leader belongs to which. I've had a number of conversations with Israeli-born acquaintances who in a matter of two weeks have told me about three different political parties that they are voting for, from as distant ideological poles as the left-wing Eretz Chadasha to the right wing religious Bayit Hayehudi (the same person had considered both of them as options).

Amid the debris of crumbling democratic rationality, one party stands alone as having the necessary experience to lead this country, and the true vision to justify it in doing so. Avoda, the Israeli Labor Party, formed in 1968 from the merger of three older parties: Ahdut Haavoda, Mapai, and Rafi, the first two having formed in 1919 and 1930 respectively, and both of them having formed from mergers of even older Labor Zionist political and youth groups dating back to the beginning of the 1900s. 

The Labor Zionist regime oversaw the establishment of the early pre-state agriculture and industry, absorbed the successive waves of olim, developed the infrastructure of the future state, established all the social, cultural and economic institutions upon which the state was to be founded, developed the Hagana , the earliest incarnation of the IDF. Under Labor Zionist leadership the Jewish community fought and won independence from the British and brought the dream of Jewish statehood to fruition. They went on to win the War of Independence, establish and defend the borders, and win another miracle victory in the Six Day War of 1967. The Labor establishment managed to create and develop a mighty military force feared by our enemies and revered throughout the world, while at the same time developing a system of public services, healthcare and culture that radiated light to the Jews and all people of the world.

Labor and its predecessors have provided 8 of this country's 12 prime ministers.

Simply no other party in the center-left bloc has the same historical clout to guide us through the many social, economic and strategic challenges that we face as a country now, and will face in the years ahead. Certainly no other party in the entire political gamut has the gumption to face said challenges while having us strive to be an exemplary state, a full member of the family of nations, accepted not for buckling to external influences, but for managing to uphold the principles of justice, equality, democracy and good governance in the face of grave and difficult obstacles.

Shelly Yachimovich has vowed not to join a government with Netanyahu and Likud Beitenu. This is because she is serious about either running the country, or leading a conscientious opposition. Labor will not become a flavor in an ice cream parlor, to be added and subtracted according to the whims of an ever-more sectorialized public. Every citizen serious about ousting Bibi and returning sanity to this country must resist the urge to vote for a niche, boutique party that looks nice today, but will vanish tomorrow like an ice cream cone under our Levantine sun. Only Labor seeks real responsibility for our country and our future. Choose whimsically and risk seeing your vote evaporate into nothing with a party that doesn't cross the threshold or will change its tune (and name) with the changing weather.

The law and my conscience allow me just one vote—that vote will be, has to be, for Labor.

 --Gabe

Shelly Yachimovich: A collective society

The other day I was sitting on a train heading south, half nodding off and staring out the window, when a young girl with a large mess of dreadlocks dropped a flyer in my lap. Slightly startled, I pulled myself up and took a look around the train. Everyone was muttering. Some looked angry, others pleased, and most disinterested. Almost everyone made some kind of comment to those sitting next to them. One man, raising his voice above the chorus of side-comments and murmuring, began to shout.

“What a disgrace! What an idiot! What, she thinks Shelly Yachimovich can be prime minister? And what happens in the next war? Who will lead us in the next war! Shelly Yachimovich will lead us in the next war? What an idiot! Are we not in Israel?! Don’t these people understand they are in Israel! What a nightmare! Shelly in a war…”

The girl, having quickly fled the area, had been handing out flyers produced by activists from the social protests two summers ago. The campaign, mostly known for producing the yellow and black “Bibi is only good for the rich” posters that cover Israel’s bus stops, highways, and urban centers, is a non-partisan attempt to stop the re-election of Benjamin Netenyahu. Having myself handed out a few flyers and put up a few stickers advocating similar things, I didn’t bother even trying to read the flyer. I was, instead, much more interested in what the man across from me had said. They are comments that those of us working for Avodah are used to. They express a common sentiment that no matter what one thinks about Shelly’s policies, she cannot be trusted to lead the country. She is, for so many people, a weak woman who only cares about funding for kindergartens, roads, and hospitals. Her interests are narrow when it comes to what really defines this country: the next war.

I won’t go into why I believe this is wrong here. To understand the party’s stance on security, you can check out the platform here or read various other articles that lay out just how Avodah plans to deal with the issue of defense. What I am more concerned about at the moment, and what I wish I had said to the man on the train, is that Israel’s security and wellbeing cannot be divorced from the internal makeup of its society. Just as a society that cannot promise a worthwhile future to so many of its citizens cannot make a deal for peace, so it will also eventually not be able to go to war. Because the Israeli Army, a citizens’ army made up of ordinary people who give so much of their young lives to the state, cannot function in an unequal society.

While those in the Likud, and throughout the right, try to paint Avodah as a single-issue party that only cares about socio-economic issues, I urge you to watch the video below. Complete with English subtitles, the video is an address to the Academic Centre of Law and Business that Shelly gave last year. In it, she describes why we cannot talk about defence without also asking questions that reach far outside the defense budget. As she explains:

“[The OECD released a report that] says that Israel is high on the list in terms of gaps between the rich and the poor. Not only is it high on the list, the gaps and inequality between us are increasing all the time. Of the 33 OECD countries, there are 4 leading countries: America, Mexico, Israel, and…Turkey. I don't want to be a member of this club. Not when I'm a citizen of a country that is still fighting for its security, in which solidary is not a commodity...but a type of urgency, a supreme value, to ensure we can keep living here and be safe. Because the son of the cleaning woman who makes 22 shekels an hour, who is exploited and abused and has no rights...the son of that cleaning woman goes to the army with the son of the CEO who makes 1.5 million shekels a month, and it won't work!”

So, I ask you: How can we expect the child of the cleaning woman to give the same as the child of the CEO? How can we expect ordinary citizens to give to a country that does not give them anything in return? How do we expect to defend ourselves using an army based on social solidarity and mutual responsibility when those values are not seen in our healthcare or education system? How can a child who must study in a class with 42 other students be expected to serve as a responsible soldier? How can a teenager raised in a family that can barely pay their bills at the end of each month be expected to give three years of their life to the security of the country? How can such a new country, in such a dangerous and difficult situation, buy into Bibi’s claims that there is no connection between a strong internal society and a strong military?

While the right run around the country masquerading as patriots who care for the country, but do nothing to help its people, I will continue to stand with the party that knows that you cannot have a society based on the interest of “I” with an army that demands that we function as “we.”

-Adam

Why is Avital voting Labor? Women's rights

As a woman who expects, and demands, to be seen as any man's equal, I highly value the Labor Party's platform on advancing women's rights in Israel.

Upon perusing the Party's platform on civil society, democracy and the rule of law, I came across an entire section entitled Gender and the Status of Women. I learned that the Party intends to advance gender equality in a few key ways:

·  Increasing representation of women in all areas of government through legislation ensuring representation in various positions, Party institutions, and Knesset lists

·  Considering the influence of law on mainstream gender roles when setting Party policy

·  Closing the wage gap through enforcement of existing labour laws, as well as adjusting working hours to be better suited to raising a family, both for men and women

·  Bolstering female participation in the workforce with **free education from age 3 months**, as well as investing in public services with typically high female employment such as education and geriatric care.

·  Equal investment in the field of health – a vital issue in the fight for women's rights!

For anyone who loves and respects women, and who is frightened and dismayed by recent threats to basic gender equality in Israel, a vote for Labor demonstrates the hope and belief that We can Do Better

In the words of Labor chair Shelly Yachimovitch,

“We can't go on with business as usual. It's time for change.”

-Avital, an olah from Canada

Why is Adam voting Labor? Keeping public services public

              When I made aliyah in the fall of 2011 I knew I was coming to a country that had undergone serious changes in the past forty years. Even for Jews outside of Israel, it has been clear for some time that the country is not what it once was. The conversation has changed. For my mother, growing up at a Zionist summer camp in Canada, Israel was a modest society comprised of pioneering kibbutzniks who worked the fields by day and danced the hora into the night. For myself, raised in the same community forty years later, Israel was sleek, sophisticated, and high-tech savvy. A ‘Start-Up Nation’ that could compete on the international market and lead the world in medical and defense research. A nation whose children, just like me, wore Levis, ate McDonalds and listened to the newest MTV star. Celebrated in synagogues, at community events and on Israel advocacy displays in Hillel Houses throughout North America, this transition has been hailed as a great success and source of pride throughout the Jewish world. The fact that Israel developed ICQ, ‘a marvel display of Israeli ingenuity’ my dad told me, was something to brag about to my friends. And it is.

Nevertheless, the transition in Israeli society that has taken place over the last forty years has not been entirely positive. The changes in Israel have produced a much more negative – and widely unknown in the diaspora – trend of privatization. The current government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, continues to cut social services, health care, and welfare while refusing to interfere with corrupt tycoons who exploit their workers and the public at large. Unlike what those in the Likud would tell you, this trend is not simply economic. It is not just a ‘changing of the times’ or a necessary step that every country in transition must take. The trend towards privatization is a dangerous turn that, if left unchecked, could have disastrous long term effects on the future of the country.

As an oleh, nothing makes the nature of this trend clearer than the continual attempt of the government over the last ten years to privatize ulpanim. As educational institutions dedicated to absorbing immigrants and teaching them the Hebrew language, ulpanim have functioned as essential institutions since the founding of the country. They, perhaps more than any other institution in Israel, are the practical manifestation of the Zionist dream of the “ingathering of the exiles” laid out in the Declaration of Independence. They are essential to the future of the country as a home for olim and as center of the Jewish People. 

However, beginning in 2007 when a study about deficiencies within the ulpanim was released, the ulpanim have been under attack. Successive governments have complained of failures within the ulpan system – mainly poor teaching and results – and have called for the breaking apart of the system into a private service that is not run by, or accountable to, the state.  As Leora S. Fridman explains in her article in Haaretz, this shift in government attitude shows a deeply unsettling trend. 

“Placing the ulpan on the budgetary chopping-block raises serious questions, not only about Israel's relationship with Hebrew, but also about how the state relates to its immigrants and their role here. If even the minimal common denominator of a single language is no longer a top priority, the country's population will become increasingly segmented.”

        For myself, for all the future olim chadashim, and for the country as a whole, it is essential that our government be one that will push back against the all-encompassing trend of privatization. A push which, left unchecked, threatens services as basic, crucial and essential to the Zionist definition of the country as the ulpanim. Netanyahu and the Likud, sitting at the forefront of privatization for the last forty years, have continually chosen to place funding cuts and privatization above all else.

We need a change in priorities. We need Avodah.

·       Adam, an Oleh from Canada

Labor's democratic principles speak for themselves

The Israel Democracy Institute scored each political party on criteria of transparency, accountability, competition, representation, and inclusiveness:

View the larger original and read all the details: http://en.idi.org.il/projects/government-and-constitution/political-reform/the-party-democracy-index/

Labor is the most democratic party running for Knesset in 2013. Want to know how a party will govern? Check out how it conducts its internal affairs.

 
-Adam

Vote Labor, Vote Green

     I was lucky enough to have been asked to translate parts of the Labor Party platform (yes they have a platform - which is a lot more than most of the other parties can say), including parts on the environment. In case you are considering voting for the Green Party, the Save-the-Beaches Party, or the Stop-Mistreating-Farm-Animals Party I ask you to please read the Labor Party's environmental platform first.

     

    Here we have a major political party speaking of the desire to re-create Israel's environmental legislation in the spirit of Seattle. While terms like "open-spaces", "green lungs", "walkable cities" and "mixed-use zoning" may just sound trendy in the US, they are so underused in this country that they come off as extremely sincere.

The entire English version platform is available here! But I'll leave you with some quotes from the sustainability section, available here:

"…a healthy environment and environmental justice are cornerstones of the foundation of social justice."

"The Labor Party will advance comprehensive social-environmental legislation which will first and foremost guarantee the rights of all to a healthy and clean environment and will defend the natural resources which belong to the general public."

"…legislation which will allow for the establishment of facilities to produce solar energy panels for the roofs of every building in Israel…"

"The Party will advance formal and informal education that raises the environmental consciousness of the next generation a carbon tax…"

"The Labor Party will work to ensure the welfare of wild animals, pets, and livestock. The Party will work to prevent animal cruelty, harassment, and torture."

-Ilan

Avodah English platform is up!

The English translation of the Labor party platform is online!

http://www.shelly.org.il/node/2011

Go check it out!

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

Reading this platform, it's clear to me that the Labor party has taken to heart the demands of the 2011 social justice protests. Here are a few quotes that I was happy to see in the platform: 

"(The Labor party will) promote civil marriage and divorce in Israel and create civil cemeteries accessible to all citizens, while allowing for the possibility of various religious burial ceremonies."

It's time to take control of public Jewish life away from the hands of the Orthodox-only rabbinical court.
 
"(The Labor Party will) decrease inequality between Jewish, Arab, Druze, and Circassian citizens by allocating equal resources for all citizens in health, education, welfare, social services, infrastructure, housing, employment, industrial development, and personal security"

We can't have a society that allows some to prosper and not others. Funding public services for some communities but not others within our borders is racism.

"The Labor Party will work to eradicate racism against olim from Ethiopia which has taken root in parts of Israeli society and is expressed by unequal treatment against Israelis from Ethiopian origin in residential areas, workplaces, schools, and places of recreation. 
The Labor Party will work to implement the Affirmative Action Law in employing Ethiopian olim academics in government ministries, in government companies, and in local authorities.
The Labor Party will work to provide an extensive answer to the difficulties in the absorption of Ethiopian olim and integrating them into Israeli society in the best possible way."

 It is unacceptable that over half of Ethiopian olim to Israel live in poverty.

"The Labor Party sees the Supreme Court as the highest judicial institution in the State of Israel, responsible for maintaining the values of justice, equality, freedom, and the human and civil rights of Israel’s residents.

The Labor Party will work to fortify the institutional status of the Supreme Court and maintain its authority."

Netanyahu feels comfortable defying Supreme Court orders when it suits him to do so:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/13/isarel-evicts-e1-palestinian-peace-camp

Check the whole platform out for yourself!
http://www.shelly.org.il/node/2011

-Dafna 

Why is Daniel voting Labor? Not afraid

I am desperate, not afraid!  

As we get closer to voting day, the day we Israelis have the opportunity and obligation to vote for who we believe should lead Israel and the Jewish people, too many politicians are trying to scare me: whether it's about Iran, Haredim, Arabs, Palestinians, Settlers, Mizrachim, Ashkenazim, education, army … the list is long. But I don’t want to vote because I am scared. I want to vote for a vision, for an alternative to the last four years and an alternative to what seems inevitable—another four years of the deterioration of the Zionist dream. I am tired of politicians trying to scare me into voting for them. I will not vote out of fear. I believe Shelly Yachimovich and the Labor Party are the only alternative to fear.

I may be desperate but I am not afraid, I'm voting Labor because I believe.  

-Daniel, an oleh from Australia 

English Debate in Tel Aviv

Stav Shaffir will be representing the Labor Party in an English-language panel, alongside representatives from Likud Beitenu, HaBayit HaYehudi and HaTnua, tomorrow night (Wednesday, 16th) in Tel Aviv. The panel will focus on issues relating to olim. Registration is free, but limited, so don't miss your chance to sign up and ask the tough questions about the Israeli electoral and democratic processes.

Don't miss out, register now.

For more details visit..

Event page

-Gabe

Stav Shaffir speaks up for democracy

Labor party candidate Stav Shaffir writes about her experience at a debate in Netanya, where candidates from Likud, Kadima, Habayit Hayehudi, and Otzma Leyisrael tried to force Yael Lehrer, the candidate from the Palestinian Balad party, off the stage by yelling and loudly singing Hatikva.

It's already clear which of the parties running for Knesset have racist nationalist ideologies. Now, Stav Shaffir has demonstrated that the Labor party is willing to stand up for democracy and pluralism in Israel.

English language post at the Daily Beast: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/11/netanya-s-undemocratic-elections-panel.html

Original facebook post: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151214864946608&set=a.402342761607.177924.508516607&type=1&theater

-Dafna

Why is Nora voting Labor? Real choices in this election

A few days ago I was talking to a friend of mine from ulpan about the elections. When I told her how I was voting, her earnest reply was, "But why not Bennett?" Bennett, is of course Naftali Bennett, the (apparently) unthreatening face of the National Religious Right. His Habayit Hayehudi (The Jewish Home) party has taken this election season by surprise by nabbing votes of disillusioned Likud supporters and moderate youth alike.

A cursory look at the party list shows, for the most part, a compilation of settler rabbis and settler leaders who have vehemently opposed classic threats to the Jewish state such as gay soldiers serving in the IDF (and rights for gay people in general), the Knesset committee for the status of women, and human rights groups. All are DTATWB (down to annex the West Bank). So how has the party earned a reputation for being centrist?

Bennett, whose name in the news is often accompanied by the epithet "charismatic," boasts Californian parentage, sports a clean-shaven face and what some have described as "a very small kippah." He made this innocuous ad targeting English-speaking olim:



In short, he seems relatable. But the fact is that Bennett wants to annex the 60% of the West Bank known as Area C (his plan is to build bridges between Palestinian areas so that Jews don't have to encounter checkpoints) and "believes that, ultimately, the world is busy with the economic collapse of Greece, the United States' fiscal cliff and the slaughter in Syria, and thus it is possible to bring the world to come to terms now with facts on the ground and firm Israeli decisions." (http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/the-success-of-naftali-bennett-is-the-failure-of-the-israeli-center-left.premium-1.490536). His wanton disdain for a sustainable relationship between Israel and Palestine, and cavalier dismissal of the international community should terrify anyone who cares about the future of the Jewish state.

In my encounters with Israelis and other olim, I have, to my surprise and dismay, met many who are deliberating between voting Habayit Hayehudi and Labor. But while Bennett's party represents extreme right views on social and diplomatic issues, Labor's list is one of people who are speaking out against the racism, sexism, and homophobia that are the trademarks of the religious right, and in favor of social and economic equality, and a sustainable, secure relationship with the Palestinians.

-Nora, an olah from the United States

Much work to do, a quarter of Israelis undecided

With eight days to go until the elections, a quarter of Israelis are still undecided, leavening many potential mandates hanging in the balance. Let's work to bring them to the only party that can truly lead this country.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-voters-undecided-support-for-livni-down/

-Gabe

Why is Ea voting Labor? Real change

When I made Aliyah a year and a half ago, it was because I wanted to make a difference in Israeli society. I wanted to restore the word "Zionism" to the meaning bestowed upon it by the chalutzim, the pioneers who built this country; A Jewish State as a home for a society which would constantly strive for equality and social justice. A People who would hold itself to a higher standard than the status quo of the exile from which it came.

I chose to impact Israeli society by being an educator – a decision that means investing many, many hours into other people; hoping and waiting for them to choose to change their own lives, and join me in this uphill mission. While I still am not disillusioned, even though the measure of my success in this endeavor is almost impossible to see, this is my chance to make a change today.

Today I can be heard.

Today I can support policies which will protect the most vulnerable members of our society.

Today I can insist that the peace process be made an urgent priority by the Israeli government.

Today I can be part of the change in Israeli society by voting Avoda.

In my definition of Zionism, opportunities to change Israel today don't come by that often. So I'm making the most of this chance, and I'm voting for Avoda.

                  -Ea, an olah from New Zealand

Olmert: Bibi wasted money on "adventurous fantasies" in Iran

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Channel 2 that Netanyahu has spent 11 billion shekels planning military operations on Iran that "were not carried out and will never be carried out":

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/olmert-netanyahu-spent-nis-11-billion-on-adventurous-fantasies-1.493507

We need a national security policy that's grounded in reality, not Bibi's wasteful fearmongering.
-Dafna

Why is Nathan voting Labor? Hope not fear

When Barack Obama won re-election in 2012, he said

"If you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters... You make a big election about small things".

Americans should be grateful. At least they had an election about something. Instead, the Likud party, whose victory in the upcoming elections has the air of the inevitable, has distilled its raison d'etre into this advertisement, called "The absurd theater of the Left":

In it, the leaders of the center and left are represented by finger puppets. Zehava Gal-On of Meretz is portrayed saying “End the occupation” again and again, while a man mimics Shelly Yachimovitch of Labor harping endlessly about the convergence of “wealth and power,”

Fortunately for us, the leadership of the Jewish state has its eyes on the real prize, and doesn't need to bother itself with occupation and the economy when Iran might be developing a nuclear weapon. Never mind that Israel has one of the highest rates of inequality in the OECD. Never mind that it's been occupying another nation for nearly fifty years. Never mind that tens of thousands of African asylum seekers live in limbo in South Tel Aviv, in permanent fear of deportation. The important thing is to keep people afraid, because then they'll vote for the 'strong leader'.

Surely Israel's had enough of this? Surely it's time to try something else? How long can a nation be led on the basis of fear and isolation, instead of values of equality, freedom and justice?

I’m supporting Shelly Yachimovich because I know that there are many aspects of Israeli society that need to change. I believe that change is possible and I refuse to let my country be paralyzed by fear.

-Nathan, an oleh from Australia

Why is Oded voting Labor?

My name is Oded, and I am currently working as a JAFI Shaliach in the US. I have been living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the past year and a half. Since the '99 elections I have been taking an active role in every campaign, and this is going to be the first time I'll miss it. I wish I could be there, obviously. I think that elections in Israel are always exciting, and I see them as an opportunity to shape the future of Israeli society. However, there are some upsides of being in America during the Israeli elections. Working with the American-Jewish community is giving me new perspectives and points of view of Israel.

As I said, I was always involved in politics and social issues in Israel. But coming to the U.S. helped me understand more what we should be trying to create. The nature of this future we are fighting for is becoming clear.

Only when I came here did I realize: I don’t want Israel to be a state just like all other states. We, as Jews, are not looking to replicate what we can find in other places. We are looking to create something of our own, in our image. We are looking to create a Jewish and Democratic state, which will feel like home for all of us – Jews and non-Jews.

Unfortunately, in the past few years I have been feeling that we are moving away from that vision. Israel is becoming less of a home for the poor and the weak. It's becoming less of a home for different minorities. It's becoming less of a home for me – a progressive Zionist Jew.

That is why I am going to vote for Avoda in these coming elections. I feel like Avoda is the only party that represents the home that I am looking for – one that has enough room for everyone, but not at the expense of anyone else. It's time to go back to our initial vision. We can't afford the huge socio-economic gaps. We can't afford anti-democratic legislation. We just can't afford the current leadership.

I love Israel. I want to see it flourish. Coming here, to America, and working in Jewish education only made me realize how much I love it.

But when I'm done here, I want to come back to a place that I can call home.

-Oded, an Israeli

Finance minister admits that current government has failed us

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz finally agrees to take some blame for the appalling social gaps and economic burden here, though still shirks full responsibility.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000811505

-Gabe 

Why is Naomi voting Labor? Anti-prejudice

Yesterday the campaign broadcasts for the Israeli elections started. Two weeks before the elections, each party gets air time in accordance with its size to promote itself by showing what it will do, attacking other parties, or telling personal stories about the party leader. Some of the broadcasts are funny, some are annoying, some are...

Even though I already decided who I’m going to vote for, I really like to watch these broadcasts and see the messages of each party, so yesterday I was really excited that it started.

Most of the broadcasts were what I expected, but one made me really angry – It was a Shas broadcast, showing a couple standing under the chuppah. The bride is an Olah from Russia, while the groom is an Israeli-born Jew (non-Russian). During the ceremony, the bride tells the groom about the fax machine she received as a gift from “Beiteinu,” referring to Avigdor Lieberman’s political party, Yisrael Beiteinu. When the groom is confused about why they need a fax machine under their chuppah, she explains that she can dial *conversion. When the groom is appalled that she’s not Jewish, she gets a fax with a conversion certificate and says that now she is. Then he refuses to kiss her because she is not Jewish.

Here it is (in Hebrew) - 

Why was I so mad?

As a person I was mad about the racist way that Shas is presenting the Olim from Russia and how the husband is disgusted to discover that his wife is “not Jewish.”

As a Jew I was mad because Shas doesn’t recognize non-orthodox conversions even though they are a very serious process.

As a Zionist I was mad because Olim who came here as Jews according to the Law of Return are not recognized as Jews in Israel, and cannot be married as Jews or even in a civil marriage, as there is no legally-recognized civil marriage in Israel.

Shas does everything it can to prevent the legislation of civil marriage in Israel and the recognition of non-Haredi conversions.

How does this connect to the Labor party?

One of the things I really appreciate about Shelly Yachimovich is that she is trying to promote politics that is not based on hating other sectors of Israeli society and attacking them. I think many parties, including Shas in this case, have much to learn from her.

Also, Knesset member Nino Abesadze, who is running for the Labor Party, filed a petition with the Elections Committee to disqualify the broadcast. Likewise, the Labor Facebook group 'Russian Street, corner of Labor' started a petition against this broadcast: http://www.atzuma.co.il/antishas

If you want to read more about it, this is a really interesting article:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/israeli-elections-2013/israeli-elections-opinion-analysis/shas-election-ads-using-jewish-conversion-for-incitement.premium-1.492923

-Naomi, an Israeli