"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
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