European Anti-Semitism Could Destroy the IDF

 

One can tell much from the way a society regards, honors and protects the remains of those passed away. Often it is the first heartbreak for Jewish communities and a sign that their welcome has worn thin and the end is coming and coming fast if steps are not taken to turn the malodorous intents of hatred growing more vehement or even violent against their Jewish neighbors. The stench of Jew hatred is currently running rampant across Europe to such an extent that even the United States State Department, not exactly the best friend of Jews worldwide, especially those in Israel, has assigned additional staffers to assist United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Ira Forman in her efforts to combat and bring attention to the growing problem. This recognition has been made most evident with the destruction and defacing of Jewish graves and entire cemeteries. When repair or restoration of these cemeteries is ignored, or worse, refused, then the reality needs be addressed by the world. When these same hatreds which wreak havoc and destruction of memorials to those souls who have passed is transferred to the living with demands for judgement before facts are even investigated by the world’s stage, then it is an entirely different matter. That places actual lives not only of the accused in danger and under threat but extends to the entire public should such cause pause in acting in difficult and potentially deadly situations where a simply hesitation can result in deaths and permanent injury. But Israel as the Jewish State is held to such a different set of standards that a soldier’s future freedom is of less value than the use the leaders can derive from grandstanding on this soldier’s freedom and life just for some public relations seeking approval from the Europeans who engineered the entire set of events to get just that result. The reality that the Europeans just desire turning Jew against Jew and are willing to pour millions upon millions of Euros just to turn the government loose grinding a soldier for a momentary reaction within the gears greased by a European funded NGO and its video manipulation following an organized provocation filmed start to finish in the hope the video can be edited to destroy the reputation of the IDF, its soldiers and the government overseeing them. The destruction of cemeteries is insufficient when they can destroy living Jews, especially Israeli Jews and even more so its protectors, the IDF. Let us first establish the destruction perpetrated in European nations against Jews long dead and buried simply because they were Jews no matter how distantly in the past they committed the sin of being Jewish. Their rest must be marred by violence against which they are not about to rise up and protest and soon there may be no Jews left in Europe to protect and protest such defamations. Below are visuals of two separate but equally insulting desecrations against Jews past after which we will discuss a case of destruction of a Jew in the present using Jews and the Jewish State’s leadership, a sad situation where the government and people are on vastly different tracks. The people think less of European praise and could not care less about European scorn, deserved or not. The world has done all it could and as we have returned home we are done with walking with heads hung low refusing to look those who claimed to be our betters eye to eye, Simply put, Never Again!

 

 

Jewish Section of European Cemetery
Emblazoned with Swastikas Painted
on Every Last Jewish Gravestone

 

 

Destroyed Jewish Cemetery in Poland, Europe

 

 

Elor Azariya is the soldier who has been turned into a media circus and the latest sacrifice by those who care less about this young man or the truth. One item ignored was the entire event was a provocation be the NGO named B’Tselem. B’Tselem is registered as Israeli NGO due to vulnerability in Israeli law which allows for foreign financed organizations to register as domestic in origin. This is something not permitted by any other democratic government or nation anywhere on the planet. When similar laws are introduced in Israel, the uproar would make one believe this was an unimaginable offense to have NGOs who are predominantly foreign financed register as such. The caterwauling from mostly European hypocrites claiming that making foreign funded NGOs register as foreign financed or reveal such financing will destroy democracy in Israel. What they are protesting is losing their fifth front implanted within Israel by European government and the European Union in order to destroy Israel and her credibility through pretending that these are native NGOs and not foreign entities financing the miniscule extreme leftist minority making them giants through largess from Europe. B’Tselem is one such NGO and has been at the center of this entire fiasco which may destroy one soldier’s life who, at worst, may have made a judgement which might at worst be judged as a mistake but not a conspiracy or heinous miscarriage of justice and prejudicial killing of an innocent. Perhaps we should cover the entirety of the story from the very beginning, the beginning ignored by virtually every news service as proving racist attitudes in Israel is just too juicy a morsel to allow for honest reporting free of prejudging the case and sacrificing a young soldier simply to skewer Israel and press her political class against true justice and the will of the people. So, who are the real murderers of Israeli democracy now?

 

The event took place in and around Hevron where terror attacks including shootings, stabbings, firebombing, rock throwing often utilizing slings and even suicide bombings of patrols and checkpoints. This day a checkpoint was assaulted by a pair of Palestinians under the direction of instigators from B’Tselem with it not having been determined if the team from the foreign funded NGO which specialized in provocations claiming that their use of Palestinians to attack, harass, and press soldiers in whatever manner might produce what could be filmed and edited to give an appearance of wrongdoing. Then once the video taken from these confrontations have been carefully edited, they are placed on the internet where they receive reposting, likes and whatever any other push it may require to force it into a viral rating thus initiating an inflated viewing using chains of fellow travelers using numerous accounts. B’Tselem claims to be a human rights organization whose aim is to improve IDF human rights training but as they have never taken a single instance to assist training IDF soldiers but instead use provocations to paint the IDF as fierce and unprincipled murderers. Their acts do nothing to improve human rights, better training or even assisting in improving conditions and relations between the IDF forces and the Palestinians. The biggest successes of B’Tselem and their fellow extreme leftist European NGOs which are still registered as Israeli has been getting two combat unit commanders removed from their commands and one even forced into early retirement. One such command officer reacted to having his hand grabbed and at least one finger bent back to the point of breaking the digit and then was pushed and spat upon numerous times. When he attempted to step between leftist Europeans who were intent on blocking a major roadway and his beleaguered soldiers he was again struck and lost his temper and struck the lead European instigator and soon after another assault by the European group leader again struck the officer who defended himself. Needless to point out the video showed little of the provocation but placed the officer’s reactions in full and glorious coverage. About the only thing left out was a slow motion replay of the officer attacking the European instigator. These events which placed Elor Azariya (pictured below) at the center of this firestorm of political correctness was manufactured to fit compliance with European dictats. Another item which requires consideration is there exists a state of war between the Palestinian Authority and Israel as far as their government and society are concerned. This war is an anything for the cause being part and parcel of this conflict.

 

 

Elor Azariya

 

 

This day brought the B’Tselem team replete with photographers who filmed most of the entire instigation from several different angles so as to miss little if any actions. They were escorting two Arabs armed with knives who at a sign set upon the soldiers with knives in an attempt to murder them. After they relatively seriously wounded one of the soldiers and were continuing their assault on the remaining soldiers as well as, the injured soldier who was possibly unable to defend himself adequately led the remaining soldiers to open fire. They struck both terrorist assailants killing one outright and disabling the other as their action had removed his knife. The terrorist was wearing a heavy coat on a very warm day making such an obvious danger of the terrorist attacker having a bomb belt strapped to his body. To this point the soldier under investigation and being tried for manslaughter (he was originally charged with murder but that was quickly realized not prosecutable) had not arrived on scene. Once Elor Azariya did arrive on scene it was known that the terrorist had yet to be searched and nobody had checked or knew what was, if anything, concealed under the heavy coat which was very loose fitting. The MDA (Magen David Adom) medics were standing off waiting for the terrorist to be searched and the heavy coat to be at least opened and confirmed not to be concealing a bomb belt or other explosives. MDA rules do not allow their medics to treat or even approach any terrorist who has yet to be searched due to concerns and the potential for their personnel’s health and safety. Elor Azariya reached this scene and quickly realized that the terrorist and the other dead terrorist, had both been injured with the one having died of his wounds and the other injured and presumably pacified. What is important is pacified does not mean rendered completely threat free as he had yet to be searched as the other soldiers were busy attending to their injured brother in arms. This was the initial scene from which the series of events would proceed.

 

The remainder we will describe here is the best scenario we are able to piece together with a few commentaries to put everything into prospective. At some point soon after the arrival by Elor Azariya the terrorist moved his hands from over his head and appeared to start to reach inside or under his coat which caused Elor Azariya to fire one shot striking the terrorist in the head killing him instantly. The fact the shot was to the terrorist’s head is important as IDF soldiers spend a great amount of time training to shoot terrorists in places which will render them unable to continue any attack while not necessarily fatally wounding them unless they are a direct threat to life and that is the only effective choice. Obviously when firing to end a confrontation the likelihood that a terrorist will receive fatal injuries is far higher. The IDF soldiers are particularly good at aiming their weapons and striking exactly what and where they aimed which has left many a terrorist alive and able to eventually be released in some exchange of a thousand terrorists for a single soldier or as a bribe to allow Abbas to shake the Israeli Prime Minister’s hand at a photo op often with an American President or his representative. There is one time when the IDF soldiers are trained to take a head shot which is when any injury which allows the terrorist even a few seconds of life before passing from their wounds could result in the death or injury of others including soldiers by the terrorist’s next action. Pressing a detonator on a bomb belt is very high on said list of times a soldier is permitted to take a head shot. The terrorist had not been approached or checked for explosives as every testimony has proven. Perhaps soldiers’ ranking officer had decided to wait for trained bomb disposal experts so as to limit vulnerability of his men. Whatever the reason, the terrorist had not been checked and very well may have possessed explosives and have been reaching for the detonation button which would have killed or wounded most soldiers, medics and potentially civilians watching; this soldier had good, solid reason to take that fateful head shot. He also deserves support, not a circus to amuse and please the Europeans who will never accept Israel or her leaders. This all backs Elor Azariya and the story given by the MDA medics, other soldiers and commander of the units at the checkpoint that the terrorist appeared to be reaching for a detonator under his coat. Even the military investigator backed the story line that all actions appeared to have coincided with the scenario of a terrorist wearing a bomb belt. This has weakened what has been an establishment lynching of an IDF soldier on the altar of European political correctness. All else is hearsay and barracks braggadocio is worthless as actual evidence. The main evidence which will be ignored is the soldier took a head shot as per his training when facing a potential bombing is imminent.

 

Another attack last week occurred in Aleppo, Syria where the hospital was struck along with the living quarters next door used as a dormitory for personnel, particularly those from Doctors Without Borders, killed the sole existing pediatric physician for hundreds of miles as well as other physicians and nurses. There has been no call for those responsible to be brought up on charges. The numerous bombings and mistaken shootings in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere in the modern post-World War II world have resulted in extraordinary little prosecutions. Then there was the entirety of World War II and the bombings of cities into rubble and then bombed the rubble until a firestorm was ignited and which claimed millions of lives in European theater alone. The loss of life in Japan was horrific in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and even greater carnage was committed by the firebombing of Tokyo and in all of these there were no trials for these bombings. There have been seldom and far between prosecutions even if mistaken identities resulting in noncombatant deaths. In Israel this past week one security patrol member shot dead a terrorist who acted in a suspicious manner causing the security officer to suspect the existence and imminent detonation of a bomb belt so they shot the terrorist dead and this individual may be receiving a medal for their quick actions which may have saved lives. We could continue and the list would grow longer and reading more tedious so let us just agree that mistakes are made and nobody is brought up on charges of murder or manslaughter as during times of war violence often goes too far. Yes, we realize this is Israel where one side is held to an impossibly high set of expectations while the other side can shove children in front of a speeding train and claim the conductor intentionally ran the child down and an investigation would be launched and politicians would be apologizing from the outset before the investigation could be organized while seeking somebody to try on charges to prove how noble they are.

 

That is exactly what happened in the case involving Elor Azariya and his shooting of the terrorist. Another item we need remember is this individual terrorist had also attempted and may have assisted in the stabbing of an IDF soldier and had to be shot and bleeding before he was prevented from continuing his stabbing spree. His cohort was shot and killed to end his killing spree. This terrorist had already proven he would do anything he could to kill IDF soldiers and that is the starting point in this fiasco. Defense Minister Ya’alon from the get-go had tried this young soldier and was prepared to throw him to the alligators in the swamp. Recent surveys have shown the Israeli public supporting the soldier from the low end two-to-one to the higher end of three-to-one and likely to grow even higher as more information is leaks out to the public. The Prime Minister was equally hurried in joining in condemning the soldier demanding the investigation be hurriedly put together and the politically correct verdict be found and the facts subsequently arranged in support. Everywhere there were politicians from presumably both sides of the aisle attempting to condemn this soldier and sacrifice him on the alter of political correctness for the purpose of placating the Europeans who will refuse to be placated for as long as Jews are permitted their own nation. Perhaps the best would be to quote a presumed random sample of individuals from this editorial here.

From a young soldier: “In our unit we are all completely ashamed of how this soldier is being treated. Of course he should have shot the terrorist dead. If this is the way he is treated why are we in the army at all?”

From a mother: “I do not want my children to go into the army if that is how one soldier is being treated.”

From a grandmother: “It is all the Supreme Court’s fault. They set the tone. They are pro-Arab and do not care what happens to us. It has always been like that.”

From a male voter: The rule of law is important. What will the world think if we don’t appear to be just?

From his wife: When you are dealing with such an enemy you can’t afford to pander to world opinion. Do you really think that they cared that we were moral during the Holocaust or any of the wars against us?

From a bank manager: The media are partly responsible for fanning flames on behalf of the terrorists which enables further murders. Where are our censors in this time of actual war?

 

There very well could be a cleansing of the Knesset and a huge turn around against Bibi Netanyahu to the point that the Likud Party may best be served by his stepping aside and allowing one of the more nationalistic members such as Moshe Feiglin or Danny Danon to step up and lead the party onward . If Bibi refuses to step aside while the people of Israel are this upset and agitated, then he is far more tone deaf when it comes to ruling than many believed and perhaps all he really cared about was remaining the leader of the country. From the limited number of people we have interacted with, support for Elor Azariya is very strong with those who follow events and these are the people in our community who are the leadership. The next elections may be coming far sooner than most believe and another sacrificing of one of our brave young men before the idol of Ba’al. Elections may come immediately as we want nothing to do with idolaters, especially those making sacrifices in the hopes of placating the Europeans who want nothing less than every Israeli shipped to America or dead and nothing in between as that would place some Jews in Europe. They have made their fateful choice which has ended any hopes of Jews being accepted back. Europe is gone and we in Israel would be wise to remember that reality.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Lessons of the Likud Primary Elections

 

The initial lesson almost everybody will claim is that nothing notable resulted from the Likud primary elections. Binyamin Netanyahu easily won the top spot and Danny Danon retained a seat in the Knesset. Yuli Edelstein, followed by Gilad Arden – then Israel Katz, Miri Regev, Silvan Shalom, Moshe Ya’alon, Ze’ev Elkin and Tzachi Hanegbi rounded out the top positions. The presumably big story is that none of the Likud leadership mentioned ceding land for making a Palestinian state, nor making conciliatory moves to placate the Demands of the European Union, nor surrendering lands demanded by the United Nations nor folding before pressures from United States President Obama nor buckling to demands made by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) threats nor bending under to the compulsion emanating from any of the European governments nor mollifying to any pressures to relent claim to any land claims by any Arab or Muslim entity. This would have been laudable and reassuring except for the lack of claiming anything concerning the surrender of lands beyond the Green Line. Probably the one comment heard in the reporting was an assurance that the Western Wall would remain under Israeli control made by Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Herzog which would have made the perfect invitation to address that the Likud would not only retain control over the Kotel but would keep all of Jerusalem, the settlements, the Jordan Valley, the Judean Hills and all of ancient Israel, but no such retort was presented. The question of what they are in favor of committing themselves to about the ancient homelands of the Jewish State, of the lands of Judea and Samaria is a question of paramount importance and the answer must not contain any ambiguities or vagueness and must be replied to without even the slightest hesitation of falter so as to be given spontaneously proving it is their default and singular position. Such must be the position and response to the state of mind of any candidate on any list before a true Zionist can feel comfort in granting any party their vote.

 

There was some disconcerting news pertaining to the subterfuge around efforts to keep Moshe Feiglin from attaining a safe position or even any position on the Likud list and with that news one might also question if these efforts also had an effect on Tzipi Hotovely just missing making the list of favorably situated spots when she missed being in the twentieth spot and that pushed her back to the twenty-sixth spot behind some seats reserved for party regional leadership and people chosen by the Prime Minister personally. Another step towards proving that Likud stands firmly in the nationalist camp and also the Zionist camp would be Benyamin Netanyahu placing Tzipi Hotovely in one of his discretionary spots assuring her a better chance at continuing to serve and have an additional Zionist voice in the Knesset. The next step which the Zionist camp must take careful notes to will be the filing by the parties of their official lists. If any Zionist belongs to a party which places within its list any appreciable numbers of candidates who have ever stated their approval to surrendering Judea and Samaria and permitting a new Arab state which will most assuredly become another Hamastan either through elections or by force of arms, just as did Gaza, then one should seriously consider giving their vote to another party. There should be little if any room for Ministers to the Knesset who would allow another debacle such as the events which formed Kadima and led to the unilateral disengagement from Gaza producing a similar result with Judea and Samaria. This was one fear that occupied my mind and led to great consternation when after the last elections when Prime Minister Netanyahu immediately chose to bring into his potential coalition Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah Party (הַתְּנוּעָה) which had not only surrender lands for peace members on her party list but also was headed with the ultimate land for peace person outside Labor, Meretz and the Arab Parties. When Tzipi Livni was then given the position to be the lead Israeli for negotiating and dealing with the Palestinians and all that would eventually entail, which came way too close to my worst fears, I said prayers that like Pharaoh, Abbas and companies’ hearts would harden and refuse every offer. That is apparently exactly what came to be as Abbas once again proved the wisdom of Abba Eban who stated referring to the forming of another Arab nation west of the Jordan River that, “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”

 

It is always nerve racking when offers are made where almost the entirety of Judea and Samaria and especially if Eastern Jerusalem is included which initially guarantees that Jews will lose all access to the Temple Mount and the Kotel and additionally the Synagogues which were so painstakingly refurbished and restored will once again be torn asunder and be once again defiled. There is still one last thing which granting the Arabs and Abbas their state and Hamas taking control within one year or two is that within six months of Hamas rising to power Israel will once again be facing a war of extinction against who knows how many armies. The war that would follow Hamas taking over Judea, Samaria and Eastern Jerusalem would be frightful and potentially the most dangerous situation since the War of Independence as it is surreal yet potentially possible, if not probable should such a war come four or five years down the road, that the Arabs would have a number of European nations aiding their efforts and arming them with top of the line NATO equipment. It might even become a worst case scenario should Turkey also become a party to the conflict and demand that the rest of NATO come to the aid against the nation warring with Turkey, a fellow NATO member who is permitted such a request. Where it is unlikely, though not completely out of the realm of possibilities, that the United States would aid Turkey against Israel, but it is nowhere near as certain when one considers that the numerous European NATO members might comply with the request resulting in a much broader war and increases the potential for Israel to be defeated without, as assisted Israel in all her previous conflicts, the good L0rd assists once again.

 

The one thing that Israel needs to make sure does not happen is for the leftists make up the lead in any coalition, especially if the Prime Minister position will be occupied by Tzipi Livni as she most assuredly would surrender the store simply to assure herself a legacy. Tzipi Livni is driven to become the Prime Minister who achieved peace with the Arabs and received a Nobel Peace Prize for her heroic and valued leadership. The question with her deciding what is acceptable could potentially lead to her insisting that Israel retain Tel Aviv but hopefully she not surrender both the Negev Desert and the Galilee central plains and hills and certainly not surrender Netanya and Nahariya. Of course she might not get the opportunity as Yitzhak Herzog would be allowed first shot at surrendering almost all of Israel. Yitzhak Herzog recently vowed to shut down the World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division, which functions as an operational arm of the government to build and establish communities and infrastructures in Judea and Samaria. Herzog stated on ‘Meet the Press’ Saturday night, “As Prime Minister I will close the Settlement Division and open it later to serve the Negev and the Galilee. We see again and again the same group takes over the interests of the state and Netanyahu gave in to it.” This is a blanket inference that the lands beyond the Green Line are of little concern and that Yitzhak Herzog is willing to surrender all of Judea and Samaria forcing almost one-million Jews from their homes, something which the Israeli voters must take the efforts to avoid giving this man any power. Not only is that necessary but the Israeli voters must make certain that whichever party gets to form the next government is a party headed by a devout and solid Zionist who knows that not only without Jerusalem does Israel fail, but also without Hevron, Shechem, Jericho, and possibly also Bethlehem. These are the minimalist demands and retaining all the lands promised by treaties are reserved solely for a Jewish State where the peoples living within have individual rights, commercial rights, property rights and religious rights but political rights are reserved for the Jews when voting and ruling the nation come into question. This was decided immediately after World War I and was ratified by the European nations, Japan and the United States and ratified by the United Nations. Without going into detail, here is the thumbnail sketch one more time, The San Remo Conference implemented the Balfour Declaration word for word as their conclusion; following that decision the British had the mandate and proposed splitting the mandate with three-quarters approximately was to be utilized for an Arab state and would be defined as the lands west of the Jordan River while the lands east of the Jordan River, that less than one-quarter of the Mandate lands, would be reserved into perpetuity for the Jewish State where all people living within were to keep their properties, businesses, religious rights, civil rights and all rights with the exception of political rights which could be granted them if and only if the Jewish government deemed them to have such powers. All of these treaties were adopted subsequently by the United Nations under Article 80. Get it, got it, good!

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Vote Your Conscience and Ignore the Polls and Potential Coalition Possibilities

 

As elections approach there will be party primaries followed later by the general elections. How we vote in each level of the election cycle may surprisingly be a parallel to Psalm 26:2 and the different translations from the original to the modern day. The modern translation states something along the lines, while retained the flavor to the original and having the essential difference, “Lord, try me and test me; look closely into my heart and mind.” The original translation stated, “Lord, try me and test me; look closely into my heart and kidneys.” How this relates to voting in primaries and general elections and which goes with which, well read on.

 

There is always the temptation to vote with our hearts which very few are capable of avoiding without, according to most modern thinking, the discipline of our minds. Ancient Jewish teaching may teach a different lesson which might also have its place in our modern world. But first how can we differentiate how to choose our votes between primary elections and our votes in general election. Let us first assume that we are choosing a righteous manner for our votes and not some cynical use where we attempt to damage a party we would never give even a thought of supporting in the general election, as none amongst us would ever choose such a deceitful path. There is a basic difference between primary elections and general elections. A primary election is where as a voter we are free to vote for anybody we desire as it is supposedly a measure of our most honest desire, especially in a parliamentary election where our choices will determine the order of the party card which it will present listing its representatives for office and if those you choose make it high enough on the list, then you get your own little piece of representation in the government. In the general elections you are not really voting for a person as much the party which you feel will serve you and the nation the best. Of course if you are fortunate to have any of the people you voted for in the primary elections head the Party ticket, then if your party is tapped to form a ruling coalition and they succeed, then your primary choice will likely be the Prime Minister and you get to feel vindicated, otherwise we must simply feel satisfied if we are able to get any of those we voted for in the primary elections seated in the government after the elections.

 

The primary elections is the place for voting purity where you listen to your heart and then refine your choices with the filter which is the kidneys which remove the impurities and assures that the blood carries sufficient red blood cells transporting oxygen to the body, assures that chemical and mineral concentrations are within the proper limits and are the organ which receives approximately twenty percent of the blood pumped by the heart from each beat. Thus using the heart and the kidneys we take our desires and refine them such that they perform the best in producing results which reflect the honest desires of the combination of everyone’s individual preferences in composing the tickets presented before the general electorate. Further, in most primary elections in a parliamentary system many parties allow for each ballot to contain more than one selection to be tallied and each party has their own manner for tallying the ballots cast. In some you receive a ballot with a set of positions for each member of the party to place the names of their preferred candidates’ names. Then the votes are counted and, where appropriate given weight depending on position if appropriate, and the tallies then decide the position on the party’s slate each candidate will be placed. If their party receives as many or more mandates than their position on the slate, then they will be placed in the government and if their position is beyond the number of positions, then they go home instead.

 

There are those parties where they have an established slate of members which stand and their primaries are scheduled independently from any election cycle but are held at set intervals. These parties thus do not hold primaries simply because a government has been dissolved but simply hold elections periodically and this can lead to them placing the same slate before the voters with the same leader at the head of the ticket thus allowing for the exact same presentation on the party’s slate to stand for more than a single election if the elections are held prematurely before the end of their scheduled term such as the elections currently being faced in Israel. Parties can also decide on new slates for each election having them chosen by a select committee which could be decided by ballot, decided by executive selecting committee or by any system which the elites of the party might choose as long as the rank and file members agreed to such a method for choosing the ballot and the steering committee no matter how unfair such systems may appear to outsiders. When the elections approach all parties slates are revealed to the public and then the elections are held and the people vote.

 

During the general elections we have only a single vote which we will most likely give to the Party we prefer or to the party whose person heading the party slate we most desire to be the Prime Minister. Whichever party is amongst the top vote recipients and with the greatest probability of forming a viable coalition, that party and candidate for Prime Minister is tapped to try and form a ruling coalition and if they succeed, then a government is formed, and if they fail then the next most likely candidate for Prime Minister and their party are given their opportunity. Should nobody be capable of forming a coalition, then new elections will be forced to be held and the entire cycle is repeated. When we vote in the general election, we are still given an initial impetus to vote in a particular manner by our hearts which is tempered by the logic and other mindful considerations from our minds, which places the deciding voices of the public before the separate parties of combined tickets such as the one be being formed by the Labor Party and Tzipi Livni and her party. What makes this a heart driven decision is that Labor stands to gain the equivalent of possibly as many as four seats but if predictions are accurate the presence of Tzipi Livni and her party will only produce at best three and most likely two additional seats. The Labor Party is likely to grant Ms. Livni as many as four or potentially five seats depending on the total number of mandates received by the combined blocks. This will mean that Labor will likely receive less additional seats than the number of slots they will be giving to Tzipi Livni and those in the leadership of her party. This will probably prove to be a great deal for Livni and not so much for Minister Hertzog and the Labor Party. Since there may be other parties reaching agreements where they combine tickets or agree to either both be included in any government or neither be included such as was done in the last election with Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett making an agreement that either both parties or neither party would enter the government forcing Prime Minister Netanyahu to agree to include both parties in order to reach a coalition and may have been part of why the coalition failed prematurely. The different potential combinations and the fact that our usually favored party might decide to team up with another party with which we have a high degree of revulsion would make our support for our usual party problematic. This is why our vote in the general election requires more than just the heart, but the kidneys purifying the decisions of the heart is not likely to be helpful in choosing when the parties make agreements with those we refuse to give our vote to under any normative situations, thus instead of the purifying kidneys we substitute our minds to massage and shape the feelings of our hearts. By using our minds to shape and adjust the dictations of our hearts we might find we are capable of voting for our usual preferred party despite their compromising their purity and positions combining with some we do not honestly desire to prefer and reward with our votes. Thus in the general election we still initially choose with our hearts but use our minds to determine if our party will remain sufficiently pure no matter those they share power with in order to maximize their representation in the government after the elections. Thus we temper our hearts with the logic and power of our minds in the general election contrasting the purifying our primary selections of our hearts by filtering all with our kidneys and that is the major difference between the primary voting and our general election casting of ballots. So, which translation of Psalm 26:2 do you believe best represents your own election thinking for the primaries and the general elections and for what reasons?

 

Beyond the Cusp