News  Elections
19th Knesset to see Right, Left virtually tied
Ynet reporters
Published: 23.01.13, 05:26
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1. coalition
Jeff ,   USA   (01.23.13)
I don't see how Lapid and the haredim wind up sitting in the same government... will be interesting to see which one bibi goes with
2. the right all by itself has sixty seats
Cipora Julianna Kohn ,   Z   (01.23.13)
likud-beiteinu 31, shas 11, habayit yehudi 11, united torah judaism 7= 60 with kadima, it is 62 seats. the votes lost by likud-beiteinu seem to have gone to lapid's secular party. they did not go to strictly leftist parties. labour, livni, lost seats. kadima is basically non-existent. the population seems to want a security oriented, but more secular government.
3. A completely Right Wing Government would be dysfunctional
Chaim Ben Kahan ,   Efrat, Israel   (01.23.13)
Bibi needs Yesh Atid to form a stable government. It's a shame that Shelly has turned Labor into a radically Left wing party again, otherwise Labor would make a logical coalition partner. Here is the balancing act. Likud 31, Yesh Atid 19, Habayit Hayehudi 11 is enough to form a government, but this government would prevent compromise from being made in regards to the peace process. If you now add Shas, UTJ, Kadima you have a secure enough government where not one party can bring down the government, but the question is will the Religious parties sit in a party with Yesh Atid. I think they will. They have made compromises before and they realize if they do not then they will lose their treasured portfolios. It's time that the Religious except that their youth must serve army. If Livni is smart she would join the government too. That leaves the Extreme Left wing/Arab parties in opposition and would create a stable government. Kadima and Hatnuah are both Likud offshoots, so it makes sense for them to be in the Government. That would make 97 seats out of 120 and a stable government. The question is what portfolio is Lapid qualify to have? He has no experience in anything but TV.
4. Chaim Ben Kahane, agree with one exception
Cipora Julianna Kohn ,   Z   (01.23.13)
personally, i would not want to see livni in the government. her behaviour in the opposition has been outrageous. nor would i want to see her as foreign minister. i do not trust her. lapid should be given a post that does not require knowledge of security, army, etc...
5. Election results
Syd Chaden ,   Palermo Calif USA   (01.23.13)
At least Israel Jews didn't elect Obama.
6. Look at the new guy go!!!
ilan ,   Ramat Gan, Israel   (01.23.13)
Nice Job Mr. Lapid! You make us all proud! No seriously, make us proud!
7. Split The Factions
Zechariah   (01.23.13)
Split into Factions to form a Government .
8. Voting for leftist parties with obama in power is crazy
jason ,   sderot israel   (01.23.13)
Obama in the oval office gave bibi 13 demands including one saying PA police should have guns in jerusalem. You have a civil war in syria where the jihadists could then launch an attack on israel or iran buffering up assad to not lose the shia crescent from iran to iraq to syria to lebanon. You had libya collapse and weapons go to israel's enemies. Just one seat away from having a govt not give into obama's extortion. If only the threshold was 2.5 percent and kadima's two seats were split then the bloc could have had 61 seats. Lapid is close with livni and labor's leader wanting to bloc netanyahu. He wants all these demands about peace negotations with the palestinians when hamas has a terror base in gaza. Now bibi won't be able to form a govt and shas will join a left wing govt and now lapid or labor's leader will be pm and when obama says to jump they will say how high. Worst this is now being portrayed as obama winning again and he turned the tide. Lapid won votes on the right with popular rabbis and yet forms a bloc with the left. What a joke. israel should have a direct election for PM like it used to be before it was scrapped.
9. If somebody thinks,that Yes Atid is Center....should wake up
Erika ,   Israel   (01.23.13)
Theres nothing like Center in politics!!!Its or left or right!!!!Soo,Yes Atid is Leftist!!!!And yes,Israel is in deeeeep shit because of the Leftist majority!!!
10. A Left wing Government
keren IL-BR ,   Israel   (01.23.13)
I would prefer Lapid not to joint the right wing coalition. Time to israel turns to the left. I came from Brazil, where the left has done wonderful thing to the people. It is time to see a real leftist agenda in Israel, like the peace with the Palestinians, more social justice and strengthening of Israeli democracy. Left now!
11. BIBI "LEAD A STRONG ISRAEL"
GENESIS ,   JHB RSA   (01.23.13)
Bibi, it is now time to put all feelings aside and form a strong government to deal with all the impending issues both inside and outside Israel. It is also a critical time in our history for UNITY as the wolves at the door are getting more and more. Some of them used to be our friends! Anti Semitiim is at an all time high and lastly start planning to live without the USA !!!!!
12. portfolios for inexperienced
Piotr Berman ,   State College, PA, U   (01.23.13)
There are ministries for Tourism, Sport, "Special Problems", but there are few, and the needs for portfolios for intellectually challenged are huge.
13. Why not Left and Center-Right ??
Zev ,   Israel   (01.23.13)
You can spin it any way you like but the truth is that the Likud-Beitenu won and will form a coalition with a clear majority.
14. #10 You are a fake "keren"
Jake   (01.23.13)
15. to Keren
Goldenberg ,   GUARUJA   (01.23.13)
You should stay in Brazil with your PT fellows that are destroying this country. They didn't (and wont do) anything good unless for themselves. Are you following the news from your here???
16. The real winner
Akiva   (01.23.13)
Again the leftist media jumps on any opportunity to distort reality. This election was a campaign based on social agendas. Lapid's popular electioneering for the "middle class" was always going to yield big results as voters, mostly secular voters, care about their money probably more than any other issue. Note that a majority of Yesh Atid's votes are from Tel Aviv. At the end of the day though, Likud won. Bibi is the PM again and just so you don't get carried away, even if he doesn't have a right wing coalition he leads a right wing party in which he is one of TWO (yes two) people who agree to a 2-state solution. Everyone else is opposed. Throw in the obvious that, Likud still requires either Shas or Bayit Yehudi regardless, and you start to see the reality. So no, there won't be a divided Jerusalem. There won't be any more evictions of Jews. There won't be an end to Yeshivot funding. The left have lost and somewere, deep down, they know it.
17. Left-Right glasses don't fit anymore
Paqid Yirmeyahu ,   www.netzarim.co.il   (01.23.13)
I won't explain what has happened because there are too many slanderers who prefer to shoot the messenger. But I will give a hint to those who are trying to figure out what happened. "Left-Right" doesn't explain the meteoric rise of TWO new parties, neither of which (apart from biased accusations) is extreme right or extreme left. So what other glasses might explain Likud taking a hit, yet remaining predominant while these two new parties enjoy their meteoric rise? What other "glasses" see something in common in all of this?
18. #2 Cipora -Livni Had Sour Grapes, but I like the Green ideas
Chaim Ben Kahan ,   Efrat, Israel   (01.23.13)
I understand you, Livni made the mistake of her life by turning down a power sharing government the last election with Bibi and accepting second fiddle. She single handedly destroyed Kadima which in truth went into a coma along with PM Sharon. Livni is however respected, and yes cannot be trusted, but nor can Peres, but Peres is President. Such is Israeli politics one cannot trust their own shadow. Hatnua has a green message I like which I find largely ignored in Israeli politics and with only six seats it should make Livni humble again. She will refuse out of principle, which I think is selfish, because she can help Israel more in the government than outside it by spearheading Green initiatives and Bibi said he wants as broad of a coalition as possible.
19. Your headline is deliberately misleading
Jenny ,   LA   (01.23.13)
The Right bloc totals 60. The Left, the Center and the Arab Nationalist parties comprise the orhet 60. Quite a different compilation and most certainly not 'Left'.
20. Where's Sarah B, she helped the left most with her rants! ha
Ken ,   Burma at Peace   (01.23.13)
21. #10 You just forgot some minor details
Isac   (01.23.13)
Brazil is not Israel and Israel is not Brazil. You do have Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina as your friendly neigbors but Israel is being surrounded by radical Islamists who look forward into the destruction of the Jewish State. Taking that aside, your government has been economically spoken a exception to the rule. If you would bet on a successful country to be left or right. What would be your answer: right of course. The loosers in Latin America are: Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, etc. Take your pick. One more thing. Israel's defense budget is about 7% of it's GDP. For Brazil it is about 1.5%!!!!!! You may want to reconsider your call for a left wing Israel.
22. Naftali Bennett
Cheryl ,   Chicago, IL   (01.23.13)
Naftali Bennett has very good ideas. But being PM of Israel is not an easy job. He might meet with a lot of dissention and, even though I agree with his good heart and ideas of not evicting Jews from their homes, he may not be able to implement his good ideas. At least Bibi has experience.
23. Bibi Lapid Bennet Gafni perfect team
ORA ,   JERUSALEM   (01.23.13)
24. Since the Arabs do not recognize him this can end the boycot
Daveed ,   Kono / NYC   (01.23.13)
On the contrary as an unknown Lapid could be the Foreign Minister. Since the Arabs do not recognize him this can end the boycott of Israel. It would be educational for him to get some seasoning in the opposition before getting a ministerial position.
25. #15 Goldenberg
keren ,   IL-BR   (01.23.13)
I absolutely agree with you. You are probably new in this forum otherwise you would know that #10 is someone trying to get attencion using my name. I am not at the left side in politics.Not at all!
26. drop in arab sector?
mary_of_bethanys ,   singapore   (01.23.13)
" although it dropped significantly in the Arab sector. " NICE ! better if it drop till ZERO turn up by arabs. because arab Israelis never view themselves first foremost Israelis, they always see to arabs interest first then Israel interest. Was so mad when the irritating Arab League Countries just days before the election, were calling out to Arabs in Israel to turn up to vote against israelis' Rights to "prevent Extreme Rights control". Talking about Jews meddling with other countries matters, what about arabs meddling with Israelis politics ? but one thing is plausible, we have the highest turn-up since 1999. nothing is worst than ignorant and in-active of Israelis towards their country.
27. 23 Ora - delusional to the end
Israeili Jew ,   Israel   (01.23.13)
28. # 15 to Goldenberg
Keren IL-BR ,   Israel   (01.23.13)
25 is a fake. You are likely new in this forum, so be careful with those impersonations. This fake is trying to sow confusion here. PT and the left did make wonderful things to Brazil. It is time for israel to copy its model. They call it soft politics. Israel has tried the army and violence and this has not worked. Time to negotiations and friendship with the neighbours now. Left now!
29. # 21 to Isac
Keren IL-BR ,   Israel   (01.23.13)
Isac, we can be stronger if we start cooperating with our neighbours as Brazil did in South America. Let's change our hearts and minds and try to make bridges with our enemies. Time to rethink our strategic insertion here in the Middle East.
30. The Right won. This analysis is deeply flawed.
Chaim ,   Israel   (01.23.13)
First of all, why assume the centrist parties will all side with the left? There is no reason to make such an assumption. Centrist parties have joined rightist coalitions many times. Secondly, if leftists made a coalition with the vehemently anti-Israel Arab Parties, they would lose the centrist parties for sure. They'd lose virtually all of Israel. The Right won. This analysis is deeply flawed.
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