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No questions, no answers

This election campaign was marked by moustaches, sweat and cigars, but no real issues

Over the course of this campaign, Amir Peretz has become a real storyteller. At every campaign stop, in every speech, he has made sure to tell the audience at least one story, about the days when the old Mapai Party would pass out sandwiches in the main square in Sderot, the husband who, wanting to show off to his wife, bought things the family didn't need because they were on sale at the supermarket, or of the Kadima Party's wintry feel, as opposed to the spring-like feel of the Labor Party. A real storyteller's festival.

 

As the campaign went on, Peretz became better and better as a storyteller. Audiences, for their part, loved it. They loved Peretz's stories, and his rich imagination.

 

Not alone

 

If we look back on this campaign, it turns out that Peretz was not the only one with stories: Every party and every candidate, with active encouragement and assistance from the media, has become a professional storyteller of the last two months.

 

These stories have dealt with every topic imaginable – except the real meaning of this election, except for the main issues on the table, except for the details.

 

Not just to party activists, but to everyone. On TV, radio and in the newspaper, the candidates told their stories, but in doing so they removed from the campaign all debate about the parties' campaign promises.

 

Again, this was accomplished with the complicity of the media. Stories and promises are fine, but the in-depth analysis about the burning issues of the day that should have made the campaign exciting, that was supposed to turn it into a debate about the future of Israel – was virtually absent.

 

No questions

 

This created a feeling that the election campaign, despite the dramatic events that preceded it and accompanied it (disengagement, Amir Peretz's election as Labor chairman, Ariel Sharon's departure from the Likud, the formation of Kadima, Ehud Olmert's convergence plan, the Likud's three "no's", Peretz' economic promises) were boring as hell.

 

And again, the media helped out by doing everything in its power to avoid dealing with real, acute issues.

 

For instance, this is how Amir Peretz's command of the English language, his ties and his moustache became banner headlines over and over, as if they were actually fateful issues. Just like Netanyahu's perspiration and eye-blinking were chewed up and spit out again and again, week after week. To say nothing of Ehud Olmert's cigars.

 

Examples

 

Give me examples, you say? No problem. Prof. Avishay Braverman, together with several other economists, prepared a serious economic platform for the Labor Party. The plan says the Labor Party will budget tens of billions of shekels on social issues in the coming years.

 

It's a serious plan. But where's the money coming from? What happens if the economic growth the plan is based on doesn't continue? And what happens to the plan if Israel embarks on a diplomatic plan that will cost the economy tens of billions of shekels? Will the government have money to implement Amir Peretz's promises, or will weak sectors of society get pushed off once again?

 

No one asked these questions. No one answered.

 

Ehud Olmert presented his diplomatic program over the past few weeks, the convergence plan. Do we really know what the plan entails? Do we have any hint, do we have the slightest idea if the international community, starting with the United States, is willing to support it? Has anyone checked out how the plan will be received in world capitals?

 

Is it clear to anyone what the final borders of the country will be? And what happens if Hamas decides at the end of the day to change its stripes and recognize Israel, and agrees to negotiations?

 

Nobody asked. Nobody answered

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.28.06, 07:20
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