American Idol

Obama to launch PR campaign to sway Israelis, Arabs on peace 
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz

In light of the difficulties it has encountered in advancing the diplomatic process in the Middle East, the Obama administration plans on launching a public relations blitz in Israel and the Arab states. 

The New York Times reported on Monday that President Barack Obama plans to grant a number of interviews to Israeli and Arab television stations as part of his campaign to sway public opinion in the region in favor of his vision for peace. 

Good luck with that.

How to Be Stupid

The UN envoy to the Middle East said that evicting people was against the Geneva Conventions guidelines for occupied territory. Somebody needs to tell the UN that Israel does not consider any part of Israel occupied territory.

I would like Tel Aviv to be the capital just as much as any European. It would make my life easier on a number of levels. But sooner or later we are all going to have to face the fact that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. You can’t decide ours anymore than we can decide yours. And if we can then I say San Francisco is America’s new capital. Just to force all those politicians to live there. Republicans will love the Castro.

And anybody whose job title is UN envoy to the Middle East should be sacked immediately. None of the parties involved care what the UN says. You might as well make Tony Blair a special peace envoy. That would be funny were it not so appalling.

This Isn’t Florida

A coalition with Kadima would be more balanced but Livni has completely rejected the idea. Netanyahu has little choice but to bring in more conservative parties. This is bad news for Palestine, uncertainty for security and who knows how it will affect the economy.

Six weeks and counting. Let the games begin.

Election Day

There have been some complaints about how ugly the campaign has been but it is pretty tame compared to some other countries. We just cannot compete with the personal attacks in the American and Zimbabwean elections. Those people accuse each other of the worst things they can imagine. And unlike recent elections in Palestine and Zimbabwe, none of our candidates have been tortured or killed. Not so much as a beating. This election has been pretty boring.

Party Politics and You

The party banners
(right to left, because that’s how we do it in Hebrew)
Ra’am, Gil, Hadash, Balad
Yisrael Beiteinu, HaIhud HaLeumi, Yahadut HaTorah HaMeukhedet, Meretz-Yachad
Kadima, Avoda, Likud, Shas

The Big Election

I’ve been following the endless circus of the American presidential election the way somebody’s fascinated with the aftermath of a 12-car pile-up on the highway. But now I’ve bigger fish to fry.