Politicians – can’t live with them, can’t live with them (I)
Dr. Yossi Beilin didn't do very well in the Labor Party primaries. Neither did Yael Dayan (Moshe's daughter). So now they're moving to Meretz. Gil sums all this up nicely. Yael Dayan is probably one of the most aggravating people in Israeli politics, but I disagree with Gil. She's done a lot in recent years for women's rights, violence in the family, sexual assault victims and so on. Anyway, Meretz is really a much more suitable party for them both. Maybe someone could get Mitzna to go, too ;-). Gil says that Yossi Sarid, head of Meretz, is “one of the most arrogant people in Israel and I’m not referring to his political views at all. I will even dare and say he is at least as arrogant as Bibi is”. Oh, Gil, what Sarid forgot about being arrogant, Bibi hasn’t even learnt yet! I’d say Bibi has a gigantic chip on his shoulder, whereas Sarid is quite convinced that Planet Earth is truly a fortunate place to have him walking on it.


Politicians – can’t live with them, can’t live with them (II)
I notice the EU court has OK-ed a decision to ban the sale of cigarettes marked as "light" or "mild" in EU countries. But they are not advocating a ban on EU countries exporting such cigarettes, mainly to countries less fortunate or affluent than EU countries. What hypocrites. They are opposed to waging war on poor unfortunate countries (although they supply them with the very weapons that make these wars necessary) because of the anticipated civilian fatalities, but they don't mind killing them slowly with their cigarettes.

This brings me back, for some reason, to the tendency in Israeli politics for (nearly) all the dirt to be out in the open. I have discussed this in the past. I find it hard to contain my utter disgust with the Likud's corrupt "primaries", which reached an historical peak with the election of an unknown pipsqueak named Inbal Gavrielli to the 29th spot on the list, which means she is very likely to be a Knesset member by February. A lawyer (I think, or is it a law student?), a woman, new blood, why am I taking offense? Well mainly because of her family connections. She belongs to a family of criminals. According to Haaretz (Hebrew version), two of her uncles went to prison in the 1980’s for drug dealing and trafficking, extortion, forging documents and fraud and now are mainly involved in the international gambling scene (including illegal gambling in Israel, I believe). I am opposed to legalizing gambling in Israel, by the way, but that’s for a separate post. One of these ex-con uncles was very much involved in her being elected to the Likud list. Even if she is on the level about her political agenda, whatever it is, and has a lot to offer, she will still be under a lot of pressure from La Familia, and their pals, to push their interests, whatever she says, won’t she? Right out of The Godfather, eh?

The upside is that she's right out there in the open. Most, if not all, politicians have the backing of unsavory characters, and they have to look after their backers' interests. But we usually don't know exactly who they are or what their agenda is until it's too late. This little lady we can keep our eye on.

My nausea might just cause me to vote Shinui (a small liberal, secular party, that runs on the vehemently-opposing-religious-coercion ticket, a little too vehemently for my sensibilities) and not Likud in the end. According to this poll (Hebrew) I'm not the only one who's nauseated. These Likud "Primaries" could affect other ex-lefties who were planning to vote Sharon. This week has been a sharp reminder that we're not voting Sharon; we're voting Likud. Yuck.