Comments on: Labor party rocked by fraud allegations, frontrunner sails on

By: Triumphant over flotilla, Netanyahu is stronger than ever

Triumphant over flotilla, Netanyahu is stronger than ever — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 06:38:47 +0000

[...] move that would challenge the government. Furthermore, the fight over Labor leadership has taken the predictable ugly turn, ensuring that the winner will get a fragmented and bitter party that would make his life miserable [...]

By: Ben Israel

Ben Israel — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 04:45:41 +0000

Dimi-
The irony is that it is in the corrupt politicians interest to have the public think they are “all corrupt” (which I don’t believe BTW) because this engenders passivity and a feeling that you can’t do anything abou it, which suits them fine, leaving things the way they are.
Maybe the apparently successful cottage cheese boycott will energize people.
However, it is time for the most important constitutional change that Israel could make to be implemented. Going to a constituency system for electing the Knesset. It doesn’t necessarily reduce corruption but it makes the politicians responsive to wishes of their voters, something we don’t have today. However, no one in the Knesset wants to change the current, sick proportional representation system, thus we need a much bigger cottage cheese movement to get this on the agenda.

By: Dimi

Dimi — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 23:02:41 +0000

Ben Israel, of course, is quite correct. Everyone is doing it and burying what’s left of an Israeli democracy in the process. The talk I hear these days in the streets is that all the politicians are corrupt and all the parties are beyond redemption and therefore we should either a) stage our own Tahrir (ideas as to how and about what get pretty fuzzy at this stage) b) find a strong leader who’ll fire all those bums and set things right. The latter optionality is raised considerably more often.

By: Shoded Yam

Shoded Yam — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:54:48 +0000

“…Ben Israel, ignore Shoded Yam. He’s a(n) [insert foul word].”
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Now why do you wanna’ go and spoil my fun? Everytime ben-ben posts another inanity I dine out on it for a week,:-D.
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I gotta tell ya’ mike, you’re quite the wordsmith. I see all those Mad-Lib books are really starting to pay off LOL

By: Michael W.

Michael W. — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:04:38 +0000

Ben Israel, ignore Shoded Yam. He’s a(n) [insert foul word].

By: Shoded Yam

Shoded Yam — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:05:11 +0000

This comment has been edited

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Pressed for time?!?! You mean theres someplace else you go where you bore everyone?:D
Who’d've thought there’d be such a high demand for nonsensical polemics, theo-facist clap-trap, and tediously insipid anecdotes. LOL

By: Ben Israel

Ben Israel — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:08:22 +0000

Dumb errors occur when you are writing while pressed for time. Obviously I meant Burg and Fuad WON the votes.

By: Ben Israel

Ben Israel — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:06:44 +0000

Actually, these party primary scandals are endemic to the system. MERETZ, Likud and KADIMA also have vote contractors sign up people, particularly Arabs and Druze who would never dream of voting for the party, simply in order to push one candidate who is paying them. This is a scandal of the first order. What this means is that the people of the country have NO say in who the parties’ candidates are. I find this very frustatrating. It is time that legislation be passed regulating the primaries, making them subject to law, as in the US primary elections. Voters could chose ONE party to belong to and to vote in their primary, which would be held on a single date for everyone. The vote count would be done by state officials, as in the national elections.
After almost every primary, the loser complains about fraud, threatens to demand a police investigation, but it never happens, because the complainer himself has used vote contractors and they don’t want that exposed.
The one time a primary vote was overturned was in the 2001 Labor Primary which Avrum (“The Saint”) Burg one. Runner up Fuad Ben-Eliezer complained about fraud, but this time it seems everyone in the Labor Party wanted to get rid of Burg, so the results were cancelled, a revote was held and Fuad one. Burg got the message and quit politics in order to make money as an influence peddler instead.
Welcome to the Israeli political system!