October 29, 2012

In-depth

Netanyahu’s Big Gamble

The prime minister's decision to run alongside Yisrael Beiteinu in the January elections has not been uniformly embraced within both parties, writes Carl Vick for Time.

Likud in fact came into existence as an blending of right-wing parties, including the Herut faction headed by Menachem Begin.  In Hebrew, the word itself, Likud, means “consolidation.”  But  Avraham Diskin, a political scientist at Hebrew University, says the alliance with Yisrael Beiteinu – “Israel Is Our Home” — risks losing three groups who formerly voted Likud … At the same time, some Yisrael Beiteinu voters don’t care for Netanyahu, whose alliances with ultra-Orthodox parties, including Shas, has protected their nemesis.

The European Left and Its Trouble With Jews

Writing in the New York Times, Colin Shindler explores the changes in leftwing European rhetoric on the Mideast conflict, as the memories of the Holocaust fade.

Some prominent voices on the European left have mouthed time-honored anti-Semitic tropes in their desire to appear supportive of the Palestinian cause. Ken Livingstone, a former newspaper editor and mayor of London, has a long history of insensitive remarks about Jews — from publishing a cartoon in 1982 of Menachem Begin, then Israel’s prime minister, in Gestapo uniform atop a pile of Palestinian skulls to likening a known Jewish reporter to “a concentration camp guard” 20 years later. Today, he contributes to Press TV, the English-language outlet for the Iranian government.

Daily Digest

• Times of Israel: Tehran claims it received photographs of restricted areas from downed drone
• Haaretz: IAF strikes Gaza after rocket barrage hits south Israel
• Jerusalem Post: First charter flight of final Ethiopian aliya set to arrive
• Ynet: IDF commander: Elections are affecting decision making
• New York Times: Al Qaeda-Inspired Groups, Minus Goal of Striking U.S.
• Washington Post: A jihadist group prospers in Syria
• Wall Street Journal: Syria Truce Dawns With Protests, Ends in Clashes

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