Originally posted by Womble
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Bennet is pretty decent on social and economic issues, but he is a former head of the Yesha Council (settler lobby), ideologically opposed to the very idea of a Palestinian state, advocates annexation of about 60% of the West Bank and opposes more or less any action against settlers' illegal outposts. Basically, Bennet is how your media describes Netanyahu.
I can't wait for how the media will misinterprete these elections. A few things to be kept in mind when you read those op-eds:
1) The "peace process" was a complete non-factor in these elections. Resurgence of the Left is due to its reorientation towards primarily social and economic agenda.
1) The "peace process" was a complete non-factor in these elections. Resurgence of the Left is due to its reorientation towards primarily social and economic agenda.
2) Resurgence of the Left will have no impact on the peace process, which was killed by Abbas with generous help from Obama, and which will remain dead for the foreseeable future. Yecimovich and Lapid may occasionally talk about restarting it,, but they know it won't work. Plus they're more or less on the same page as Netanyahu on most Palestinian-related issues.
3) Bennett's popularity "miracle" is not due to some kind of sudden radicalization of the Israelis; his party simply absorbed the hardliner vote that used to go to Lieberman's party before its merger with the Likud.
4) The real surprise is the popularity of Yair Lapid. Until about a year ago he was known mostly as a celebrity journalist on TV and the son of Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, an extremely popular figure in the Israeli life and culture (Holocaust survivor, TV and radio journalist and at one point a government minister, with a gift for hilarious sarcastic quips). Lapid's main strength is that he looks good in a leather coat.
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