Disengagement and a Little Final Four...
Well, today is the day. Today, the nation holds its collective breath, watching and waiting to see how the Likud party members will vote on Mr. Sharon's disengagement plan from Gaza. I'm not holding out much hope that the referendum will pass, given that the polls appearing in all the newspapers show that support for such a plan has eroded among the rank-and-file members of the party. Frankly, I'm not surprised, seeing as Sharon can't even manage to drum up support among his cabinet cronies, and no one is fooled by the lukewarm affirmative responses of Ministers Livnat, Netanyahu and Shalom (whose best quote ever has to be, "My name is Peace and I believe in peace," or some equivalent catchy little phrase). I've seen more enthusiasm from my dog when we take him for his annual vaccinations.
The big question is, how binding are the results? Far be it from me to claim expertise when it comes to the Israeli political arena (who am I kidding? I've got the right to claim expertise just as much as the next Israeli, and, as we know, all Israelis are experts when it comes to local politics, well, when it comes to anything, really...), but it does seem rather farfetched and more than a little bit frightening to think that major national decisions will be taken based on the outcome of a vote among those who support the Likud enough to be paying annual dues. If a referendum is being offered, I would think that a national referendum, one that more accurately reflects the feelings of all Israelis and not just the beliefs of one relatively small group of people, would be the way to go, especially seeing as the polls show that the majority of Israelis support the disengagement plan. Instead, Mr. Sharon is allowing the country's future to be hijacked by a party known historically for its ideological bent to the right, and more currently known for its criminal scandals and internal strife at all levels. In any event, I'm inclined to believe that this whole referendum is merely a ploy on Sharon's part to deflect attention from his family's growing list of troubles, and it seems to be working. After all, Sharon has proven himself to be a veritable master of the "Wag the Dog" political ideology, making outrageous statements as to his intentions regarding the current situation, seemingly in the hopes that we will forget about something else he's just done (or that one of his sons has just done) or is about to do, but never actually following through on said intentions (and quite often doing the direct opposite). If his methods weren't so predictable and borderline pathetic (and perhaps if he was not the key decision maker in our country), it would be laughable. Instead, it's just very, very depressing.
I suppose the question that we are all pondering now is not so much what happens today, but what happens tomorrow - the day after. Will the referendum pass and then be brought to a vote in the Knesset or will it fail and sink into oblivion? If it fails, will Mr. Sharon still try to bring it to a vote in the Knesset? If it fails, how will the Prime Minister try to save face? How will his actions affect the Likud party? Catch Israel's latest locally produced soap opera in a media outlet near you...
On another note...
Since we are less than 12 hours after Maccabi Tel Aviv's incredulous 44-point win over Skipper Bologna in the Euroleague Final Four Championship final game, I would be remiss if I didn't give the game at least a brief mention. To be honest, I had every intention of watching the game from start to finish, but I somehow slept on and off through quite a bit of it. Of course, it seems that Skipper Bologna did as well, given the lopsided final score. I did manage to catch part of the third quarter and all of the fourth quarter, and actually found myself feeling sorry for the Italians, as our boys in yellow and blue simply trounced them, making what seemed like every basket, including more three-pointers than I've ever seen in one game. It was truly amazing to watch. Derrick Sharp for Prime Minister, anyone? We are the champions, my friends...
The big question is, how binding are the results? Far be it from me to claim expertise when it comes to the Israeli political arena (who am I kidding? I've got the right to claim expertise just as much as the next Israeli, and, as we know, all Israelis are experts when it comes to local politics, well, when it comes to anything, really...), but it does seem rather farfetched and more than a little bit frightening to think that major national decisions will be taken based on the outcome of a vote among those who support the Likud enough to be paying annual dues. If a referendum is being offered, I would think that a national referendum, one that more accurately reflects the feelings of all Israelis and not just the beliefs of one relatively small group of people, would be the way to go, especially seeing as the polls show that the majority of Israelis support the disengagement plan. Instead, Mr. Sharon is allowing the country's future to be hijacked by a party known historically for its ideological bent to the right, and more currently known for its criminal scandals and internal strife at all levels. In any event, I'm inclined to believe that this whole referendum is merely a ploy on Sharon's part to deflect attention from his family's growing list of troubles, and it seems to be working. After all, Sharon has proven himself to be a veritable master of the "Wag the Dog" political ideology, making outrageous statements as to his intentions regarding the current situation, seemingly in the hopes that we will forget about something else he's just done (or that one of his sons has just done) or is about to do, but never actually following through on said intentions (and quite often doing the direct opposite). If his methods weren't so predictable and borderline pathetic (and perhaps if he was not the key decision maker in our country), it would be laughable. Instead, it's just very, very depressing.
I suppose the question that we are all pondering now is not so much what happens today, but what happens tomorrow - the day after. Will the referendum pass and then be brought to a vote in the Knesset or will it fail and sink into oblivion? If it fails, will Mr. Sharon still try to bring it to a vote in the Knesset? If it fails, how will the Prime Minister try to save face? How will his actions affect the Likud party? Catch Israel's latest locally produced soap opera in a media outlet near you...
On another note...
Since we are less than 12 hours after Maccabi Tel Aviv's incredulous 44-point win over Skipper Bologna in the Euroleague Final Four Championship final game, I would be remiss if I didn't give the game at least a brief mention. To be honest, I had every intention of watching the game from start to finish, but I somehow slept on and off through quite a bit of it. Of course, it seems that Skipper Bologna did as well, given the lopsided final score. I did manage to catch part of the third quarter and all of the fourth quarter, and actually found myself feeling sorry for the Italians, as our boys in yellow and blue simply trounced them, making what seemed like every basket, including more three-pointers than I've ever seen in one game. It was truly amazing to watch. Derrick Sharp for Prime Minister, anyone? We are the champions, my friends...
posted by Liza @ 11:49:00 AM
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