Israeli election advertisements: one winner and many losers
4 Comments Published by Avi Green on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 at 1:29 PM.
I've been looking at the televised ads run by the various parties running for Knesset, and it's simply amazing: the Likud has produced the best ones by far, explaining the dangers represented by Ehud Olmert and Kadima. One Jerusalem says:
That said, it's a shame that a lot of the other party commercials don't measure up to theirs. The National Union's just lost my vote, in this case by making trumped up accusations against Netanyahu that he literally supported the expulsion plan, when here, he'd quit the government because of it (as for the National Religious Party which is now on their joint list, weren't they in the government until two years ago themselves?). So now, I'm putting my full backing with the Likud. If the National Union is going to act out of superficial grudges, wasting the valuble time they could use for educating the people about the history of the Land of Israel, and about the horrid effects of the Oslo agreements, then it's best to vote for parties like the Likud which are showing much more responsibility in their campaigns.
It should be noted that also, the National Union's is indirectly supporting Olmert. The mistakes they're making in fact, date back as early as 1992. The former MK Elyakim Haetzni did something similar in 1992, when he limited his campaign almost entirely to attacking the Likud, yet made no such attempt to take Labor to task for their supporting what's been going on in the past years even more than the Likud ever did. Thereby, Haetzni helped to bring about Oslo.
If they cannot or will not put aside their misgivings, and if they keep on letting their silly grudges cloud their better judgement, then the National Union are not fit to be politicians.
Update: Prof. Paul Eidelberg's got a pretty good take on both Benny Elon and Zevulun Orlev:
Hence, I can see now why the National Union, unless they start adapting to viewpoints that the public would appreciate, is not going to get anywhere in the Israeli elections. No wonder plenty of people are mad at them.
Last night, Likud aired a television commercial that graphically demonstrated that if Olmert's border proposal is put into effect airplanes landing and taking off from Ben-Gurion Airport will be within range of terrorist attacks.And it was by far the best, most informative commercial of all. The airport can be in danger of rocket attacks by the Hamas, who could use Strella missiles to launch long-ranging attacks that could murder innocent passengers and pilots on board airplanes taking off and landing at the field.
That said, it's a shame that a lot of the other party commercials don't measure up to theirs. The National Union's just lost my vote, in this case by making trumped up accusations against Netanyahu that he literally supported the expulsion plan, when here, he'd quit the government because of it (as for the National Religious Party which is now on their joint list, weren't they in the government until two years ago themselves?). So now, I'm putting my full backing with the Likud. If the National Union is going to act out of superficial grudges, wasting the valuble time they could use for educating the people about the history of the Land of Israel, and about the horrid effects of the Oslo agreements, then it's best to vote for parties like the Likud which are showing much more responsibility in their campaigns.
It should be noted that also, the National Union's is indirectly supporting Olmert. The mistakes they're making in fact, date back as early as 1992. The former MK Elyakim Haetzni did something similar in 1992, when he limited his campaign almost entirely to attacking the Likud, yet made no such attempt to take Labor to task for their supporting what's been going on in the past years even more than the Likud ever did. Thereby, Haetzni helped to bring about Oslo.
If they cannot or will not put aside their misgivings, and if they keep on letting their silly grudges cloud their better judgement, then the National Union are not fit to be politicians.
Update: Prof. Paul Eidelberg's got a pretty good take on both Benny Elon and Zevulun Orlev:
Instead of resigning from their parties and making room for a new leadership, NU and NRP chairmen Benny Elon and Zevulun Orlev held on to their treasured Knesset seats; and now they want you to help them retain their seats by voting for them on March 28.Somehow, I think he's right! That they have not actually tried to seek out new, younger and more perceptive membership - if not leadership - for the party does seem to indicate that they've got a flaw of opportunism within them! By contrast, look at how the Likud wanted to seek out some brand new members who were younger and more inspiring, including Moshe Kahlon.
Hence, I can see now why the National Union, unless they start adapting to viewpoints that the public would appreciate, is not going to get anywhere in the Israeli elections. No wonder plenty of people are mad at them.
I agree with you Avi. No matter how many seats Ichud Leumi gets in the elections, they will not enter the government unless the Likud forms the coalition - so they are shooting themselves in the foot by bashing the Likud.
Thanks. Makor Rishon had an op-ed about the National Union's poor approach to campaigning this week (and a letter of correspondence as well), and summed it up pretty good about how they're being a letdown and doing little more than to appall the voters.
So now, my vote will decidedly be with the Likud, because they're one of the few parties, perhaps the only one, that's showing responsibility in this election.
Avi,
I had wanted to link to this post but it doesn't have a permalink!
It doesn't? That's strange. It does have a URL, that's for sure.