Jews all over the world are waking up the a bitter sweet reality: 'Bibi' won again and by a fair margin over Likud's nearest contender.
What we can learn from this victory (or loss, if looking from the perspective of Likud's opposition) is that people in Israel are sick and tired of politics.They have witnessed the mud slinging, dirty tricks and outright lies that were bandied around and took a pragmatic decision: better the devil we know.
Whilst this is a forgiveable human fallacy, the other ones are not: the amount of money, energy and hype that was wasted on this twentieth election campaign could well have covered the Pesach (=Passover) expenses of the middle-to-lower classes of society, who are literally living in poverty in the Holy Land.
King David says: "From my enemies, you teach me to be clever" (Psalms). This is the first time that the Arab factions came together, with the intent to grow their influence in politics - especially the contested Arab-Israeli land disputes. This unity must have taken quite some power brokering and peace making, to ensure that the bickering and differences of opinion don't stand in the way of progress.
The day will come when the Charedi parties will realise that in order to help their constituents, the unification of Agudah, Shas, Yachad and other Torah-true factions is in order. It's a crying shame that this day will dawn after the Arabs have shown the way.
Against the arguments that more parties mean more votes, that more choice means more coverage and any other logical reasoning, let me say this:
GOne are the days when politicians, Rabbi and their cronies (in whichever order you fancy) can dictate the Charedi agenda. The new generation is fed up with the power struggles between Yeshivah-leavers or unemployed crooks, who have found in the Frum electorate easy prey. If they want quick money, let them go abroad and wander the Chinese outbacks for a good deal. Leave the holy Yeshivahleit (alumni) alone and let them voice their opinions unrestricted. Yes, in the digital age when anyone can access the multitude of news outlets, there is no pulling the wool over the eyes anymore.
Instead of arranging or protecting jobs for the nearest and dearest, the politicians should ensure there are enough workplacements for the workseekers, that there is ample space in the education system and that hospitals have the resources to treat the Heimishe Olam with dignity.
The picture could have been totally different: 4.14% from the parties that didn't cross the threshold (Yachad, U'Bizchutan, Na Nach etc.), together with the blank votes. Add to it the combined votes from Shas and Agudah (UTJ): 10.97% and you have a nice 15.11%, coming in third - a comfortable place thank you. Add to it the 10% of Charedi voters who stayed home due to the infighting and the UTP (my proposed acronym for United Torah Parties) would easily have been at the helm of a Jewish government in a Jewish populated land that has been promised to the Jewish people all this time ago.
This in no way means that a milestone would have ben reached; the goal of every Torah-true Jew is the belief in the coming of the anointed: Moshiach, may he bring us peace, unity and prosperity speedily in our days and let us say Omayne!
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First published on 18/03/2016
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