Replies to post #232215 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister Israel (Likud) - will be speaking shortly?

I thought maybe he already had spoken? anyway- http://www.c-span.org/video/?324609-2/israeli-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-address-congress

[fuagf]

Israeli elections: The politics of Bibi's Congressional speech

Natan B. Sachs | February 7, 2015 7:02pm .. excerpt ..

More importantly, however, the key to a possible Herzog victory, as I discussed in the previous post, was the role of the swing parties, and in particular Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu and the Ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ). Lieberman this week broke with his previous centrist stance and made clear he would not support a “leftist” government (i.e. one headed by Herzog). He noted that this was unlikely anyway, which may explain his shift toward courting his own right-wing base.

UTJ, moreover, reiterated its commitment .. http://www.kikar.co.il/163139.html .. not to join in a coalition alongside Lapid—a prerequisite for a Herzog coalition noted in the previous post .. http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/markaz/posts/2015/01/22-israeli-elections-labor-herzog-coalition-math —with Shas more or less following suit. These commitments are not sacrosanct, but they certainly dampen the mood in the Zionist Union.

Figure 2



The upshot is that the chances of a Herzog coalition are, at present, small, and the battle seems to be—until the numbers change again—between a Netanyahu-led national unity government (which Meretz, for example, opposes, but which Herzog and Livni have yet to rule out), and a narrow right-wing government led by Netanyahu.

If the uproar over the Bibi-Boehner-gate has had a political effect in Israel, it has not been—thus far—discernably bad for Netanyahu.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/markaz/posts/2015/02/06-netanyahu-israeli-elections-congress-iran

=== .. LOL .. it's not as easy as two party elections .. this 1 day ago ..


Yair Lapid, the Israeli MP and head of the center-right Yesh Atid Party, delivers a speech outlining the Yesh Atid campaign and presenting the party's
list for the 20th Knesset in Rishon Letzion, ahead of the March 17 general elections, Jan. 26, 2015. (photo by Getty Images/Jack Guez)

Lapid soars in Israel's pre-election polls

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/03/israel-elections-2015-yair-lapid-yesh-atid-social-justice.html

[arizona1]

You weren't the only one. Poor Bibi

Boehner Stunt Backfires As NBC, CBS and ABC Don’t Televise Netanyahu Speech To Congress
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/03/03/boehner-stunt-backfires-nbc-cbs-abc-televise-netanyahu-speech-congress.html