What Israel’s Upcoming Election Means For LGBT Voters

[King_David]

Here we go again. Less than two years have passed since Israelis last went to the polls, but fractured by rancorous disputes over the budget, housing legislation, and a proposed law that would define Israel as a Jewish state, Benjamin Netanyahu’s center-right government collapsed earlier this month. The next election will take place on March 17, 2015.

While the most recent government was in many ways ineffectual, a product of the deep socio-political chasms that separated the various factions within it, the 19th Knesset was “one of the best parliaments” in Israel’s history for Israel’s LGBT community, says Shai Doitsh, the chairman of the Aguda, the Israeli National LGBT Task Force. “For the first time, LGBT rights were part of the coalition negotiations. That’s not a minor thing,” Doitsh said in a recent phone interview.

Doitsh made special note of the pro-LGBT positions propagated by centrist faction Yesh Atid. The health minister in the last government, Yesh Atid’s Yael German, passed bills banning discrimination in job applications on the grounds of gender identity and opening up surrogacy to same-sex couples. Through the finance ministry, which Yesh Atid controlled, same-sex couples with children were granted access to the same tax credits heterosexual parents are entitled to.

Looking forward to the next Knesset, although Netanyahu would like to make the forthcoming election about security, it currently appears that the main issues are socio-economic: housing, the cost of living, and social justice. The most recent Channel 99 poll found that the Zionist Camp—the center-left bloc led by Labor’s Yitzhak Herzog and Hatnua’s Tzipi Livni—leads Netanyahu’s Likud by two seats. A new center-right faction, Kulanu, led by former Likud minister Moshe Kahlon, is focusing on socio-economic issues and is currently projected to win 10 seats. Yesh Atid is polling around the same figure.

“There is no doubt that if the center-left win, Israel will become more pro-LGBT,” Doitsh, who recently toured the United States visiting LGBT rights organizations and campaigns, told me. It’s not that Netanyahu’s Likud is particularly anti-LGBT, but the Israeli political system demands coalition government, and a government led by Likud would need to be supported by religious Zionist and ultra-Orthodox factions, which would prevent the passage of pro-LGBT legislation. “A center-left coalition would be much better for the community,” said Doitsh.




http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/12/30/israeli_elections_how_lgbt_issues_will_affect_the_vote.html

[sabbat hunter]

1. how close to

61 would a labor/hatnua led coalition with Kulanu and Yesh Atid be, under current polling?

[King_David]

2. They say Labour is 3 ahead but I'm not sure how close to 61...

[Israeli]

4. That would depend on which polls KD ....

see :

TV Channel 1 poll: Likud 26, Labor 24, Shas 9

TV Channel 1 broadcast a new poll from TNS on this evening’s Mabat news program, showing gains by Likud over Labor, and Shas leaping to nine seats.

With these results, a Right-aligned coalition would number 72 seats, comprising Likud, Habayit Hayehudi, Shas, Yahadut Hatorah, Yisrael Beyteinu and Kulanu.

Mabat’s commentator said it would be very difficult if not impossible for Herzog to put together a Center/Left coalition joined by Shas and Yisrael Beyteinu. Such a government would just reach 60 seats, if it included Labor, Shas, Yesh Atid, Yisrael Beyteinu, Kulanu and Meretz.

source : http://israelections.com/2015/01/22/tv-channel-1-poll-likud-26-labor-24-shas-9/

also see : https://twitter.com/channel1iba/status/558327443249831938

Seems Bibi's stunt with the americans has given him a boost in the polls .

[Israeli]

3. Kulanu and Yesh Atid ....

have not yet made a commitment to either block yet sabbat hunter.....best to wait until they do.

[sabbat hunter]

15. I thought that

Lapid said he willnot join a Bibi led Coalition

[Israeli]

20. He did ....

but he has not committed himself to joining with a block that is being portrayed as a Leftist block ....yet .

He sees his party as Centralist as does Moshe Kahlon .

Things are changing sabbat hunter ....for the better IMHO.

ref : http://www.i24news.tv/en/opinion/57800-150115-israeli-politics-is-all-about-left-and-right-center-is-simply-wrong

The less noticeable factor of these elections is the return of the right and the left into the political jargon. Not as slogans, for real. If anything good can be said at this point, about the upcoming elections - it's that at this early stage they have called the bluff of the “center". PM Benjamin Netanyahu plays a key role in that process: he was the first to call a spade a spade – "these elections are between left and right", he declared early on, and set the tone of the campaign.

For two decades, the illusory notion of “centrist parties" has dominated Israeli discourse. It started in 1996 with the emergence of a new party - The Third Way - then headed by an Israeli war hero named Avigdor Kahalani. The name of the party was the message: not left, not right – a third way, in the middle. In Jewish terms of what is "kosher", it turned to be neither meat nor milk – "parve". It can go with anything, but is often tasteless. Yet it seemed like an attractive idea to Israelis torn by conflicting ideologies, and was therefore followed by other centrist parties. Some were more successful than others, yet all disappeared from the political scene in no time.

Nonetheless, almost all the political parties – except Meretz on the left and the Jewish Home on the right – claim they are "center". Even Knesset member Shelly Yachimovich, former chairperson of the Labor party, surprised many when she declared that historically, the party had never been "left", center only.

In other words – they blurred their positions on the most crucial of Israeli issues – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the future of the occupied territories, the future of the settlements and everything that follows. If you put a gun (metaphorically, of course) to the head of Israelis, they won't be able to tell what those "centrist" parties think of these issues. The largest centrist party in the outgoing Knesset, Yesh Atid, boasted of practicing "new politics" but, in fact, blurred those old issues.

The revived division between left and right is a return to the old politics in its better sense. It brings back the older, yet not obsolete, use of the word "moderate". Moderate is not a synonym of "centrist". It just means less than radical, a definition most Israelis know well. It's refreshing to see the Likud and Jewish Home arguing which of them is the real right wing; it feels right to hear Likud blaming Labor for being left and Labor calling Likud “right". Because for better or worse, this is what this election is all about.

[Israeli]

5. BTW ...crazyist election news so far .......

Bibi has offered that raving lunatic Caroline Glick a place on the Likud list !!!!! ...

see :

Controversial JPost columnist Caroline Glick considered for spot on Likud slate

Glick has called for Israel's annexation of the West Bank, called Netanyahu 'immoral, irresponsible and stupid' in response to Gilad Shalit deal.

A senior Likud figure said Saturday night that the U.S.-born senior contributing editor of the Jerusalem Post, Caroline Glick, is being considered for a spot on the party’s election slate. The news came the day after a Likud tribunal ordered a recount of votes cast in the party primary earlier this month, in the wake of claims of irregularities in the vote tallies.

The controversial columnist, 46, was one of the most popular candidates recommended by respondents to Netanyahu's social media call for suggestions to fill two slots on Likud’s electoral slate reserved for candidates of the prime minister's choosing.

“We are considering several names, including Caroline Glick, in an effort to include attractive figures on the Likud slate,” said the Likud source, who was speaking on condition of anonymity.

Source : http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-election-2015/1.638787

NB : No paywall KD.......

[sabbat hunter]

6. how far down the list

would she be placed? but I agree she is a complete nut bag.

[Israeli]

9. 11th ....

its all in the link ....

Also on Friday, journalist Erel Segal turned down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offer of the No. 11 slot on the ticket. Israel Channel 2 television news reported last night that Netanyahu had offered Glick the slot, which is high enough on the slate to nearly guarantee a Knesset seat to its holder.

Wont happen tho .... its just another PR stunt .

[King_David]

7. Bibi is out of control. nt

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

13. And so too, Israeli policy, but that is a known known.

[King_David]

14. Not sure how that flows from this discussion.

Is this the cultural theft of Felafel thingy ?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

12. Yeah, I read that too.

[Israeli]

8. Another BTW ....

with regard to your link ... its a little out of date ....

ref : The coming election features two intriguing LGBT subplots bubbling just beneath the surface. Amir Ohana, the chair of Likud’s LGBT group, is currently seeking a place on the party’s list. If selected, he would become the first openly gay candidate to run for the Knesset on the Likud ticket. While the left-wing Meretz faction has traditionally been the most pro-LGBT party in the Knesset—Nitzan Horowitz, the only openly gay Member of Knesset in the recently concluded term, is part of Meretz—today, Likud has one of the strongest LGBT groups.

Nitzan Horowitz quit politics KD .....see :

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/israel%E2%80%99s-2nd-only-openly-gay-lawmaker-nitzan-horowitz-quitting-politics010115

So what does " Israel’s Upcoming Election Means For LGBT Voters " ???.....vote Likud because they care and.... " today, Likud has one of the strongest LGBT groups " ????....and the only one now .

Lets all vote according to our sexuality KD .....which party has the highest female candidates ??
I will vote for them ... I'm sure they will bring about social justice no matter what ...

“There is no doubt that if the center-left win, Israel will become more pro-LGBT,”

There is also no doubt that IF the center-left loose ...Israel will become more anti-LGBT KD .
Voting Likud because they have the only gay candidate is therefore idiotic KD.

[King_David]

10. For anyone voting for Likud is idiotic,

Nitzan Horowitz quitting politics is too bad, but nobody goes on forever.

Having gay candidates on a list shows how progressive a party is and for Likud to have a Gay candidate shows how Gay friendly Israel is and how far it has progressed that even somebody as progressive as you are ,feels that the number of Gay candidates on a list is irrelevant.

That is progress indeed and shows that Gays have reached acceptance within Israel.

[sabbat hunter]

16. the United States

has log cabin republicans, and I am sure there are gay republicans who have ran for office. How they can do so when their party is so anti LGBTQ I do not know

[Israeli]

22. That is one way to look at it I suppose ....

Then there is this way .....which is the way I see it :

Israel shamefully builds its moral persona around the LGBT struggle

Israel forcibly rules over millions of Palestinians and imprisons asylum seekers like they are criminals - but at least it treats homosexuals fairly.

By Carolina Landsmann 08:23 30.01.15

“Naftali wanted to bring in a traditional Mizrahi who had a difficult childhood but succeeded,” is how MK Ayelet Shaked explained the decision to add Eli Ohana to Habayit Hayehudi’s Knesset slate to her colleagues. This way of thinking is also evident in some of the other parties running in the upcoming election: They included a “woman,” a “Mizrahi” (or Jew of Middle Eastern origin), an “Ethiopian,” a “disabled person,” a “religious Jew,” a “traditional Jew” and a “Russian” on their tickets.

Such tickets make a mockery of the idea of representation, but these parties apparently prefer to represent nothing but the idea of representation. If they had any interest in truly being representative, they all would, for instance, first of all have held primaries.

The public also shares this superficial view of representativeness. The left, for instance, has been critical of the sparse representation of women in realistic places on Likud’s ticket. But who cares if a party that has brought the country into international isolation, espouses diplomatic rejectionism, promotes racist legislation and foments wars continues doing all this while equalizing the number of women and men on its slate?

What possible interest could feminist women who aren’t Likud members or followers have in aspiring for its slate to have more women? Political blogger Tal Schneider supplied an explanation: “If male MKs are entitled to be either harmful or helpful, then so are women.”

The same logic is employed by left-wing Mizrahim, who welcomed MK Miri Regev’s high placement on Likud’s ticket. True, they agree, Regev is a racist – but she’s a Moroccan racist. In other words, it’s true that this is a giant step forward for racism, but it’s also a small step forward for Mizrahim. After all, if male Ashkenazi MKs are permitted to be racist, why shouldn’t this also be permissible for female Mizrahi MKs?

While Israeli Arabs were politically pushed to pour all their multitudinous identities and worldviews into a single party box and adopt a broad, inclusive Israeli Arab identity, the Israeli melting pot seems to have exploded. If in the past, people contemptuously refused to answer questions about whether their Jewish identity took precedence over their Israeli one (or vice versa), today they are fleeing the umbrella of Israeli identity and seeking to belong to narrow, exclusionary identities.

Moreover, they make do with justice, or with struggling for justice, only for the reference group from which they derive their sense of identity. True, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” as Martin Luther King, Jr. aptly said. But in Israel, a left-wing woman is expected to rejoice, as a woman and as a Mizrahi, over the fact that Regev placed high in the gang of racist chauvinists known as Likud.

All this was apparently inevitable. Israeli identity is mired up to its neck in the unjust enterprise of occupying millions of Palestinians. So after almost five decades of occupation, Israeli identity had to flee to regions in which it could stop feeling ashamed and gain a respite from itself – to build its moral persona as if there were no occupation, and to occupy as if there were no moral persona.

The big winner from the moral abandonment of denying the occupation (other than Yair Lapid) has been the LGBT struggle. This struggle disconnected itself from the broader battle for equality, and in exchange it was accepted into the consensus. Even the right-wing rapper known as “The Shadow” married a homosexual couple. And even the leader of the extreme right, Naftali Bennett, voices progressive views with regard to same-sex marriage: “Official recognition, no; rights, yes.”

Anyone making sympathetic noises over this should recall that even straight people can’t marry in a civil ceremony in Israel. Gay rights even serve as a tool for diplomats to glorify the progressiveness of the only democracy in the Middle East, in contrast with Islamic State or Syria.

True, Israel forcibly rules over millions of Palestinians; it hunts down asylum seekers, imprisons them like criminals and lets them freeze in the desert; and its politicians announce their desire to “transfer” Israeli Arabs out of the country (and thereby merit being deemed to have “veered left”). Hey – but if you’re a homosexual Jew, or even a homosexual tourist passing through the region, there’s no place better than Israel.

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.639804

[King_David]

23. So everyone would be happy if Israel never had such progressive laws on LGBT rights?

I think not ? No matter the motivation, LGBT rights are necessary and those countries or territories denying them should be punished for it and never rewarded.

[King_David]

11. From the article :

Israel, Doitsh says, is “by any definition one of the most pro-LGBT countries in the world,” noting the advances that were made during the 1990s on nondiscrimination in the military, the workplace, and in common-law marriage at a time when the United States was retreating on gay rights. Nevertheless, Doitsh believes this forthcoming election will be “critical” for the LGBT community. The center-left parties are already courting gay voters. The important thing is that LGBT Israelis turn out.

“People have to go out and vote. For too many elections in the last few years, the liberal, secular part of Israel either didn’t care or didn’t believe they had the ability to make a change.” The Aguda will soon launch a campaign to make LGBT voters—and liberal-minded voters generally—recognize that “we have the ability to make sure that Israel has the right parliament and government to take the LGBT community to a better place.”

[sabbat hunter]

17. Israel may be considered to be a

pro LGBTQ country, but as long as any coalition involves United Torah, Shas, Jewish home, LGBTQ will not be treated equally. I mean lets face it United Torah and Shas won't even allow women to run on their tickets, forget about supporting more progressive ideas like equal rights for the LGBTQ community.

I think that both Likud and Labor should announce that they will not form a coalition with any religious based party.

[King_David]

18. That's the problem with proportional representation

VS first past the post in countries like Canada, UK and Australia for example.

Pizza Parliament.

[sabbat hunter]

19. completely agree

but there has to be some sort of compromise between the two. I think a good step was taken with increasing the % needed to enter the knesset.

[Israeli]

21. That is coming back to bite some .....

ref : http://972mag.com/united-arab-slate-thumbs-nose-at-libermans-disqualification-attempt/101775/

After years of engaging in relentless, blatantly racist incitement against the Arab parties, the foreign minister may soon get his comeuppance.

There is actually a chance that Yisrael Beiteinu might not win sufficient votes to sit in the next Knesset. Meanwhile, the united Arab slate is polling at between 11 and 15 votes — and their voters are loyal.

The fact is that Liberman has brought this entire situation on himself. It was Yisrael Beiteinu that pushed last year for the passage of a bill that would require political parties to win 3.25 percent of the vote, or a minimum of four seats, in order to take their places in the Knesset (the previous threshold was 2 percent). It escaped no one’s notice that this would have pushed all the Arab parties out of the Knesset, since none of them had more than five seats. The 3.25 percent threshold also means that Hadash, the Arab-Jewish socialist party, would be eliminated, as would small niche parties such as Kadima. At the time, few thought the fractious Arab parties and Hadash would unite to form a single list. But that is precisely what they did, and now they are enjoying a good laugh.

[King_David]

24. Kick