Israel lawmaker wonders if his Labor Party may deserve its fate

bemildred

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Mon Mar-28-11 09:43 AM
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Israel lawmaker wonders if his Labor Party may deserve its fate

He says the Israeli left is in disarray and its standard-bearer Labor Party has betrayed its values so much, it might be renamed the "Prostitution Party."

It's a harsh analysis, and somewhat surprising given that it comes from lawmaker Daniel Ben-Simon, one of the party's leaders.

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Where did Labor go wrong? The party is rooted in Israel's founding and now is on the verge of extinction.

This party founded the state, created the culture, the values, the jobs and the army. But after its 27 years of total dominance in power, Israelis rejected the party in 1977. Since then, the party has never really recovered.

Though I'm a member, I couldn't tell you the exact identity of this party. In the past 30 years, we have joined any government and we have given legitimacy to any idea. Most recently, we joined the most extreme coalition since the creation of the state. It's not a prostitution party, but it's nearly that. Israelis are sick and tired of it. In the last election, we got 13 seats. The natural decision would have been to go to the opposition. But we joined the coalition. Why? If we've been given a political death sentence, we deserve it. Israelis are saying: "My God, where is your honor? Where is your ideology?"

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-israel-labor-qa-20110328,0,5612029.story

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oberliner

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Mon Mar-28-11 10:28 AM
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1. He only joined the Labor Party in 2009 and announced he was leaving the party earlier this year

MK Daniel Ben Simon resigns from Labor to form one-man party

Knesset member Daniel Ben Simon announced Tuesday that he will be resigning from the Labor faction, with the intention of establishing a one-man party.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/mk-daniel-ben-simon-resigns-from-labor-to-form-one-man-party-1.336420

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bemildred

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Mon Mar-28-11 10:48 AM
Response to Reply #1

3. He's not all bad:

"Labor MK Daniel Ben Simon also advocated on J Street's behalf, saying "as someone who attended the conference, I can say that this is a pro-Israel, pro-Zionist organization, and I am proud to support them."

Ben Simon added, "when I spoke at their conference, I felt Israeli pride."

Some of the strongest words of condemnation came from Kadima MK Otniel Schneller, who told J Street representative David Gila, "You are not Zionists and you do not look out for Israel's interests. While 50 rockets a day are fired upon Israel, you fight against the American veto to condemn Israel."

Gila responded to Schneller's accusations, saying, "You cannot ignore the voices of a group of American Jews -- and we believe that we are the majority. We are Zionists and we care for Israel." He insisted that J Street provides a framework for liberal Jews to support Israel, even if they do not agree with the policies of the government."

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/mk-j-street-is-not-zionist-but-a-leftist-extremist-group-1.351371

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Ken Burch

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Mon Mar-28-11 09:11 PM
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9. According to the link in the OP, he rescinded the announcement of his defection

n/t.

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LeftishBrit

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Mon Mar-28-11 10:46 AM
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2. Good points; I hope his party listen to him!

And CLEGG - are you listening?

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aranthus

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Mon Mar-28-11 03:57 PM
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4. CLEGG? What is?

Agree with you on the article.

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LeftishBrit

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Mon Mar-28-11 04:03 PM
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6. Clegg is the leader of our LibDem party and brought it into coalition with the Tories

And all the signs from the polls is that this will lead to the party's future electoral oblivion.

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Ken Burch

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Mon Mar-28-11 09:06 PM
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8. He's talking about THIS guy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Clegg

Nick Clegg is the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest party in the UK and the junior partner in the center-right coalition government led by the Tories. The "LibDems" ran as staunch opponents of Toryism in the last UK election, then joined what has now become one of the most right-wing governments in UK history.

They're going to loss many, if not most, of their seats at the next general election.

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aranthus

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Mon Mar-28-11 04:03 PM
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5. In part it's Labor, and in part it's the times.

He mentions that the Israeli public doesn't trust Labor to reach a peace agreement. In fact, this is not a condition that is peculiar to Israel. To quote an ancient Vulcan proverb, "Only Nixon can go to China." As a general rule, people trust Conservatives more with foreign policy issues that they trust Liberals. Also, when times are tough domestically, people turn to the Left. When there is a growing external threat, they turn to the Right.

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bemildred

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Mon Mar-28-11 08:00 PM
Response to Reply #5

7. I guess if you are a right-wing politician, you have to make sure there is an external threat.

I'll bet that would work for somebody that opposed left-wing social policies too.
Hmmm ...
:think:

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