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Elections 2006: No [right] left turn
by Erin Israel
This afternoon, we were sitting in Cafe Netanela when Crazy Man #3 roared in, a Likud sign tangled in his hands. With his long ponytailed white hair, silver earring, and a spiked watchband, Crazy Man #3 looks like he's playing the title role in "King Lear," directed by David Bowie.
Since everyone and his brother is armed, here, it shouldn't make me nervous that he had a pistol stuffed in his waistband. Nevertheless, when Crazy Man #3 ended his loud tirade against Netanyahu by tearing the poster in two, stomping on it, and spitting on it, I figured tea time might as well be over.
Here's a practical philosophy, here: The worst is not / So long as we can say "This is the worst." (King Lear, 4.1.27-28)
Yes, elections are on Tuesday. The party most likely to win (Kadima) has been relying on the image of its founder to propel it to victory; never mind that the founder himself is in a coma. Netanyahu, in an effort to show that he is by no means in a coma, storms around the country, holding rallies in Hebrew and Russian. Kadima and the Likud are likely to wage a battle for Knesset seats, while other parties like Labor, Shas, and Etiud Ahad (for Ethiopian immigrants, on whose governing panel sit two Americans) will lag behind.
There is no third party, here, either.
One image the country would like to present is that it is well-accustomed to accepting immigrants, and integrating them without ignoring their heritage. The reality behind this image, however, seems fairly stark, through the lens of elections: the Russians distrust the Sephardis, the old generation of Russians regards the new generation suspiciously, Israelis with Ashkenazi heritage hold the key positions of power, the main parties virtually ignored the Israeli Arab vote, a small number of secular Russians will vote for Shas (religious party) out of protest against the others, and immigrants from Ethiopia have essentially no political representation.
Last night, friends invited us over to celebrate the birth of their baby, in the near future; the father-to-be is Israeli, and his brother and his brother's girlfriend arrived later in the evening, after the four of us guests and the future parents had consumed a shocking amount of food in the form of chopped salad, hummus, tehina, sandwiches spread with chopped red onion and smoked fish, crackers, and cheese. The guests were excited to discover that some food remained, and that a significant chunk of those at the party were from abroad.
"Are there any peculiar things that Israelis do that you find odd?" the brother asked us sweetly, after a round of introductions, as he sank into an armchair.
There was a pause of about five seconds, while everyone scrolled mentally through his or her long list of Baffling Things They Do Here, thought better of responding, and then struck up a conversation with whomever was sitting to his or her left.
"Nothing surprises me, anymore," I replied. "It's no stranger than anywhere else." Translation: that's a really loaded question; how could we possibly answer it diplomatically? Are you crazy? Nice to meet you!
Later, as must occur when there are at least two pregnant women (not your grateful correspondent) in the room, the conversation turned to epidurals.
"The science of epidurals is at least twenty years old," the guest of honor and hostess (who grew up in Yugoslavia) remarked. "But it's certainly not common in my country."
"It's been a practice in the U.S. for at least that long," I said.
"Here, too," Omer said.
"Yes, we must have copied it from America," his brother added, munching on a cracker. "Everything they do, we copy." He sighed. "May I have some more Pompaudour tea, please?" he asked his brother in English.
"Pompadour is the brand name, you nitwit," Omer told him. The graying father-to-be and his brother collapsed in a pile of laughter, while the mother-to-be looked on, her dessert plate balanced delicately on her belly, and rolled her eyes.
Source: Erin Israel. Say It in Hebrew! No.362. "Puh-mee-YAH [yuh-ma-NEET] smo-LEET a-soo-RAH." "No [right] left turn.". Rehovot.Blogspot.com (25 March 2006) [FullText]
This afternoon, we were sitting in Cafe Netanela when Crazy Man #3 roared in, a Likud sign tangled in his hands. With his long ponytailed white hair, silver earring, and a spiked watchband, Crazy Man #3 looks like he's playing the title role in "King Lear," directed by David Bowie.
Since everyone and his brother is armed, here, it shouldn't make me nervous that he had a pistol stuffed in his waistband. Nevertheless, when Crazy Man #3 ended his loud tirade against Netanyahu by tearing the poster in two, stomping on it, and spitting on it, I figured tea time might as well be over.
Here's a practical philosophy, here: The worst is not / So long as we can say "This is the worst." (King Lear, 4.1.27-28)
Yes, elections are on Tuesday. The party most likely to win (Kadima) has been relying on the image of its founder to propel it to victory; never mind that the founder himself is in a coma. Netanyahu, in an effort to show that he is by no means in a coma, storms around the country, holding rallies in Hebrew and Russian. Kadima and the Likud are likely to wage a battle for Knesset seats, while other parties like Labor, Shas, and Etiud Ahad (for Ethiopian immigrants, on whose governing panel sit two Americans) will lag behind.
There is no third party, here, either.
One image the country would like to present is that it is well-accustomed to accepting immigrants, and integrating them without ignoring their heritage. The reality behind this image, however, seems fairly stark, through the lens of elections: the Russians distrust the Sephardis, the old generation of Russians regards the new generation suspiciously, Israelis with Ashkenazi heritage hold the key positions of power, the main parties virtually ignored the Israeli Arab vote, a small number of secular Russians will vote for Shas (religious party) out of protest against the others, and immigrants from Ethiopia have essentially no political representation.
Last night, friends invited us over to celebrate the birth of their baby, in the near future; the father-to-be is Israeli, and his brother and his brother's girlfriend arrived later in the evening, after the four of us guests and the future parents had consumed a shocking amount of food in the form of chopped salad, hummus, tehina, sandwiches spread with chopped red onion and smoked fish, crackers, and cheese. The guests were excited to discover that some food remained, and that a significant chunk of those at the party were from abroad.
"Are there any peculiar things that Israelis do that you find odd?" the brother asked us sweetly, after a round of introductions, as he sank into an armchair.
There was a pause of about five seconds, while everyone scrolled mentally through his or her long list of Baffling Things They Do Here, thought better of responding, and then struck up a conversation with whomever was sitting to his or her left.
"Nothing surprises me, anymore," I replied. "It's no stranger than anywhere else." Translation: that's a really loaded question; how could we possibly answer it diplomatically? Are you crazy? Nice to meet you!
Later, as must occur when there are at least two pregnant women (not your grateful correspondent) in the room, the conversation turned to epidurals.
"The science of epidurals is at least twenty years old," the guest of honor and hostess (who grew up in Yugoslavia) remarked. "But it's certainly not common in my country."
"It's been a practice in the U.S. for at least that long," I said.
"Here, too," Omer said.
"Yes, we must have copied it from America," his brother added, munching on a cracker. "Everything they do, we copy." He sighed. "May I have some more Pompaudour tea, please?" he asked his brother in English.
"Pompadour is the brand name, you nitwit," Omer told him. The graying father-to-be and his brother collapsed in a pile of laughter, while the mother-to-be looked on, her dessert plate balanced delicately on her belly, and rolled her eyes.
Source: Erin Israel. Say It in Hebrew! No.362. "Puh-mee-YAH [yuh-ma-NEET] smo-LEET a-soo-RAH." "No [right] left turn.". Rehovot.Blogspot.com (25 March 2006) [FullText]
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