Social/Political Disequilibrium

Word has it from the pundits, scrambling to correct their original predictions that the Israeli electorate had turned firmly to the right, having assessed the results of the general election, have reached a consensus; it was 50-50; both left and right, after all. A quite conflicted response from citizens of Israel. Who are mostly preoccupied with internal economic matters.

And, at the same time, fed up with a lack of movement on the 'peace' front, mostly because of what is popularly assessed as Palestinian intransigence.

And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, so confident a few weeks earlier, thanks to all the polls predicting a right-wing swoop, that he could easily achieve the 61-seat majority that he thought his performance deserved, is now deep in negotiations with other parties that reflect, in large part, his plans for the future of the Jewish state. A translation of that is indeed a right-wing sweep.

Just not Benjamin Netanyahu's party, the Likud-Israel Beitenu alliance, which dropped eleven of its 41 seats, after all. The emergence of rival parties with fairly well a similar agendas to his own with There is a Future coming from behind to gain 19 Knesset seats was a whopping in-your-face surprise. Traditional Likud voters liked the platform of There is a Future Party, giving it the second highest number of seats.

And here is Likud-Israel Beitenu's partner in governance. If he succeeds in includind the Jewish Home Party, far more right-wing than Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Bennet are, in denying a two-state solution, there will be sparks aplenty to entertain the international community with.  But it was the emphasis on the economy, unaffordable housing prices and costly food items that concerned most Israelis.

And their resentment that their taxes are being diverted to pay for a scholarly Orthodox lifestyle for the ultra-Orthodox who are entirely financially subsidized in housing and welfare, and excused from military duty. Forgiven, because Likud traditionally needed the Knesset parliamentary support of the ultra-Orthodox and welfare was the trade-off with the explanation that it was the religious Jews who were keeping Judaism alive.

While the secular Jews representing the major proportion of the Jewish population were by their sacrifices in the marketplace and on the battlefield keeping Israel alive. And speaking of keeping Israel alive, the emphatic instructions given Israeli Arabs to get out there and vote emanating from the larger geographic Arab community, did little to convince Israeli Arabs to do just that.

Their scornful disinterest in lending themselves to the democratic process by their low turnout by a mere one-in-three bothering to vote resulted in three Arab parties winning a dozen seats. Enough to ensure that there will always be scandalous accusations and couner-accusations in the Knesset.

Twelve Jewish parties out of a total of 34 putting candidates on the battle won 2% or over, enabling themselves to sit in the Knesset.

The once-powerful Likud breakaway Kadima Party lead by Tsipi Livni dropped to 2 seats, still claiming she would not ally herself with Netanyahu. But a close analysis of the shifting voting pattern illustrates that this time around 66% of the electorate did indeed vote for hard-line parties, the right-wing that has captured the podium and government seats.

Israel's demented socialist-inspired electoral system that has spawned such a large number of political parties each spouting their own ideological views in competition with the others, ensures a kind of bedlam ensues. The largest winning contingent - Likud-Israel-Beitenu, with Netanyahu at its head now has the gruelling, frustrating job of finagling and convincing and contriving to finalize the deal-making and allot ministerial posts.

Six weeks to go. And only then perhaps will the Israeli voters know the final results of their voting patterns.