How many of Israel’s 34 political parties can you name?
- Israel’s smaller parties are working hard to break into the public consciousness, reports Ha’aretz:
Up until three weeks ago, each of these parties toiled on their campaigns that perhaps could have yielded a breakthrough into the public consciousness. Now, after the fighting in Gaza threw a monkey wrench into all their plans, and given the minuscule budgets at their disposal, they are pursuing every avenue and every which way in order to garner attention, recognition, and if possible, voters.
- The fervently Orthodox Sephardic Shas party also will target Ashkenazi haredim as the smaller religious parties continue to split, reports the Jerusalem Post.
- The big winner politically in the aftermath of the Gaza war has been Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu Party, polls show. To capitalize on anti-Arab sentiment, the party’s ads will highlight anti-Israel quotes from Arab Knesset members, reports the Jerusalem Post.
- The Green Movement-Meimad plans to eschew the Gaza conflict and focus instead on education, social issues and the environment, the Post says.
- Ha’aretz columnist Yossi Verter says it’s amazing what three weeks (of war) can do.
- The U.K. Times says that after 22 days of war in Gaza, Israel is about to embark on another brutal three-week conflict:
The country holds a general election on February 10 that pits the Defense Minister against the Foreign Minister in a battle to succeed the outgoing Prime Minister — a perpetually feuding troika that ran Operation Cast Lead. But the likely winner of the vote will be Binyamin Netanyahu, a man who played no role whatsoever in the prosecution of the highly popular offensive against Hamas.
