Posts
ELECTION UPDATE FROM LIKUD HEADQUARTERS: DON’T BELIEVE THE HEADLINES
The exit polls are in, and if you are watching most of mainstream media, you are probably being told that Netanyahu lost.
Not so fast.
Israeli channel 11, Channel 12 and Channel 13 currently project Netanyahu’s bloc at around 50 seats, and you can already see celebrations among Netanyahu’s political opponents. But these are exit polls, not election results, and there is a dramatic outlier that nobody should ignore: Channel 14.
Channel 14’s Shlomo “Momo” Filber has been the most accurate pollster in Israel for years and his exit poll initially projected Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc at 60 seats. And in the updated Channel 14 exit poll released just now, 3 hours later, that number actually just rose to 62! Enough for Netanyahu to form a government.
That is an enormous discrepancy.
So any headline or report declaring that Netanyahu was defeated tonight is getting way ahead of the actual vote count.
And remember: hundreds of thousands of double-envelope ballots, including large numbers of soldiers’ votes, still have to be counted. Historically, soldiers have often voted disproportionately for parties on the Right. We simply do not know the final result yet. We will know final numbers on Thursday.
So what is my initial takeaway?
Considering the campaign we just witnessed, I am actually encouraged.
The political Left ran an extremely effective, brilliantly evil, campaign around the ultra-Orthodox draft issue. It succeeded in dividing Israelis, creating enormous anger and hatred inside the nationalist camp, and convinced some right-wing voters either to vote for center-left parties or stay home.
Given that reality, if Filber’s numbers are even close to correct, the result is remarkable. It could have been much worse.
Then there is the extraordinary Arab Muslim turnout, which could produce a historically large representation for the Arab parties, 18 seats!
First, can we finally retire the ridiculous “apartheid Israel” lie? Arab citizens vote in Israeli elections, elect representatives to Israel’s parliament and potentially hold enormous influence over who becomes prime minister.
Most of those citizens and politicians openly support the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel and Israel still gives them equal votes for our Parliament.
That is not apartheid. But it is lunacy.
Politically, their success also creates a fascinating dilemma for Gadi Eisenkot and the center-left.
If they attempt to form a government of at least 61 seats dependent upon the anti-Zionist Arab parties, they will pay an enormous political price among Jewish Israeli voters.
And if Netanyahu forms the government, those Arab parties will remain in the opposition rather than determining national security policy. So, their presence in the Knesset opposition will be negligible, despite their high number of seats, predicted potentially at 18 in the exit polls.
Ironically, this huge accomplishment by the Israeli Arab Muslim jihadi population has awakened the Israeli public to the danger posed by a large and politically influential fifth column that supports the destruction of Israel. Hopefully, this will lead our next government to confront this internal fifth column decisively, while clearly distinguishing it from loyal Arab citizens who value their lives in Israel.
We cannot allow the red-green alliance to undermine our country from within, as it is already doing across the freedom-loving world. Ironically, what is now being celebrated as a major political victory by Israel’s anti-Zionist Arab leadership may ultimately awaken the Jewish public and bring about that movement’s political defeat.
Then comes the biggest question of election night:
What does Gadi Eisenkot do if Netanyahu emerges with the strongest path to forming a government?
Does he join Netanyahu in some form of broad coalition?
Or does he continue the boycott of Netanyahu and leave Netanyahu to rebuild another right-wing/religious coalition resembling the government we just had?
Personally, I hope Eisenkot chooses the boycott.
I want a government capable of continuing the fundamental changes that began over these past four years: defeating our enemies, strengthening Jewish sovereignty, rebuilding Jewish communities throughout our homeland and finally confronting institutional structures that have prevented elected right-wing governments from implementing the policies their voters chose. A government that includes Eizenkot will hinder that.
But tonight, nobody should celebrate and nobody should despair.
The votes are still being counted. The exit polls radically disagree. And Netanyahu may very well emerge from this election as prime minister once again.
Most importantly, remember something much bigger than Netanyahu, Eisenkot or 61 Knesset seats.
We do our part. We vote. We fight for the future of the Jewish state.
But ultimately, God runs the world.
Whatever numbers appear on our television screens tonight, strengthen your faith.
The Jewish people have experienced far greater miracles than an election result.
God above is in charge.
Am Yisrael Chai!!!
To not lose connection with my updates if face-book deletes me again, go to the comment below to see how to follow me.
