Re: Supreme Court hates Netanyahu

On Sun, 31 Mar 2024 02:25:09 -0000 (UTC)
"Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

I keep posting without the article body. Sorry about that.
 
No party in Israel has ever had a majority in Knesset, so coalition
governments are often formed by making deals with the religious
parties. This includes tuition and massive stipends for living
expenses.
 

Do you have any idea why Israel chose to have a proportional
representation system in the first place? I'm guessing that it was
because this was deemed the fairest system at the time but maybe it's
historical.

They would probably make their lives easier if they had a
non-proportional system or even just a different proportional system -
apparently there are many - but maybe that would fly in the face of
centuries of tradition?

Frankly, I've always been surprised that Israel chose proportional
representation so soon after WW II. After all, Hitler had ascended to
power by means of the proportional representation system in Germany
after WW I. Surely many of the founders of the Israeli state were aware
of this.

Proportional representation also caused a great deal of instability in
Italy after WW II. They were averaging elections every 10 or 11 months
for several decades. (I think they finally changed their system 20 or
30 years back, probably under Berlusconi, and now have elections at a
more normal frequency.)

The high court ruled that it's at the expense of the secular
population and must be dismantled.
 
Seminary students were exempt from three years of army service. They
protested when this was to be required. I think it was finally forced
through.
 
This could easily cause the government to fall.

I know that Bibi was trying to rein in the high court a year or two
back and that it raised a huge controversy in Israel. I'm not clear
on how things ended up or even if the reforms were finally implemented,
changed or abandoned.

I've seen plenty of predictions that Bibi was done in the wake of Oct.
7 but other pundits say it's premature to count him out. I know that
I'm not even going to TRY to predict his future beyond the fact that he
will die eventually.

I've been amazed and deeply impressed at how the Israeli public,
especially those hating Bibi, have put their animosity on hold while
the current war is taking place. They may be counting
the minutes until the war is over so that Bibi can be dealt with but
they are "keeping their powder dry" until then. Or so it seems in the
things I've read and seen. Only Schumer seems to be trying to push
Israel into dumping Bibi now. 

If Bibi's coalition fractures, who will likely be the beneficiary? A
couple of years back, Ganz seemed to be the guy that everyone seemed to
think should be PM but I'm not sure if they still feel that way.

--
Rhino