Nizam is a taxi driver from East Jerusalem, a kind of transparent person living in the Arab sector. I met him on a short trip from Mount Scopus to the Knesset.
A twenty-minute drive and you get some insights into the Arab sector's preparations for the elections for the 20th Knesset. "We are not interested in the occupation, we want to bring bread and dignity to our children," says Nazem.
It opens a window for you into what is happening in the East of the city. It is estimated that there are about 200,000 people there who have the right to vote. Until now, the Arabs of East Jerusalem have behaved like Satmar followers - boycotting the elections in a blatant manner. But apparently in the upcoming elections the rules of the game are going to change.
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""All my friends and everyone I know is going to vote," says Nazem. He estimates that about 701,000 people will vote in East Jerusalem.
If we translate this into mandates, it is about 3 mandates.
What happened to them that this time they decided to come out? What motivates the Arabs of East Jerusalem today - who are Israeli citizens for all intents and purposes, with blue ID cards, but who increasingly feel like Palestinians - that this time they chose to come out to vote and influence?
""The United Arab Party is something that should be given a chance," says Nazzam, but he doesn't deny it: "Shas is also in the running.".
To this day, the Arabs of East Jerusalem have broadcast "walking with and feeling without." That is, walking with a blue ID card, receiving health, welfare, education and religious services from the state, but feeling without. In other words, they don't really want to be citizens of Israel.
This time, it seems, something is about to change.
The disaster that Lieberman brought upon us
Hayman Odeh, head of the Joint Arab Party, is no longer threatening. His speech is soft and pleasant. He radiates statesmanship. An enlightened man who speaks of hope, peace, and equal rights. It is not Haneen Zoabi or Ahmed Tibi who causes the average Israeli to feel disgusted.
Odeh addresses the Arab audience, explaining to them that the order of the Arabs of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has been destroyed, now we have come to take care of ourselves. The Arab party he heads is sending a very clear message: We are first and foremost social. This is what many Arabs are buying today, who until today have not seen ballots from the inside.
The sword that Lieberman tried to hold around the necks of the Arab parties is turning against him. Lieberman's big and central mistake - raising the threshold - is being used against him today.
Lieberman did the unbelievable: he united all the Arab parties into one large bloc, which according to all the polls is going to receive about 13 seats, and for the first time they will have to be counted and their opinions taken into account.
From today, Arab Knesset members will not only be members of the Committee on Children's Rights or the subcommittee on the state of Israel's beaches. They will demand membership in the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee (there was already a precedent for such a thing), and even the position of chairman of a respected and respected committee.
Lieberman brought this disaster upon us.
Until today, the situation in the Arab sector was that each party became more radical, talked about political issues rather than social issues, and caused many Arabs to stay home. In the elections for the 19th Knesset, I covered the Arab sector extensively. Their feeling was clear. None of them deserved to receive their vote, many there told me.
""We are here struggling to support our families and they are dealing with Syria," one of the residents of the Arab villages in the Galilee told me at the time.
Odeh grasped the situation and realized that now he had to work from within. He is currently moderating the national messages, and is only working on the social level.
But few understand that in any coalition, Odeh will not be a partner in it, and in any case, his ability to help and assist his sector will be small.
Those who do understand, join Shas.
Shas is also an option.
MK David Azoulay, who in recent months has only seen the House on weekends, explains that the struggle is more difficult and he believes that he will be able to recreate the great success that was in the elections for the 19th Knesset, when the Arab public brought about 30,000 votes to Shas. "Today, there is no Arab village or settlement in which the Shas movement does not have a representative. There is no Arab settlement or village that we have not visited at least once," notes MK Rabbi David Azoulay.
And despite all the difficult task, Shas is not giving up on the Arab street. "Many know that Shas Chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri is a man of action, who can rehabilitate the Arab sector and take care of them as well, and therefore their choice of Shas is clear.".
Over the weekend, the voting data of Knesset members on social issues was published. The data was published by members of the Social Watch, who have been active in the Knesset since the summer protests. The data shows a clear picture: Arab Knesset members hardly participated in any votes on social issues.
By the way, the situation of Shas and United Torah Judaism is excellent. According to the report, the most active members of Knesset on social issues are the ultra-Orthodox members of Knesset from the Shas and United Torah Judaism parties. It's not for nothing that Arabs choose not to vote for Arab members of Knesset. They know that they are truly transparent in their eyes.
I managed to convince Nazem to vote for Shas. I want to believe that my conversation with him will last until March 17th.
In the Jewish home, they don't care about the weak.
The Social Watch data reveals what goes on inside the Mishkan. The one that received the highest rating is the Meretz faction, with an average score of 85.7 points. However, the figure that did not surprise me was the low score received by Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home party.
According to the Social Watch's ranking, Jewish Home has the lowest score. Of all the parties in the 19th Knesset, Jewish Home is in the lowest place, with an average score of 5.1 points.
This statistic did not surprise me. Because a few months ago I had the opportunity to talk to a social activist who deals with the issue of the Arab workers at the electric company. The activist sent a letter to all members of Knesset regarding a heartbreaking story. I asked, who were the members of Knesset who got back to you from the parties? From Shas they were: David Azoulay, Yoav Ben Tzur, and Avraham Michaeli. From United Torah Judaism they were Moshe Gafni, Uri Maklev, and Yaakov Litzman.
And from which party did they not get back to you at all? 'I didn't even receive a letter from the Jewish Home, saying that the letter I sent was received,' she replied. Simply 12 Knesset members and complete disregard. The Haredi Knesset members, she pointed out to me, tried to call the chairman of the electricity company, spoke, sent, and stayed in touch to find out where things were progressing.
According to the social index ranking, the Labor Party was ranked second with 81.8 points. It should be noted that the Labor Party lost 4 index points due to the low attendance and votes of MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who received a score of 35.8, with a difference of more than thirty points from the MK ranked before him, Erel Margalit (69.5).
Without weighing Ben Eliezer's activity, Labor would have remained in second place, but would have received an average score of 87.1 points. According to the Social Guard, the Labor faction should have demanded the retirement of MK Ben Eliezer and his replacement with an active MK who would fulfill his role fully.
And how many times did they visit the Tabernacle?
A review of the Social Watch data also shows that opposition Knesset members were present on average in 261% of votes on socio-economic issues, compared to 351% of votes on these issues in which coalition MKs participated. Among the votes in which there was a low presence of opposition MKs: In the vote on a bill to increase the supply of apartments for affordable housing and public housing, only 4 MKs from Shas participated, not even one MK from Ra'am-Ta'al and Maqdim, one MK from United Torah Judaism, one MK from Hadash, and ten MKs from Labor.
The faction that showed the highest presence in votes on socio-economic issues was the Labor Party with an average of 45.31% of the 425 votes on these issues. The Ra'am-Ta'al faction ranked last, whose members were present on average for only 101% of the votes on socio-economic issues.
It should be noted that the general attendance trend of MKs from the various factions has declined from session to session during the 19th Knesset, which weakens the power of the Knesset and its ability to oversee the government's activities.
It is important to note that Shas receives a score of 46.8% in the overall total, while in voter turnout it receives an average of 29%, thus surpassing United Torah Judaism, Likud, and all Arab parties, including Hadash.
Where did Ben Dahan run away to?
Almost two weeks have passed and the beloved section member Eli Ben Dahan has not been mentioned here. So here is a story from about two weeks ago at the Israeli Rabbinical Conference.
Every year, the regional rabbi of the South Sharon Regional Council and chairman of the settlement rabbis, the Rabbi of the Three, organizes a special conference for the settlement rabbis, a conference of 'Each will help the other.' The opening session was particularly interesting and fascinating. It was tastefully moderated by journalist Goel Vaknin from Kol Chai Radio.
Goel, who is familiar with the world of the rabbinate as well as the political world, knew how to ask the right questions, and created an interesting and fascinating discourse. I was only interested in the opening session because of the appearance of Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Eli Ben Dahan, who was supposed to come and give a speech, and speak at a meeting of the heads of the religious parties, in which MK Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism and Shas Chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri, and a number of Knesset members from United Torah Judaism and Shas, participated.
Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Eli Ben Dahan was supposed to bring the blessing of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. I was interested to know what the deputy minister would say, after during a term of less than two years, he made sure to hinder and harm the rabbis of Israel through various strange regulations and laws. How Ben Dahan would deal with Deri and Gafni.
But you guessed it right, Ben Dahan chose not to attend the conference organizers. He explained that he was afraid to leave Jerusalem since the snow was supposed to fall in the evening, so he was forced to stay in the city.
The conference organizers thanked him, and believed that Ben Dahan was telling the truth. It turns out that Ben Dahan is not precise in his language, and during the conference he was seen dining at the Lavi Hotel, located near Tiberias. Neither snow nor Jerusalem. Deputy Minister Ben Dahan is rightly afraid of a confrontation with the rabbis of Israel, and with the leaders of the haredi parties. The snow was the cover story, and he had dinner that evening at the Lavi Hotel.
Don't worry. All's well that ends well. Deputy Minister Ben Dahan left Kibbutz Lavi that evening for his home in the Har Homa neighborhood of Jerusalem, and not even 30 centimeters of white snow spoiled the deputy minister's lie.
