Avodah (Labor) party is going for primary elections

Amir Peretz giving a speech recently

The Israeli Labor party (Ha'Avodah) was suppose to have primary elections today (Tuesday, Dec-2nd) but they were delayed until Thursday. A friend received an SMS message today informing him of the delay. If you are reading this from the US or the UK or from any western civilized country your first impulsive thought is Shakespeare's often quoted saying: "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" (errr state of Israel). Why would anyone delay an election by 2 days ON THE DAY OF THE ELECTION? With the political history here in Israel and the current situation it seems that nobody has asked this question. In Israel the question of "can you do it" is more often ask than "should you do it". Clearly in Israel you can delay one party's primaries election by two days and notify party members by sending SMS messages. This part is possible and I don't know how many people are not going to show up on Thursday or even complained today after arriving at a voting site and fining "nothing".


memorial poster to the 10th anniversary to Yitzhak Rabin's assassination

The delay I think is more of reflection of the vacuum in ideology and purpose in the leadership. There are big issues facing Israel as a state and as a nation. People in hard times need a leader, and in most times Israel had that leader. They say that leaders are made in hard times, that was the story of Yitzhak Rabin. In 1967's six day war he was a young chief of staff in the Israeli army. There is still an historical debate on who actually "won the war". Was it a political decision to attack first or was it Rabin's and the military. But for the most part Rabin emerged as the winning general and that has started a long tradition of military chiefs running the country. Rabin eventually started the peace effort with Yassir Arafat and the PLO. Than with much reluctance and a big push from Bill Clinton actually signed an agreement with Arafat and shook his hand on the lawn of the white house. That was called leadership and despite what has become of these decisions since than, Rabin is still regarded as a leader. Like all the memorable leaders in Israel he made difficult decisions and took action. This is what Israelis call leadership. In other countries there are famous speeches and ideas. Lincoln and Martin Luther King had their short memorable mottoes. So did Churchill during WWII (the only thing to fear is fear itself). These sayings have become standards the world over translated to every imaginable language and stickered on bumpers in the most distant corner of the globe. But here in Israel we don't have the "I have a dream" or "of the people, by the people, for the people" (remember that he talked about government!). There are a few sound bytes that usually come from scratchy radio recordings. Ben Gurion's proclamation of the Israeli state, the reporting of soldiers and the army's chief Rabbi at the western wall come to mind. But in Israel what happened counts not what was said.

But sadly I have to report that in the labor party non-election of today nothing was said and nothing happened. Is this bad news or just a slow news day from Jerusalem? Well, maybe? There is another way to look at this. Maybe there is a leader in the labor party who is waiting for the right moment to move up or to give a speech. After all Barak Obama came into the national American stage just that way. Even governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made his "coming out speech" in the democratic national convention. Why are these American politicians even mentioned in an article on the Israeli labor party non-election? Because now the Israeli political parties are starting to import political advisers from the US. The Israeli general election is coming up in two months. You can already see billboards with Tzipi Livni's serious face staring out, no words, just the face. That's all I have to report from a non-election day and a quiet Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. We are still looking out for a new leader not just a politician /// from Tel Aviv, AmiV