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Day 4 – All aboard

All Aboard
The 99 Day Blog – Day 4

Naturally, the various parties are now trying to get their ducks in a row, or “the right people on the bus” before January. Here is just some of the last two days’ developments, in no particular order-

Shas

  • The battle over leadership in Shas (already discussed here) has ended with a surprising compromise imposed by Rabbi Ovadya Yosef. Shas is becoming the only political party in Israel with no chairman. Instead, a Triumvirate has been formed of former Shas leader Aryeh Deri, current leader Eli Yishai and up-and-coming Minister Ariel Attias .
  • According to the Talmud (Chullin page 70b) two kings cannot share one crown. Of course, it says nothing of three kings. Nonetheless, the electoral appeal of Shas has just gone up. This will likely hurt Likud.

Jewish Home/ National Union

Likud

Labor

  • Labor is leading in new recruits. Some of these include student Union Chairman and social protest leader Itzik Shmuli, social activist Stav Shaif, journalist Miki Rosenthal and possibly 5 Kadima MKs.

Kadima

The decision could have tremendous repercussions on the upcoming elections, in which Olmert has considered taking part as a challenger to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The former prime minister was expected to make a decision about whether to run by early next week, following meetings with former Kadima leader Tzipi Livni on Wednesday and other key political figures.”

Yesh Atid (Yair Lapid’s New Party)

In other elections related news, Israeli journalists are calling, in Hebrew and in English, for televised debates. One Israeli on Facebook mentioned, though, that in Israel there could be dozens of politicians demanding to participate in such debates. Sigh…

The 99 Day Blog will return next week, on day 7 or 8.

About the Author
Ari Applbaum is Director of Israel Operations for The David Project, a non-profit that positively shapes campus opinion on Israel, and has been with the organization since 2007. Ari manages all aspects of the organization’s work in Israel such as overseeing operations and budget, a staff of three, strategic partnerships with other organizations and all educational programming. He also lectures to thousands of Americans visiting the Jewish state each year. From 2008 to 2010, Ari served as a Middle East Analyst for The David Project. Based out of Boston, MA, Ari travelled extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada to educate and inspire effective supporters of Israel. He spoke to thousands of adults and students and lectured at hundreds of venus, including Ivy League universities such as Harvard and prestigious conferences such as AIPAC’s Saban Leadership conference. While in Boston, Ari also served as marketing and communications manager for the organization. In this role, Ari was responsible for the organization’s overall media, public relations and marketing activities. Prior to The David Project, Ari served as Senior Account Executive at the Israel branch of Ruder Finn, one of the world’s largest marketing and communications consultancies. There he specialized in strategic planning, media and analyst relations, marketing material development, market research, and branding. Ari provided these services to non-profit organizations, global telecommunications and technology companies (including several Fortune 100 companies), Israeli start-ups and financial institutions. As a student activist, Ari was sent numerous times by the MFA, The Jewish Agency for Israel, and other organizations to represent Israel in the U.S., Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Ari holds a Master of the Arts degree in Security and Diplomacy from Tel Aviv University and a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Communication & Journalism and Islam & Middle-East Studies from Hebrew University. Ari is currently working on his first book, a compilation of inspirational Zionist quotes. He is married to Na'ama; Their twin sons Yuval and Roni were born in Boston but are eighth-generation Jerusalemites.