No time for whining. No place for recrimination.

This week is the week of the Eurovision Song Contest. I am really proud that Neta has brought this event to Israel. Her amazing talent not only overcame the oposition at last year’s competition but also exhibited to the world a side of Israel that is all about music, fun and entertainment.

The importance of events like this for Israel is enormous – it shows that Israel is a great country to have a connection with. It encourages tourism and gives an opportunity for Israelis to say to we love life and given the chance know to how to live it to the full.

Stepping back in the wake of the elections I can only say that I feel that Israel is like Inspector Dreyfuss in the movie ‘The Pink Panther Strikes Again’ and in the words of Herbert Lom: Dreyfus : Every day and in every way, I am getting better, and better.

Anyway, I wanted to write some of my reflections of the elections and the aftermath.

I suppose it was inevitable that Netanyahu would be re-elected and a majority of the Israeli  electorate seemed to be oblivious of the fact that during the 13 years that he had been PM (on and off) absolutely nothing had changed on any front. In other words, we are still officially in a state of war, we are still being constantly attacked by the terrorist organizations on our borders and there are no peace negotiations taking place at any level – not with any relevant organization or country. The dependency we have on the USA has become even stronger and our national debt has become even larger. The internal conflicts have not only become even worse but the divisions between the religious and secular, East and West, Black and White, Ashkenazi and Sephardi and Left and Right have become increasingly more vehement, intense and violent.

However, he was so eloquent and convincing that he was swept into power with relative ease. We cannot just say that the opposition was not strong enough nor that the leaders of the opposition parties failed because of their weakness and lack of political experience. Either way, the consequence is that the Israeli public was pushed to the ‘right’ and the ‘left’ seems to have lost all standing, credit or hope.

Nevertheless, today is the beginning of a new week in which Israel is headline news for other reasons other than war and terror and that is a breath of fresh air.

Well, that is the way I look back at the last elections. It might seem to be a slightly depressing overview but we are faced now with another four years of Netanyahu and there is nothing more to add at the moment.

Good Luck Kobi!