Israel on the brink of breakdown? Sharon might resign!

[blahblah99]

Link

 

[GoingUp]

If Sharon resigns, what excuse will Hamas use to justify suicide bombings, seeing as how the terrorist Sharon would be gone...

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Yes, this happens in Isreal about every two years. Its how their system works (or doesn't).

 

[Lucky]

can someone explain to me how the balance of power works in that country? All we ever hear about is sharon but they have a president who I've never heard of.

 

[jjones]

Originally posted by: Lucky
can someone explain to me how the balance of power works in that country? All we ever hear about is sharon but they have a president who I've never heard of.

Yeah, I'm not very up on their political system and I've always wondered that as well. Seems this kind of thing always happens with them and no one party ever finishes out their term.

 

[glenn1]

Well, considering the left in this country and the EU in general seem to think that Sharon is the problem in the Middle East, you should be hailing this development.

 

[StageLeft]

Sounds good to me.

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: Lucky
can someone explain to me how the balance of power works in that country? All we ever hear about is sharon but they have a president who I've never heard of.

Here ya go. That site explains the role of Israel's president. As you'll see, the real power is in the Prime Minister's office. It's interesting to note, that Moshe Katsav - the current president - was born in Iran.

 

[Harvey]

I don't know how much credibility to give to a report in Pravda with no backup from another news source. Of course, the U.S. news sites are overstuffed with election rehashes so nothing else is getting reported.

Sharon has a history of being as much of a terrorist murderer as Arafat, Hamas, etc., but his departure could be good news or bad. If a war monger like Netanyahu replaces him, Isreal will be in for more of the same crap. I've given up on all of them.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: Harvey
Sharon has a history of being as much of a terrorist murderer as Arafat, Hamas, etc., but his departure could be good news or bad. If a war monger like Netanyahu replaces him, Isreal will be in for more of the same crap. I've given up on all of them.

If Sharon is out, Netty is in Harvey. It's what both the Palestinian and Israeli leaders want. Gives them a purpose in life and a way to stay in control.

 

[justint]

In Israel the president is largely a symbolic figure, whose only real power is to accept the decision of a Prime Minister to dissolve the Knesset and form a new government, a similar role is played by presidents in many parlimentary democracies. Moshe Katsav was born in Iran, I don't see how that is so interesting. Before Israel was formed there was a sizable Jewish community in Iran, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, etc. etc. These communities increased in number dramatically after the fall of the Islamic Moores in Spain as Jews fled Europe to flee persecution by the new Catholic rulers (refer to the Inquisiton) where Jews were often boiled alive for not renouncing thier faith. Israel has throughout its history had conflicts between these Shepardic Jews and European Jews although this will hopefully begin to wane as a new common identity is forged in what is still a young nation.

Unlike in the United States a parlimentary democracy depends on the ability of a party or a coalition of parties to muster a majority in the legislature. If a government can not muster that majority, they are vulnerable to a vote of no confidence which can force a new election and the dissolution of the government if the government can not muster enough power.

In the current situation in Israel, Sharon and the Likud party had formed a coalition government for the last two years with the moderately left wing Labor party along with some other smaller parties to maintain the government. Labor withdrew from the government last week leaving Sharon without a majority. He had three choices: 1. Try and continue to govern with a minority government (left him vulnerable to a vote of no confindence). 2. Try and form a new government by allying with ultra right wing religious and settlemnet parties (Would have been a disaster for Israel, particularly in regards to relations with the US as these parties demanded and end to even an appearence of making peace with the Palestinians). 3. Dissolve the Knesset and call new elections.

He chose option 3, which is the least of three evils in my opinions. He will now run a new caretaker government with political rivals such as former PM Netanyahu until the new elections in late January.

BTW: Isreal has had five prime ministers sinc the murder of Rabin. Arafat still is in control of the PA with no reforms forced on him, or any real loss of power. He still controls most of the guns and money in the Palestinian areas, largely due to Sharons short sided simple minded policies. Once again Arafat reigns while Israel tries to work out its internal politics.

 

[lupy]

Want me to clone Rabin for you?

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: justint
In Israel the president is largely a symbolic figure, whose only real power is to accept the decision of a Prime Minister to dissolve the Knesset and form a new government, a similar role is played by presidents in many parlimentary democracies. Moshe Katsav was born in Iran, I don't see how that is so interesting. Before Israel was formed there was a sizable Jewish community in Iran, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, etc. etc. These communities increased in number dramatically after the fall of the Islamic Moores in Spain as Jews fled Europe to flee persecution by the new Catholic rulers (refer to the Inquisiton) where Jews were often boiled alive for not renouncing thier faith. Israel has throughout its history had conflicts between these Shepardic Jews and European Jews although this will hopefully begin to wane as a new common identity is forged in what is still a young nation.

Thanx for the history lesson. I happen to be well aware of all of the events you mentioned. I just found it mildly interesting that Katsav is president of Israel, being born in an islamic country. Excuse me for thinking so.

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: justint

BTW: Isreal has had five prime ministers sinc the murder of Rabin. Arafat still is in control of the PA with no reforms forced on him, or any real loss of power. He still controls most of the guns and money in the Palestinian areas, largely due to Sharons short sided simple minded policies. Once again Arafat reigns while Israel tries to work out its internal politics.

Arafat reigns because he IS the government without the slightest hint of a democracy. Kinda simple to "reign" in such a situation.

 

[justint]

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: justint
In Israel the president is largely a symbolic figure, whose only real power is to accept the decision of a Prime Minister to dissolve the Knesset and form a new government, a similar role is played by presidents in many parlimentary democracies. Moshe Katsav was born in Iran, I don't see how that is so interesting. Before Israel was formed there was a sizable Jewish community in Iran, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, etc. etc. These communities increased in number dramatically after the fall of the Islamic Moores in Spain as Jews fled Europe to flee persecution by the new Catholic rulers (refer to the Inquisiton) where Jews were often boiled alive for not renouncing thier faith. Israel has throughout its history had conflicts between these Shepardic Jews and European Jews although this will hopefully begin to wane as a new common identity is forged in what is still a young nation.

Thanx for the history lesson. I happen to be well aware of all of the events you mentioned. I just found it mildly interesting that Katsav is president of Israel, being born in an islamic country. Excuse me for thinking so.

Presence,

I did not mean to offend you or insult you in anyway. I was genuinely curious why you found that fact so interesting, particularly if you are well aware of the history of the situation. Again, I did not mean to insult you and hope that you do not find personal offense in my comments as that is not my intention in any way shape or form. I also elaborated on the history behind the presence of Jews in Iran more for the benefit of other members of this board, as I have found that thier is a lot of ignorance of the history of the Middle East and of the Arab and Jewish peoples among people not from Israel and the rest of the Middle East.

Justin

 

[Martin]

saw something interesting the paper today. PA terrorists are probably the Israeli right's biggest allies.

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: justint

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: justint
In Israel the president is largely a symbolic figure, whose only real power is to accept the decision of a Prime Minister to dissolve the Knesset and form a new government, a similar role is played by presidents in many parlimentary democracies. Moshe Katsav was born in Iran, I don't see how that is so interesting. Before Israel was formed there was a sizable Jewish community in Iran, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, etc. etc. These communities increased in number dramatically after the fall of the Islamic Moores in Spain as Jews fled Europe to flee persecution by the new Catholic rulers (refer to the Inquisiton) where Jews were often boiled alive for not renouncing thier faith. Israel has throughout its history had conflicts between these Shepardic Jews and European Jews although this will hopefully begin to wane as a new common identity is forged in what is still a young nation.

Thanx for the history lesson. I happen to be well aware of all of the events you mentioned. I just found it mildly interesting that Katsav is president of Israel, being born in an islamic country. Excuse me for thinking so.

Presence,

I did not mean to offend you or insult you in anyway. I was genuinely curious why you found that fact so interesting, particularly if you are well aware of the history of the situation. Again, I did not mean to insult you and hope that you do not find personal offense in my comments as that is not my intention in any way shape or form. I also elaborated on the history behind the presence of Jews in Iran more for the benefit of other members of this board, as I have found that thier is a lot of ignorance of the history of the Middle East and of the Arab and Jewish peoples among people not from Israel and the rest of the Middle East.

Justin

No offense taken. I must've been on edge when I first read it.

EDIT: The reason it's interesting to me is A) because he's a sephardi and yet managed to get elected (second time it's been done), and B) because he's from an Islamic country and yet he's the president of Israel. That's pretty cool.