Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Israeli youth show respect for elders

For those of you cruising blogland as we speak, you will find pages of analysis regarding the lower voter turnout, Labour and Israel Beitenu’s surprisingly good result, and Likud and Kadima’s lower than expected vote. In my humble opinion, the winning party of this election is Gil, the pensioners party, winning 8 seats according to exit polls. To the right is a photo of Gil pensioners' party leaders Yitzhak Ziv, Yaacov Ben-Izri, Rafi Eitan and Moshe Sharon, sitting on bench in Tel Aviv on Monday.

Jpost reports:
Tel Aviv buzzed with rumors on Tuesday that the Gil pensioners' party passed the vote threshold needed to enter the 17th Knesset. In the stage built by Channel 10 in the center of Rabin Square in the city's center, hundreds gathered to look at the parties' stalls. The general consensus seemed to be that "Tel Aviv was voting for the pensioners."
In front of one Tel Aviv polling booth, four well-dressed trendy-looking 20-somethings tried to convince passers-by to vote for the pensioners' party. Though the activists seemed uncertain of where the party stood on issues such as defense and the economy, they said that as young, well-off Tel Aviv residents, they wanted to do something to help the "poor old people." They also acknowledge that it was a trend among youth in Tel Aviv to vote for the Gil party.
One Gil supporter, Sonya Blikin, saying she was "voting for the pensioners because they're the only party with a platform I can support. Actually, I'm not sure what the platform is," she admitted, "but I know that old people and poor people are sitting in the streets, and I feel bad and I want to do something to help them."
And how about these kids at Rabin Square who instead of voting for the green leaf party, voted to help sabba and savta:
Back at Rabin Square, a crowd of teenage girls chanted "Save our grandfathers" on Tuesday afternoon. They said they had no official affiliation with any party, but had decided to come to the square at the last moment because "the old people need all the help they can get."

The election of Gil shows once again that Israeli youth are an or lagoyim. See also Haaretz for more on Gil’s very vauge security platform.

5 comments:

K. Shoshana said...

I would have been sorely tempted to vote for the pensioners party myself - if I was an Israeli. As necessary as the economic reforms were/are I can't bear to see old people suffer.

Ittay said...

Seems many israelis agree with you kateland. This just in from haaretz.


Rallying around Grandpa

By Doron Rosenblum

In addition to yesterday's end to the Greater Land of Israel fantasy and to the phantasmagoria known as Bibi-ism, the 2006 elections were also characterized by the surprise victory of the Pensioners' Party.

This heartwarming victory is the result of a surprising last-minute trend that also involved many young people. It may not be a coincidence, and it may not be superficial. Indeed, maybe it is symbolic that the surprise of the elections - which were initiated by an old warrior of 78 who saw his entire future before him - is the head of the Pensioners' Party, a former warrior of 80.

Both Ariel Sharon and Rafi Eitan are among the last vestiges of the generation that founded the country, whose roots are in the Haganah and Palmach, pre-state precursors of today's army.

ifyouwillit... said...

This is one aspect of the election with which I can say I am pleased. Old people have given a lot to this country, it's time we gave them something back.

Eitan Ha'ahzari said...

Ittay: I'll comment on this post a little later but I just wanted to apologize if my lyrics were offensive to you. Also I've tagged you for some questions. If you have the time and interest, check out my latest post.

BTW: I'm thinking of changing my official name back to "Greg", my birth-name. I changed it to "Eitan" when I made aliya, and wanted a true Israeli name but now I've realized that was a bad choice.After all, my parents gave me a name and I can't undo that nor do I want to.

בתקוה,גרג

Eitan Ha'ahzari said...

About Rafi Eitan & Co: I heard some rumors of youngsters going to the polls and voting Gil as a "protest vote." Once they realized Gil was going to pass the threshold, they decided "to heck with it; let's vote for the guizers." I'm not insinuating that's the truth but just thought you'd keep that in consideration when praising Israeli youth.

Aslo I don't know if you were aware of it, but Eitan was responsible for letting his own man, Pollard rot in jail-and as you know the poor man still is.