I think that the article did hint as to who will be the next Prime Minister of Israel. They said that the President is able to pick the Prime Minister that will leave the country in the best situation. And, it seems from the article that it would be the hawkish Netanyahu, since there is an extreme amount of violence in the nation, and that Palestine is set to take Israel off of the map. Personally, I would like to have the more diplomatic Tzipi Livni become prime minister, but I am not President of Israel.

I think that this election is one of the most detrimental events that has happened so far this year, as the United States may be forced to stand behind a nation in the middle of a holy war that seems like it will never cease, unless one side is no more. The difference in ideology amongst the top parties is reminiscent of the American political system, a hawkish blood-thirsty party, and a more passive diplomatic party.

Hopefully, regardless of whom the Prime Minister of Israel is, there will be a nice and tidy resolution of this problem in the Middle-East, and the United States will not have to get overly involved.

The current president Shimon Peres will probably side with Tzipi Livni and the Kadima Party he will pick her because the Kadima party received the most votes. But in order for them to have the Prime minister position they need to form a coalition which needs to rally political parties together in order to get 50% plus 1 seat. They need 61 seats. Most likely scenario is that Kadima will combine with the Labor party only getting roughly 45 seats if they gain a very small party with a few seats. Then since they won’t form a government (61 seats), then Shimon Peres has to pick the party with second most votes which is Benyamin Netenyahu’s Likud party which will combine with the other conservative parties including the Yisrael Beytanu (Israel is our Home) and the ultra-orthodox Shas party therefore creating a government.

Just because Israel is a Jewish state does not mean everyone is religious and follows everything. In reality, most Israeli’s are secular. We live in a new age and Israeli’s don’t see a problem with women in power. The only citizens that are really against it are those who are ultra-orthodox.

The country in most areas Jews, Arabs, and Christians live next door in peace. That is quite the generalization that if a Palestinian state it would be a terrorist state. I mean the reason they want it is because they don’t agree with Israel or any of its policies or their relatives didn’t take the offer to become Israeli citizens back in 1948. I mean as much as I would like to see Israel keeping everything including Gaza and the West Bank but if Hamas/Hezbollah (they are the same thing both supported by Iran)or Fatah (new version of Arafat’s Palestinian Liberation Organization) is taken out and is kept out, a Palestinian state wouldn’t be all that bad. They just have to be able to build their own government and take care of themselves. Maybe after all of that is said and done peace might reach the middle east.

Rachel, the Palestinians are not all terrorists. Only Hamas and groups like them are. Palestine would not become a terrorist nation. Most Palestinians would, upon the creation of a Palestinian state, not seek to actively destroy Israel. The U.S. would not support creating Palestine if it was believed that it would turn against us or Israel. The Palestinian President himself has stated that there would be peace if Palestine was created. If they got their own country, it would go a long way to achieve peace in the region. Think about it: one of the main justifications of the terrorist groups like Hamas to attack Israel is that Palestinians don’t have a country and that Hamas (or other groups) attacks Israel to get a country. We know that story is a load of crap, but the people there will believe because they are desperate. Create Palestine and the people will no longer need to turn to the terrorists in order to feel safe; they will have a true government and country to do that, and it will leave the terrorists floundering for a while. This would be even more effective if, as part of the creation of a Palestinian state, that Israel and Palestine would become allies and would work together, which will likely be a factor in such a plan to create Palestine. And Rachel, most Jews do not have such literal interpretations of the Old Testament as you do, so that if Tzipi Livni does win, her being a woman won’t be an issue. Israel has already had a female prime minister.

Connection: Elections and parliamentary systems of government v. Congressional systems of government. This makes me really glad for the election system in the United States, because we do not and likely will never have this kind of drama in choosing the leader of our nation. The closest thing we had was the 2000 election fiasco. Compared to the drama that the parliamentary system can have during elections and the instability that coalitions can bring, I think I’ll stick to supporting our system.

Connection: Israel is a multi-party system. It is interesting to see that both the Kadima party and the Likud party claimed a large victory and yet neither got anywhere near even one quarter of the seats in parliament. It just goes to show how different America is from other Democratic nations.

I find it interesting that even though a candidate may have won a majority of the seats, the president can still choose the other candidate. This is so unlike the United States. If this were to happen, I wonder if there would be a great public outcry, or if a decision like this is common.

Connection: Party Systems
While the U.S. has a system where two candidates representing two major parties are vying for power, the same cannot be said for Israel. Like most other governments, parties form coalitions in order to gain power. Because of this, there are often more than two parties competing for power.

Connection: Israel is in the middle of choosing a new leader, and it is close to Iraq. I wonder how a new leader of the country will affect the war in Iraq, if at all. Is Israel involved in our war in Iraq?

Connection: Proportional Representation- Proportional representation functions differently in Israel. Instead of a population basis, their parliament proportionally divides the seats available depending on voting rates.

Connection: Parliamentry style of government: This requires the majority party to create a coalition to allow the government to run; making compromises to all this to happen.