He certainly does represent the Israeli government, given his government is a coalition of four parties - it just so happens that the other three members of the coalition are one far-right party and two parties which are so progressive that they refuse to put up female candidates What really sticks out about the Israeli parliament is the party which finished fourth in the last election (though did not vote for either coalition) is primarily made up of members who split off from Likud in either 2020 or 2022, so the four biggest parties in their government are currently Likud, their centre-right opposition, then the far-right who are in coalition with Likud, and then Likud's B-Team, which doesn't exactly offer voters a wealth of choice at the polls
The current government has seven parties in the coalition, not four. While I am absolutely not a fan of that coalition, it would be a bit strange to build one with a broad variety of parties whose ideologies you don't share, as it would be literally impossible to pass policy, so it makes sense that they all sit in more or less the same zone on the political spectrum. Two of the parties in opposition are Ra'am and Hadash-Ta'al, who hold a total of ten seats and were voted into the Knesset by the Israeli-Arab population who, in a surprising turn of events, are allowed to vote despite living in an apartheid state.
The fact there's three far-right parties propping up the coalition, one of whom only picked up a single seat at the election, underlines that they do represent the Israeli government, especially as the comparatively centrist members of the government are always the ones who have to compromise, for example National Unity leader Gantz was calling for a ceasefire - until a spot in the war cabinet was offered to him, then he suddenly had a change of heart
Yeah I'm not arguing that at all. Just noting that it would be highly unusual for a coalition government to be made up of parties with wildly diverging political ideologies. So absolutely - looking at Likud's bedfellows gives a very simple barometer of where Likkud - and Netanyahu - is right now. I think Lidl's point holds some truth if he means that Netanyahu doesn't represent the Knesset as a whole, which is true as he holds a narrow coalition majority of 64 out of 120 seats. The bigger problem not spoken about enough is the total collapse of the Left in Israel over the past few decades. How to rebuild it is a precarious question. One option is to lower the electoral threshold to where it was pre-Oslo, but that of course opens the door to even more far-right fringe parties than the likes of Otzmah.
The Times has published an article today about Liz Truss being psychologically unfit to be PM. There's being late to the game and then there's whatever the **** this is.
So when **** For Brains dies of a mysterious heart attack next April, remember that he posted this photo with a wigless Trump The two things will likely be related please log in to view this image
Looks like Planet Zionism has found a new word to try and render utterly meaningless please log in to view this image
130 Conservative MPs received funding from Israel, 41 Labour and 3 Liberal Democrats also received funding. No MPs from the Scottish National Party, Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, Alba, Greens, Alliance or Workers Party received hospitality or funding from the lobby. Keir Starmer stands with Israel. Funny I thought he was elected by people in Britain to represent them. David Lammy, Totenham's own and our esteemed Foreign Secretary received £70,000 from Gary Lubner Israel Lobbyist. 13 members of Starmers cabinet have received a total of over £300,000 from pro Israel lobbyists including Trevor Chinn and Stuart Roden. In total there are 22 members in the cabinet so 13 would give you a handy majority in any vote.
Plus there's paid Israeli lobbyist Luke Akehurst, who decides who is and isn't allowed to stand as a Labour MP
Your first sentence is written in a way which causes bias in your conclusions. Many British citizens are Jewish and support pro-Israeli organisations which may well donate to MPs. The very same MPs will also received donations from many other sources. Unless you know for a fact that the pro-Israeli donations exceed the pro-Palestinian ones in every case then your assertion that this would lead to a pro-Israeli vote in cabinet is incorrect even making the assumption that donations buy votes which would be illegal.
I cannot find any evidence that Labour friends of Palestine receives funds from Palestine or Palestinians. There are voices in the commons, including Labour voices, that speak in support of Palestine. The British government however strongly supports Israel in their genocidal action in Gaza. The British base in Cyprus is constantly flying fighter and transport planes to Israel. RAF bases in Britain have also been used and are being used by the USA and Israel to fly to the middle east. The SAS has been deployed in Gaza. Whether the funding for Israel comes from Israel itself or supporters of Israel in Britain is not the point. The point, as with AIPAC even more so in the Sates is the continuing support for over 75 years of the terrorist state of Israel. If not for votes what reason would Israel have for funding MP's ?
As with many things, it is easy to put the cart before the horse. It is impossible to ever know for sure if MPs take a pro Israel stance because of donations they've received, or if they are comfortable being approached and donated to by certain groups because they have a pre-existing pro Israel stance based on their own research and experiences. Plenty of Labour MPs have gone on 'fact finding' missions to the region with LFoI, and plenty have gone with Medical Aid for Palestine. They've gone to the same region but have no doubt encountered very different narratives when on the ground. Whether they became pro/anti as a result of that trip, or if they were already pro/anti and therefore chose to join a group with which they felt solidarity and kinship, is impossible to know. Anyone claiming to 'know' which way round is the truth would have to be some sort of mind reader and as I've said many times, brings us dangerously close to tin-foil hat territory. I detest the lobbying system and how it has become so entrenched in supposedly 'democratic' political systems, as it undermines the integrity and transparency of public trust. But this is sadly the world we live in, and I am grateful it is not (yet) as bad here as it is in the States.
