Nostalgia Sunday – Elections in Israel, Part 1

January 25, 2009 - 11:36 PM by

Let’s go back in time, shall we? The year was 1988. Israel still had only one television station but, then as now, was blessed with a multitude of political parties that, for the first time, were allowed to present their platforms on the air, thus providing the entire country with an evening’s entertainment. So there we sat, transfixed. Remember: there was only one TV station. Also, some of the ads were nothing if not amusing, especially if you go for Theater Of the Absurd.

This man, for example, from the “Quiet Party”, advocated getting rid of government stagnation and corrupt politicians by either voting for his party – symbolized by the ever-popular letter “zayin” – or putting in a blank ballot, or just not showing up at all.


The logic still escapes me but they look like a fun bunch, floating on the Dead Sea in their inner tubes.

tarshish_smBut the most memorable catchphrase of 1988 was, without a doubt, “Noar, Noar, Noar” (“young folks” repeated three times), from the ad presented by Tarshish, a Netanya-based party headed by Nissim Douek. Although his party’s symbol was “zayin ayin mem” (there’s that zayin again!) — meaning “rage” — Douek seems more doleful than angry as he tells the country’s Sephardic youth they has been lied to by the government, then promises to found a university in Netanya.

To see all the election commercials from 1988, visit the Nana-Channel 10 portal.

Compare these clumsy awkward efforts of yesteryear with media-saturated today. Every political party, TV and radio station, has a YouTube presence. A good one is Channel 2′s Election 2009 channel, where Israelis (celebs, demi-celebs and non) sound off about… well, whatever.

It’s also important to keep up with weekly satire show Eretz Nehederet (Wonderful Country) which, having finished up with the war, now turns its attention to the elections.

Another fun online tool for keeping up with things is the Israel Democracy Institute’s 2009 Israel Election Compass. A joint project of IDI and Ynet , the Election Compass guides users through a series of questions that help them identify which political parties and Prime Ministerial candidates most closely reflect their views on Israel’s most pressing social, political, economic, and security-related questions. It’s amazing what you can learn about yourself in filling out these questionnaires. Apparently, I should vote Labor, although in fact, that wasn’t my plan.

Tags: , , , , , • Category: General, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Politics, Pop Culture 

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  1. Nostalgia Sunday - Elections in Israel, Part 2 | ISRAELITY on Sun, Feb 1st 2009 5:36 PM

    2. [...] show entitled Celebrate 60 Years with Israel- “Fulfilling the Dream”. Click here for Nostalgia Sunday – Elections in Israel, Part 1. Share with [...]

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