Getting Ben-Gurion high, and other TV ads

January 27, 2009 - 12:32 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Politics, Pop Culture 

election-ads1It’s here – the only redeeming aspect of the Knesset election campaign – the television ads!

Tonight beings the perennial ritual of the screening of the TV ads developed by the political parties running for the Knesset. Instead of airing them whenever they buy the air time, the three main Israeli channels – 1, 10 and 22, group the ads together in preset blocks of time. So tonight for instance, Channel 10 has been given the hour slot begining at 6 pm for those that just can’t wait, Channel 1 will air the aids at 10 pm and Channel 2 gets the late-night 11:15 pm slot.

The ads used to be screened in prime time, but there’s been a waning interest over the years among viewers, so they’ve been relegated to the early and late evening periods, and they’ll only be shown for two weeks instead of the traditional three. Still, the ads are always good TV and provide more laughs than any sitcom on the air.

Following the rich get richer mode of thinking, the amount of time each of the 34 parties receives for commercials is based on how many MKs each party has in the current Knesset, so Kadima will dominate the broadcasts and new parties will barely be seen, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Kadima’s ads are focusing on tearing down Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu, who is leading in the polls. One ad depicts a polygraph machine as Netanyahu vowed to oppose the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, while a picture shows him voting in favor of the plan.

The Likud will go after Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, portraying her as indecisive and zigzagging – by supporting the Second Lebanon War but calling it unwinnable, and calling to topple Hamas while giving them money. The Likud slogan – “it’s out of her league” is purposely read by a woman so as not to look chauvinist, says the report.

The religious Shas party is adopting the tactics of President Barack Obama, by featuring the “Yes, we can” slogan, while the Left-wing Meretz-Hatnua Hahadasha ads have candidate Nitzan Horovitz drinking from a toilet to highlight the problem of water pollution.

The less popular the party, the more outrageous the ad, it turns out. The Power to the Handicapped Party will feature disabled people having sex to prove that they are abled, while the Green Leaf Party which favors legalizing marijuana will feature chairman Gil Kopatch smoking a joint on the grave of Israel’s first prime minister David Ben-Gurion.

Everyone’s happy now – the ad agencies have their creative juices flowing, the TV viewers have something to watch and talk about the next day, and the politicians are seeing themselves as God-like. Now, if all this only helped the voter decide who to vote for…

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Too many shades of Green?

July 30, 2008 - 4:37 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Politics 

The GreensThe smell of elections is certainly starting to penetrate the air we breathe with new political parties being formed as well as current member of the Knesset who are looking to bolt their party for other parties with better chances in the next election. Israel is known for it’s lesser known – and eclectic – parties that always come out of the woodwork. We’ve got the man’s rights party, cab drivers party and the pensioners party (who managed to get a substantial amount of seats in the last election). I’m sure a few more fun ones will come about.Green Leaf Party

The people are angry with the government. They are fed up with the same old politicians serving their self-interests and are sick and tired of the corruption. Many parties are poised to fill the void and speak for the people but they of course must garner enough support to break the threshold in order to get into the Knesset. There exists a substantial protest vote and that is how the pro-marijuana Green Leaf party almost made it in a few elections ago and it was that same protest vote that brought the pensioners party into the Knesset.

However this time there might be a bit more confusion. Currently there are three parties all with the word Green in their names. There is of course the Green Leaf party, the Greens and now a Green party spin off called (as of right now) the “Green Movement.” From Haaretz:

Over the past few weeks, the new party held a series of discussions that culminated in a foundational document entitled “Green Movement Vision.” The document says a “green movement” does more than preserve the landscape; it has a broader political and social agenda.

According to the document, the new party will focus on building an economy that takes into account environmental and ecological needs.

It will work for tougher legislation to deter polluters, expand local authorities’ power to intervene in environmental matters, and initiate a national project to make Israel energy-independent by 2050 by utilizing solar energy.

On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the party supports a resolution based on the two-state principle, with security guarantees for Israel.

The party advocates preserving Shabbat as a day of rest free of business or commercial activity, but allowing public transportation to operate and entertainment venues to be open .

As for the character of the State of Israel, the movement states that the Hebrew language and the Jewish identity are the country’s essence.

However, it adds that Israel’s Arab citizens suffer from discrimination, and that they must be allowed to fulfill their right to develop their cultural heritage.

“The Arab school system is entitled to teach and promote Palestinian and Arab culture and history,” according to the document, “alongside a shared core curriculum that reflects values common to every citizen in the country,” it states.

I fail to see the difference between this agenda and the agenda of the original Greens. Time will tell and I think success of either of these groups is contingent on what “name” they each get to top their list. With environmentalism all the rage (and the disappointing actions of the pensioner party) I can’t imagine those who voted for the pensioners as a protest vote not supporting a party who actually has an agenda that might be somewhat altruistic. Time will tell.

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