Israel's election day. Is this why Israel needs HaShem?

(Last updated: September 18, 2019)



Today--September 17, 2019--is a national election day for Israel. Many voters are disgusted. They may not vote.

They're disgusted for one or more of several reasons, among them: some voters see this election as unnecessary--Israel should have found a way to create a governing coalition after the April 2019 election--having to vote again  now is a disgrace and a waste of hard-to-come-by taxpayers shekels.  Other voters are disgusted by the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu because they believe media accusations that he is selfish, ego-maniacal and corrupt, and needs to be tossed into history's dustbin; these voters believe the anti-Netanyahu politicians who are  trying to unseat him in the elections; these accusing politicians declare loudly that Netanyahu is "extremist" and 'corrupt"; they say he's a 'now-disqualified' leader who has finally lost the trust of the 'people' and who therefore needs to be voted out of office. Yet other voters are disgusted by Netanyahu opponent Avigdor Liberman (head of the  Yisroel Beteynu Party). This politician, these voters say, deliberately caused the need for this election re-do; they say he selfishly refused to participate in forming a governing coalition after the April election and chose instead to see the post-election governance process collapse--so he could run again to gain more votes; he ran this second time with an anti-religion campaign, a campaign has used over-the-top anti-Haredi (the ultra-religious here) vitriol. Finally, some believe that all these issues disgust them because they (these issues listed above) represent clear evidence that the entire Israeli election process has failed miserably.

The polls opened this morning at 7 am. My wife and I went to vote just before eight am. Lines to vote seemed short. Does this suggest a pattern?

By 10 am, two local news reports appeared covering early turnout numbers. Both reported that 15 percent of Israelis had voted by 10 am. But one news site said this number compares to a 2 percent turnout by 10 am in the April election--while the second news site said this 10 percent number was 2.1 percent higher than the early-morning April turnout. Which was correct? No one said.

Now, after the noon hour of election day, rumors fly--at least in my neighborhood. A  friend of ours stopped over a little while ago and said she had heard what this election was really all about: you go to vote, she said, if you want to keep Netanyahu, and you don 't vote if you want him to lose.

Is that true? No one knows.

In the ultra-religious (Haredi) world, a desperate call has gone out: if Netanyahu loses, those who win will quickly remove HaShem from all of Israel. These anti-Netanyahu/anti-Haredi elements are campaigning, some Haredi say, on a platform that says, 'HaShem, go away; we don't want you in Israel any more'.

Some Haredi claim that if Netanyahu loses, the Haredi world in Israel will deteriorate badly. Given the anti-Haredi campaign rhetoric we've seen, that could be a correct assessment. Some Israeli seculars truly hate Haredi--and everything 'religious' in Israel. 

One late morning headline declared, "Ultra-Orthodox voters 'fighting for their lives' on election day" (here). That might be only a slight exaggeration.

Some say the Haredi see this election as a battle to protect their ability to live their lives as they want. It's a war, some Haredi say, to protect the 'Honor of G-d' (ibid). Other in the Israeli Haredi world say, 'we must get out and vote!' (ibid).

Will they? G-d knows. After all, some Haredi don't want any Haredi to vote. They want Haredi to boycott the election (here).

This election isn't going to end anytime soon, certainly not when voting stations close tonight at 10 pm. There will be claims of voter fraud, voter intimidation and improper ballot counts. There will be many complaints to the Election Committee (which, in theory, supervises the election process). Indeed, there will be complaints that the Election Committee itself has acted corruptly against certain groups.

Today Israel votes. Tomorrow Israel will complain. Welcome to Israel, the Land where miracles keep us going, not man.

Yes, we need HaShem here. We need His miracles. This election proves it. Man can't govern this country alone, despite his claims to the contrary. Man is simply too busy looking to destroy his political enemies (imagined and real). He has little interest in governing properly.