The Israeli Election

Biur Chametz offers some suggested slogans for the upcoming Israeli election:

KADIMA:  Rockets on Ashkelon.  Bombs in Netanya.  Weapons smuggling in Gaza.  A terror state in the making, right on our doorstep. With the success of disengagement echoing through Sderot, Israel needs a strong leader who will never give in to terrorism:  Ariel Sharon.

LIKUD:  Netanyahu:  Not as bad as Sharon.  Not as bad as Peretz.  Not as bad as you remember him.

LABOR:  Vote for us or Amir's friends will shut off your electricity.

MERETZ:  We have no choice; Israel must negotiate with Arafat.

It’s not a great choice.  Kadima is not an actual political party but a literal one-man show.  Half of its supporters are people who think (or hope) that Sharon wants to engineer a large-scale withdrawal and is the only one who can do it.  The other half are people who think (or hope) that Sharon plans on retaining most of the West Bank and is the only one who can do it. 

Neither half knows what Sharon actually plans on doing, and (if past experience is a guide) his campaign statements will not provide a reliable clue.  If Sharon passes from the scene, Kadima has neither a policy nor a person who could execute it.  The “party” would split in two as fast as it emerged in the first place.

The other major candidates are either untested and untrusted (Peretz) or tested and untrusted (Netanyahu).

Israel could use a prime minister of unquestioned integrity, someone with a principled policy that would command the respect of the President of the United States, someone with the intellect and eloquence to express it convincingly to the world.  Someone of stature like Abba Eban.

Calling Natan Sharansky.