# Israeli Knesset election 03/17/15 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 17, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965 "2015-02-17T22:59:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/141 "2015-03-19T21:55:28Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > It would not, but it might make them easier for the U.S. to deal with. Actually just the opposite. If they saw the US abandon Israel despite the all-powerful Jewish Lobby(their view not reality) they’d be even more distrustful of the US. Beyond that, don’t overestimate Israel’s importance in the region. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/142 "2015-03-20T13:49:47Z")
[The Pals don’t seem to care all that much.](http://www.salon.com/2015/03/20/i%e2%80%99m_glad_that_he_won_the_surprising_palestinian_reaction_to_netanyahus_win/) > [@](#): > > He’s a hawkish right-winger who presided over more than 2,100 deaths in Gaza this summer, campaigned on the promise that he’d prevent a Palestinian state, and swept to victory with the warning that Arab citizens of Israel were “voting in droves.” > > But Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection was regarded with apathy by many Palestinians in the West Bank, and some even welcomed the news – albeit as the best of several bad options. > > “Under Netanyahu things will deteriorate. But if it can’t get any better, it might as well get worse,” Ahmad, who declined to give his full name, told Salon. His customers, browsing for phone accessories in central Ramallah, agreed. When you’re in the West Bank it doesn’t much matter who’s in the Knesset: settlement expansion, military crackdowns and wars have taken place on the watch of both the left and right, and there’s been realistic progress toward statehood under neither. > > “The experience of the Palestinians is clear. Since the assassination of Rabin, nothing in Israeli politics has brought something good,” Huneida Ghanem, the general director of the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies (MADAR), told Salon. “Time and time again, election after election after election has just brought something worse. Palestinians see this and in their head, they understand that nothing is going to change, that it will just get worse and worse.” > > This year, Ghanem said, some did hope that Herzog and Livni had the potential to change things – a wish that only makes Netanyahu’s win even more disappointing. But she also believes that any trust in the pair’s center-left Zionist Union, which until the election’s final hours was billed as a likely winner, is misplaced. The sense is echoed across the West Bank, where most dismiss the Israeli opposition with a laugh, refusing to refer to it as “left wing” in any meaningful sense. > > “Netanyahu, Herzog, Lieberman: if anyone from those Zionist parties become prime minister it won’t make any difference. They all have the same strategy to fulfill their ideology,” Bassam Shweiki told Salon. A literature enthusiast and activist, Shweiki speaks English with a London twang despite the fact he’s lived most of his life in Hebron. A West Bank city carved up by Israeli settlement enclaves and military closures, the city barely featured in election campaigns aside from a pro-settlement visit by right-winger Avigdor Lieberman. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/143 "2015-03-20T14:32:43Z")
[Secular Syrian rebels congratulate Netanyahu on his victory](http://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Syrian-rebel-groups-congratulate-Netanyahu-on-his-election-victory-394565) ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/144 "2015-03-20T14:54:38Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > It appears that Obama’s gift for not getting candidates elected is global in nature. > > \*As Israelis were voting for their next prime minister Tuesday, American lawmakers were demanding to know if U.S. taxpayer dollars helped fund a campaign to **oust** current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. > > The U.S. State Department allegedly donated $350,000 in taxpayer funded grants to the OneVoice Movement, a U.S. nonprofit dedicated to a two-state solution for Israel. OneVoice, in turn, donated the funds to its subsidiary in Israel, Victory 15 (V15). Victory 15 is a grassroots movement to unseat Netanyahu. > > …V15 recruited Jeremy Bird, a former Obama campaign strategist, as one of its consultants for the upcoming election. V15’s office in Israel also neighbors OneVoice. “We were approached by OneVoice to give us a donation and we were so thrilled that successful businessmen want to invest in Israel’s future,” V15 co-founder Itamar Weizman told CBN News in February. “Our whole purpose is to go door by door and to call supporters and to call voters and to pledge people not to vote for Netanyahu,” Weizman said. > > The State Department has denied any taxpayer money given to OneVoice went to V15. If grants did go toward actively supporting campaign efforts against Netanyahu, that is a direct violation of U.S. law. > > The representatives behind the Congressional inquiry are Reps. Randy Hultgren, R-Ill., Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., Mike Bost, R-Ill., Susan Brooks, R-Ind., Trent Franks, R-Ariz., Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., Steve King, R-Iowa, Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., Billy Long, R-Mo., Tom McClintock, R-Calif., Mark Meadows, R-N.C., Bill Posey, R-Fla., Tom Rice, R-S.C., Dennis Ross, R-Fla., Pete Sessions, R-Texas, Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., Joe Wilson, R-S.C.\* > > [http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2015/March/State-Dept-Investigated-over-Anti-Netanyahu-Campaign/](http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2015/March/State-Dept-Investigated-over-Anti-Netanyahu-Campaign/) Now OneVoice has filed for a [change in its status](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/17/obama-linked-nonprofit-filed-for-new-irs-status-after-accusation-meddling-in/) so it can do what it is accused of having done. I assume this can’t be retroactive, so that what they can do now erases what they are alleged to have done in the past. I guess the question is if funneling money to V15 thru OneVoice is illegal. The idea that it isn’t taxpayer money is a non-starter - all State department funds are taxpayer money. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/145 "2015-03-20T16:24:43Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Now OneVoice has filed for a [change in its status](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/17/obama-linked-nonprofit-filed-for-new-irs-status-after-accusation-meddling-in/) so it can do what it is accused of having done. > > I assume this can’t be retroactive, so that what they can do now erases what they are alleged to have done in the past. > > I guess the question is if funneling money to V15 thru OneVoice is illegal. The idea that it isn’t taxpayer money is a non-starter - all State department funds are taxpayer money. > > Regards, > Shodan I seem to remember ACORN changing their name after people began suspecting them of being underhanded scum. Birds of feather, maybe? It appears that associates of Obama’s political campaigns has been working to defeat the Prime Minister of a foreign government and had a $350,000 head start from Obama’s State Dept… ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/146 "2015-03-20T16:51:46Z")
What does OneVoice have to do with Obama? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/147 "2015-03-20T17:27:54Z")
I might share your concerns, were it not for the fact that **doorhinge** has cited CBN, the premiere outlet for Christian news. CBN is connected to the 700 Club, who’s reputation for strict candor is legendary. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/148 "2015-03-20T17:37:47Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > What does OneVoice have to do with Obama? Perhaps you could read the cites or the excerpt. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/149 "2015-03-20T17:40:52Z")
The “two state” solution was official US government policy. The Department of State rather frequently promotes official US government policy. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/150 "2015-03-20T17:48:44Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I might share your concerns, were it not for the fact that **doorhinge** has cited CBN, the premiere outlet for Christian news. CBN is connected to the 700 Club, who’s reputation for strict candor is legendary. You object to CBN and that’s OK. Was their cut and paste reporting incorrect? Are the reported facts incorrect? \*Haaretz reported that V15 is partnered with and funded by an organization called OneVoice, which describes itself as a “grassroots movement” to promote a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the 1967 borders. [Bird] says the mess in the OneVoice office — many empty cartons from newly purchased equipment — reminds him of Obama headquarters, he says: lots of energy and lot of talent. V15 plans to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers to campaign door-to-door, covering between 150,000 to 1 million homes. The population of Israel is 8 million. Bird told Haaretz that Israel is ideal for door-to-door campaigning due to the small size of the country. Because of the large number of political parties and high voter turnout, he believes it’s possible to talk with enough people to change the government. Nimrod Dweck, one of the organizers of V15, said Bird has helped them channel the large response they have received amid dissatisfaction with Netanyahu.\* [http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/27/former-obama-strategist-advising-anti-netanyahu-campaign-in-israel/](http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/27/former-obama-strategist-advising-anti-netanyahu-campaign-in-israel/) ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/151 "2015-03-20T17:50:30Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > [Secular Syrian rebels congratulate Netanyahu on his victory](http://www.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Syrian-rebel-groups-congratulate-Netanyahu-on-his-election-victory-394565) and you think this has some meaning in some reality other than prostitution for American money? > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Actually just the opposite. > > If they saw the US abandon Israel despite the all-powerful Jewish Lobby(their view not reality) they’d be even more distrustful of the US. > > Beyond that, don’t overestimate Israel’s importance in the region. As we might say in French, are you ill? More distrustful of the USA? Please my iranian american, do not speak for the arabes. you do not know them. There is not any such effect outside of the minds of the americans and the isrealis. It is very possible to overestimate the importance of the israel in the region, it is done permanently. The saddest thing is that the america mena and muslim worild policy excepting the africa sub-saharan is forced through the israel lens. We are not any longer in 1970 or 1980s and no longer is the egyptian soap opera king and no longer is ajami’s lebanon as he imagined it was and no longer is the pan arabism king. American comment on this region including from the persians seems to me trapped in the rubric of the 1970s-1980s without having moved. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/152 "2015-03-20T18:00:11Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > and you think this has some meaning in some reality other than prostitution for American money? Considering Obama’s hatred for Netanyahu, the Syrian secular rebels’ groups congratulating Netanyahu on the elections is more likely to get them bombed by US air force rather than get them American money. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/153 "2015-03-20T18:02:43Z")
Apparently the claim is [“not particularly well-sourced.”](http://thedailybanter.com/2015/03/white-house-shoots-down-fox-news-report-on-israel-elections-investigation/) > [@](#): > > MS. PSAKI: Well, this is a report – just so people who haven’t followed this as closely know what the details are – about a group called OneVoice. The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv provided a grant to OneVoice to promote dialogue and support for peace negotiations and a two-state solution. That grant ran from September of 2013 to November of 2014. During the period of the grant, as is standard practice, the U.S. Embassy approved OneVoice Israel’s implementation plan for the grant and monitored its performance. And, as is routine for such a grant, final payments are disbursed after the grantee provides documentation showing completion of the grant terms. Now you’ve learned more about U.S. Government grants than you ever thought you needed to know. > The grant ended before the advent of V15. It ended before there was a declaration of an Israeli election. We’ve seen the media reports about the activities of V15, but the embassy has not provided any funds, support, or direction to the group. … > > … The report is attributed to a single anonymous “source with knowledge of the panel’s activities.” So yes that one alleged anonymous source’s claim is getting lots of press in various right wing outlets. And pretty much no where else. For good reason. The accusation amounts to that the state department donated to an organization that at the time was not involved in supporting any particular candidate, to the end of facilitating their work on supporting a two state solution (something that Bibi then and apparently again now supports and that is, as noted, U.S. policy). After the period of funding was over an election was called for and that organization became partisan donating funds to themselves to V15 which worked against Bibi. That somehow adds up to Obama using the State department to funnel money to a partisan organization to interfere in Israeli elections before anyone knew there was going to be an election called for. A bit of a stretch? Uh yeah. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/154 "2015-03-20T18:13:25Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Perhaps you could read the cites or the excerpt. > > Regards, > Shodan I did. I see that Ted Cruz (with no apparent basis) thinks they’re linked, but that don’t mean it’s true. So no, I don’t accept that they’re linked without an actual link. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/155 "2015-03-20T18:14:40Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Considering Obama’s hatred for Netanyahu Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/156 "2015-03-20T18:16:47Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Considering Obama’s hatred for Netanyahu, the Syrian secular rebels’ groups congratulating Netanyahu on the elections is more likely to get them bombed by US air force rather than get them American money. i think I can consider better your ideological hatred of the america president. this is not more than silly propaganda. there is no syrian ‘secular’ warmth for the netanyahu camp among the arabes. Who among them would expect anything from the camp who warns that too many of the negres arabes are voting… or who repudiates in double language the palestinian state. This is pure mendacity. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/157 "2015-03-20T18:48:50Z")
[Ben Carson solves the Palestinian problem:](http://www.salon.com/2015/03/20/ben_carsons_fresh_foreign_policy_just_sort_of_slip_palestinians_down_to_egypt/) > [@](#): > > “We need to look at fresh ideas,” said Carson. “I don’t have any problem with the Palestinians having a state, but does it need to be within the confines of Israeli territory? Is that necessary, or can you sort of slip that area down into Egypt? Right below Israel, they have some amount of territory, and it can be adjacent. They can benefit from the many agricultural advances that were made by Israel, because if you fly over that area, you can easily see the demarcation between Egypt and Israel, in terms of one being desert and one being verdant. Technology could transform that area. So why does it need to be in an area where there’s going to be temptation for Hamas to continue firing missiles at relatively close range to Israel?” ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/158 "2015-03-21T12:48:25Z")
BrainGlutton, you posted this exact same thing in three different threads. Please refrain from the cut and paste style of posting in the future. If you have something to add, at least try to be creative about it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/159 "2015-03-21T16:29:42Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > BrainGlutton, you posted this exact same thing in three different threads. Please refrain from the cut and paste style of posting in the future. If you have something to add, at least try to be creative about it. . . . No, I won’t even bother this time. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965/160 "2015-03-22T00:58:23Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > . . . No, I won’t even bother this time. You did not bother the last time. Knock it off. [/Moderating] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/israeli-knesset-election-03-17-15/712965.md?page=9)