I promised that I would try to put together another blog after the big milestone date on the Israeli election calendar - but ultimately, it was anti-climactic. So my election thoughts will be a bit shorter than expected and I will see what else I come up with.
Election News
As I discussed in my last blog, Tuesday Sep 8th was the closing date by which all Israeli parties had to announce their final lists for the October 27, 2026 general elections in Israel. Many people were expecting that there would be some surprises and that some parties would join together at the last minute. But nothing major materialized. The day came and went. The slates are now settled and lots can happen between October 27, 2026 but it was not nearly as gripping a news day as I had anticipated.
38 different parties submitted lists. Of these, most current election polls are predicting that between 11 and 13 parties will actually make it into the Knesset by accumulating at least 3.25% of the popular vote. That gives a party 4 seats in the Knesset, which is the minimum entry point.
One party that is unlikely to make it into the Knesset, as of now, is the Blue and White Party, led by Benny Gantz. Gantz led a party that received more than 30 seats in multiple past elections. But, despite running on an anti-Netanyahu platform, he twice joined Netanyahu-led governments, one of them which promised him a rotation as Prime Minister that never materialized. Gantz's support has plummeted and he is viewed as unlikely to make it past the threshold. Because he had several seats for his party at the time of the dissolution of the Knesset, he still has significant state money to use for his election campaign. Even though many people were encouraging him to drop out of the race - or to join another party, he refused - or could not come up with a viable alternative. He is now polling at approximately 1.1 to 1.4%, well below the required minimum support. His votes will likely be wasted and they are most likely to come from centrist voters.
A second party that is close is the "Miluimnikim" (the "Reservists") - a party dedicated to supporting reserve duty soldiers - and bringing down the cost of living. They are led by Yoaz Hendel - who is well known for having pulled the plug on Bennett's first attempt to negotiate a government by making a deal with the Ra'am party. Hendel recently added economist Ron Zelekha. It is unclear what really differentiates this party from some of the others. They have been polling at 1% to 3.5% - so they actually could make it into the Knesset and wind up with 4 seats, possibly even 5. They are a bit of a wildcard and could opt to go with Netanyahu or with Eisenkot. It is a bit unclear who they are fighting with over seats - but it may well be Eisenkot, Liberman and others in the "anti-Netanyahu" camp.
The other parties that are close are two of the extreme right wing parties - the "Your Nation Israel" party, led by Ofer Winter and the Religious Zionist Party led by Betzalel Smotrich. Both parties bolstered their ranks by adding some well known names. They are both hovering between not getting in to the Knesset and getting as many as 6 seats. If both parties get in, that will probably be good for Netanyahu's bloc as neither party is likely to join an Eisenkot-led coalition (though Winter might be a possibility in my view). If one of these parties does not pass, the votes would be redistributed proportionately and that would be good for the opposition.
To complete the election news for now, the current polling is indecisive. The Netanyahu bloc is running at anywhere from 49 to 53 seats (with 61 needed to form a government) and the opposition bloc is running at anywhere from 52 to 57. One poll last week gave the opposition 61 but I think it is way too early for anyone to consider that authoritative. Stay tuned for more election news as we get closer.
Two Election Related Events
As I discussed in my blog last week, one event that has been attracting a great deal of attention is the interview with Sara Netanyahu on September 5th. In the interview, she basically suggested that Democratic Party leader Yair Golan was involved in a conspiracy connected with the October 7, 2023 attacks - that he was already in his uniform and at the site of the fighting on the morning of October 7, 2023, even before anyone else knew what was going on, including Sara Netanyahu's husband Prime Minister Netanyahu.
All of this is demonstrably false. People with Yair Golan know what time he was called (right when the attacks began), what he did etc., His phone shows when he received the calls. Other records back up his timing. He definitely jumped into action as quickly as he could to go and try to save Israelis, especially many of the young Israelis who had been at the Nova Music festival. But only after he was called and informed about what was going on. He endangered himself and saved lives. His actions can only be described as heroic.
Sara Netanyahu's suggestions are completely unhinged - but they do appear to be part of a broader strategy being used by Prime Minister Netanyahu and his family. The strategy is to distance himself from October 7, 2023, claim that he did not know about it and bears no responsibility and at the same time - to blame the opposition parties, the army, the intelligence and anyone and everyone else and claim they were all involved in a conspiracy.
Yair Golan immediately issued a libel warning right after the interview - requesting an apology. Sara Netanyahu doubled down on her accusations. Today, Golan sued Sara Netanyahu for libel and slander for 2.5 million shekels - with the funds to go to communities affected by the Oct 7, 2023 attacks. It seems like a slam dunk case to me - since the only apparent defence will be to try and argue that the words used by Sara Netanyahu didn't actually convey what everyone listening thought they conveyed. I guess you never know which judges you might draw but I would imagine it will be settled at some point well before a trial.
Yair Golan is contrasting what he did on the morning of Oct 7 - jumped into action, endangered himself and saved lives - with the schedule of Netanyahu, who appears to have done little, if anything, between 6:20 a.m. and 10 a.m. The records released last week show that he only spoke to the army commander for the first time at close to 10 a.m. - more than 3 hours after the attacks had begun. So Sara Netanyahu is partially right to suggest that her husband didn't know or wasn't doing anything - while Golan was at the scene fighting - but it is not because Golan was part of a conspiracy.
The other big "bombshell" was the Haaretz report that days before the October 7, 2023 attacks, UAE leader Ben Zayed called Netanyahu and warned him that Hamas was planning a major attack very soon. The Haaretz report alleges that Netanyahu failed to take any action and did not share the information with his intelligence or army officials - but instead simply told Ben Zayed that Israel was fully prepared.
When the report first came out, there was no reaction from Netanyahu or his office. Shortly afterwards, he called the report categorically false and said that he had no such conversation with Ben Zayed at any time. Sources from the UAE have apparently backed up the Haaretz report and Haaretz has stood by its story.
Israelis on the right of the spectrum have jumped to Netanyahu's defence - and attacked Haaretz and the story itself - calling it a political ploy, a blatant lie etc., Some of the well known bloggers have rushed to bolster Netanyahu - arguing that after all, if Netanyahu says something is false, we must believe him.
Now it is true that Haaretz has some very extreme writers, including some self-hating reporters who seem to wish for the end of the State of Israel. But there is a difference between opinion pieces and news articles. Haaretz claims that this was an extensively researched story with a wide variety of sources that have been corroborated.
Meanwhile, Bibi has threatened to launch a libel and slander lawsuit against Haaretz. I assume that we could try to get Ben Zayed to testify at that trial, if the trial takes place - and if Ben Zayed would agree to come - that would be fascinating.
I am obviously not in any position to make any conclusions about this story at this point - but I do think that there should be enough witnesses who could help determine whether or not the story is true.
This is very different from the Sara Netanyahu statements - since her statements were, mostly, demonstrably false factually, intended to harm Yair Golan and completely uncorroborated.
It remains to be seen whether Bibi will proceed with his lawsuit against Haaretz and what will happen. It seems unlikely that Haaretz will back down so quickly - so that could be really interesting.
Pre-Rosh Hashanah - Winery Visits
We had occasion to visit two more wineries this week - partially as a bit of a farewell trip for one of our family members who was leaving for a while - and partially to help stock up for Rosh Hashanah.
Kamisa Winery
We did not do a formal wine tasting but instead enjoyed a nice meal at the restaurant. The steak and chicken were cooked perfectly, the focaccia bread was delicious, as were a few other side dishes and appetizers and the servers were friendly and attentive. The wines were tasty and we wound up picking up a few bottles for the upcoming festive meals. We had never been here before - and we would strongly recommend it - especially for those looking for a nice kosher meat meal up north - accompanied by some tasty wine. This is not a low cost experience - but priced comparably to other Israeli restaurants with a similar menu.
Bazelet HaGolan
Earlier in the day, we had visited the Bazelet HaGolan Winery, which is located in Kidmat Tzvi in northern Israel. The winery premises are beautiful and the visitors' centre is quite an attractive place. We ordered the tasting package of 7 wines and the accompanying "generous" cheese and bread plate.
It may be that we were there on an off-day - or that the winery is just set up differently. Our host was a friendly young gentleman but unfortunately, he had nothing to say about the wines, the grapes, the winery or the winemaking process. Very different from many of the Israeli wineries that we visit. He more or less just poured the wine and told us the name of the wine that was listed on the bottle.
We enjoyed a chardonnay to start, which was actually a 2019 chardonnay - priced at 150 shekels a bottle. It was quite tasty. After that, we tried two Rose wines - one which had no depth at all and one which had a funny smell to it. Of the four reds we tasted, we enjoyed two of them quite a bit. One was a blend of Cabernet and Merlot called "Magma." We wound up buying two bottles of this wine to take home. The other was a reserve Cabernet. We had less luck with two other bottles that we tasted.
The bread and cheese plate was only so-so, not particularly "generous" as described or varied. Overall, our experience was mixed. Some of the wines were quite good - some less so. But I suppose that is often the case with wineries. These things are also a matter of individual taste.
Chocolate Factory
I don't have much in the way of sports news to report other than that I am trying to follow the Blue Jays by watching some very late night games (using streaming) as they remain in the hunt for a wild card playoff spot. NFL season began last night - and the Israeli channels do show NFL games (unlike baseball games - which they do not show very often at all). So if I am up at 3:30 a.m. tonight - I could watch the 49'ers vs Rams game - which is being played in Melbourne Australia. Otherwise, perhaps I can watch the Bills play on Sunday -since the game will be played after the second day of Rosh Hashanah ends here.
Rosh Hashanah begins tomorrow night - and takes place on Saturday Sep 12 and Sunday Sep 13 this year. In case you are wondering, Rosh Hashanah is two days in Israel - unlike the other holidays (Sukkot, Shavuot and Pesach) that are two days outside of Israel but only one day in Israel. (To be a bit more exact, the first two and last two days of Sukkot and Pesach are holy days outside of Israel - but in Israel only the first day and last day are holy days).
If Rosh Hashanah was only one day in Israel - we would not get to hear the shofar blowing when the holiday falls on Shabbat - which would be most unfortunate for a holiday that is also known as the Holiday of the Shofar Blowing.
Interestingly, in Israel, people often wish each other "Chag Sameach" - "Happy Holiday" before Rosh Hashanah - which outside of Israel usually attracts different greetings. Happy New Year, perhaps - or "May you be inscribed in the book of life" (or variants of that). In fact, I was in a supermarket a couple of years ago and the clerks were wishing everyone a "Happy Holiday" two days before Yom Kippur. That was a bit strange to me.
Some bars in Tel-Aviv and other places around the country have "New Year's" events on Rosh Hashanah and many Israelis have dinner with their families and then head out to engage in some other form of entertainment. Of course that does not apply to the more observant communities - but there is quite a wide cross-section of how people observe the holidays in Israel.
However you might be observing or not observing the holiday - I wish everyone a happy and healthy new year - with the hope of more peaceful times here in Israel and around the world. We continue to pray that the sounds of the shofar, which will ring out on Sunday this year - will herald an era of much better times for all of us.
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