Israeli Elections Are Coming - October 27, 2026

Israeli Elections Are Coming - October 27, 2026

The official date has been set for the next Israeli elections.  The voting will be conducted on October 27, 2026, which is a full four years from the date of the last Israeli elections - a complete term.  As you probably know, Israel's parliamentary system is a parliamentary democracy - similar to Canada or the UK  Unlike Canada and UK, there are no ridings or districts - all of the Knesset seats are based on the results of the popular vote.  The party that can patch together a majority of the Knesset (61 out of 120 seats) gets to govern for as long as they can keep their coalition together up to a maximum of exactly four years. Unlike Canada, they actually have to have formal coalition agreements in place to be able to exercise the powers of a government.  

Many Israeli governments have dissolved well before the end of their maximum terms.  Mostly, it is because the  coalition system requires back and forth compromises.  Usually, in Israeli politics, some of the parties in the coalition become upset with the deals that they made at some point - or claim that the government is not living up to the terms - and they pull the plug on the coalition and cause an election to take place earlier. Very few Israeli governments have actually lasted the full term.

This particular government was made up of the Likud (Netanyahu's party), two ultra-religious parties, and two far right nationalist parties.  Quite simply, if any of the constituent parties had pulled the plug earlier, they may have found themselves in a much worse position politically. Essentially, this meant that the coalition in power wanted to keep the government together as long as possible to be able to enact whatever legislation they could while still being able to do so.

Now that the election has been set for October 27, 2026, the governing coalition is in a frenzy.  They are running out of time to pass all of the wonderful legislation that they had hoped to pass - so they are desperately throwing around new bills and hoping that they can somehow get them through the Knesset before dissolution - which is this coming Thursday - July 16, 2026.

What  kinds of laws?  The law declaring the "Study of Torah" to be part of the Basic Law (the closest thing Israel has to a constitution) of the State of Israel, which the ultra-religious are hoping they can use to avoid the military draft.  The "Draft Dodger Immunity Bill" to grant a period of immunity of 90 days for those who are arrested for avoiding military draft.  The Kosher Protection Law seeking to bolster  the monopoly of the ultra-religious over the Kosher certification process in Israel and reverse the previous partial de-monopolization enacted by the Bennett government. The "Media Overhaul bill" - to give the government greater control over broadcast media and news sites.  The "AG Power Reduction Bill" - to limit the power of Israel's Attorney General and state that the opinions of the AG will no longer be binding.  The "Oct 7th Inquiry Bill"  - to set up a "political" state inquiry rather than an objective national inquiry into the events of October 7, 2023. Some of the names of these bills maybe be packaged up and given more palatable names - but this is a partial list of the collection of dangerous legislation that this government is seeking to enshrine on its way out the  door.  I guess it remains to be seen how much of it will actually pass. Some of these bills are likely to be viewed as unacceptable even by Likud stalwarts - which might mean that the governing coalition may not be able to pass them - even  with a majority.  Netanyahu is likely to pull out all of the stops for those bills that he views as important - and pressure his MKs in every which way - but he is unlikely to do that for the whole panoply of legislative initiatives.

If Netanyahu is actually defeated at some point, the likely first order of business of just about any new alternate  government would be to overturn all of these pieces of legislation immediately.

The Political Landscape

As of the time of writing this blog, a new Israeli party is gathering support  - and showing up in the polls as tied with or ahead of Netanyahu's party - the Likud Party. Gadi Eisenkot's party "Yashar" (Straightforward/ honest) is gaining significant momentum. Eisenkot is a former Chief of Staff of the  Israeli army. One of his sons was killed in the recent Gaza war.  Eisenkot is viewed as much more of a centrist than Netanyahu and is likely to build a coalition with the various opposition parties if he winds up with enough seats to do so.

Naftali Bennett is leading the next most popular opposition party, which is a combination of Bennett's party and Yair Lapid's party and is called "Together."  Bennett served as Israel's Prime Minister from 2021 to 2022 - with a diverse coalition of parties from across the political spectrum including an Arab party. Bennett himself is perceived as centre-right - if  not hard right - and many of his voters seem unhappy that he has joined an official coalition with Lapid, who is viewed as further to the left - though still quite a centrist.

Based on current polls, the opposition parties are expected to win somewhere between 55 and 58 seats, though quite a lot could change between now and October 27, 2026.  That would still put them 3 to 6 seats short of a government.

On the other hand, Netanyahu's coalition seems to be running at between 50 and 55 seats, which put them at between 6 and 11 seats short. 

So we could have a stalemate, as we did on a number of occasions before the 2022 election, which could lead to a few elections in a row - until one side or the other can form a government.

Stay tuned - lots of fascinating political news is likely to come out of Israel in the coming months.

Sports

I know some of you skip over my sports updates - but I like to include them anyways.

Israel's Under 20 women's basketball team made it to the finals in Europe for the first time ever.  They lost last night - 79-66 to France but still secured a silver medal - which was the first medal that an Israeli national women's team has ever won in basketball.  

As you know, the FIFA World Cup is into its last week - with the finals scheduled for Sunday July 19th.  Although I am not normally a huge football/soccer fan, I have been watching the World Cup for many years.  In 1986, I travelled through Europe with a friend of mine - and there were TVs set up everywhere - in train stations, restaurants, all kind of public places.  We watched a fair bit then - and really since that time - I have always enjoyed the World Cup.

FIFA is plagued with anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiments.  After Argentina beat Egypt on July 7th, the Egyptian coach had a tantrum, claiming that it was a conspiracy against Egypt.  Supporters went further blaming the world wide Jewish conspiracy (whatever that is) for their loss.  They claimed that since Messi has actually visited Israel and the Kotel (the Western Wall), Argentina is being "helped" by FIFA which is being controlled by the Jews. Does it get any more far fetched? 

The Swiss also lost to Argentina and were also unhappy with the officiating.  So far, I haven't heard them blame the Jews though they have claimed that there is a bias towards Argentina and Messi (who happens to bring in billions of viewers).  I guess we will see what happens on Wednesday when England plays Argentina.  Given that many consider Messi the GOAT, it is quite conceivable that he will carry Argentina to victory over England - with or without the help of the "worldwide Jewish conspiracy."

Irrespective, Israelis are definitely glued to their TVs across the country when World Cup soccer matches are on.  I can only imagine how crazy it would be if Israel were to make it to the World Cup again.  It is very difficult for Israel to do so, since Israel has to compete against European teams. The Asian and  Middle Eastern teams - who should be Israel's competition - refuse to play against Israel.  This includes many teams that made it this year - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Qatar, Jordan and others. If Israel had been able to compete in this group for its chance at a berth, it is likely that Israel would have been in the World Cup. Maybe one day.

Travel to Israel

Travel to Israel is still quite difficult, especially during high season in summer.

El Al is still flying direct from the U.S. and many places in Europe but tickets are hard to find and the prices are insane. Some budget airlines like Wizz Air, Blue Bird, Israir, Arkia and others are also flying but, let's just say, it is not very much fun to fly on those airlines.  We wound up taking EasyJet from London to Crete - and then Aegean from Crete to Tel-Aviv.  That was not ideal but there was simply nothing available.

Crete is a very nice place to visit but very little remains of any kind of Jewish life or history there.  There is a Chabad in Chania that will provide Kosher meals on order and hosts a Friday night dinner.  We did not make it there. But so many restaurants in Crete have vegetarian and pescetarian options that it was quite easy for us to eat there.

Air Canada is scheduled to restart its flights in late October - but I will believe it when I see it. Apparently, Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss all restarted service effective July 1, 2026 but I can't verify that. Air France is apparently also flying  several times a week now, as are Etihad and Emirates.

If you are planning a visit to Israel - you are probably best off to book El Al from somewhere in Europe - Rome, Athens or Frankfurt - and to connect to that place on another airline.  If you buy El Al tickets far enough in advance, the prices can be moderate to reasonable and you are almost assured that you will get here.  With any of the other airlines - it is really up in the air as to whether they will actually fly on any particular date in the future.

War Resumption?

As you probably know, the U.S. and Iran are still fighting, primarily over the Hormuz Strait at this point. I think the pattern goes like this - Iran attacks commercial boats in the Hormuz, the U.S. responds by attacking targets in Iran, particularly around port cities - and Iran then responds by sending  drone attacks to neighbouring gulf states.  So far, Iran has not attacked Israel directly, though Israel is certainly on high alert.  Although most Israelis seem to be going about their business, there is unquestionably some concern that this whole thing could ignite at any time.

Israel is still involved in ongoing hostilities with Hezbollah even while trying to negotiate a peace deal with Lebanon (which would include  ensuring that the Lebanese army controls its borders and disarms Hezbollah) and is still involved in fighting in Gaza.

It is hard to see how or when these various conflicts will come to a close.

Qatar

We watched a riveting Israeli documentary on Qatar called "Enemies" produced by Israel's channel 11, somewhat equivalent to a PBS in the U.S., though channel 11 receives state funding.  The program traced Qatar's funding of Hamas since 2018 - pursuant to an agreement with Netanyahu - whereby Qatar would send money, briefcases full of cash, to Gaza under the guise of "humanitarian assistance."  The program claimed that Netanyahu knew that Hamas was using the money to build tunnels under Gaza.

The program documented how Qatar's leadership, led by Sheikhah Hormoza (Moza bint Nasser), has paid off lawmakers in the U.S. and Israel to allow Qatar to develop its agenda. This has also included donating enormous amounts of money to U.S. colleges in exchange for influence as well as outright bribes of government officials.  

The donation of an airplane by Qatar to the U.S. to be used as the new Air Force One plane is only one example of outright bribery - out in the open.  How could the U.S. government accept this type of gift from anyone?  What did the U.S.  give Qatar in exchange? 

Ultimately, the documentary claimed that it was clear that Qatar knew about and helped Hamas to plan the October 7, 2023 attacks and massacres in Israel.  The day after the attacks, on October 8, 2023, Netanyahu sent Yossi Cohen  (former head of the Israeli Mossad) to Qatar. Rather than threaten the Qataris and  demand the immediate release of all of the hostages - or risk an attack on Qatar - Cohen transferred a warm note of greetings to Sheikah Hermoza. In fact, pro-Hamas demonstrations began at campuses all across the U.S. on October 8, 2023, just after the attacks - and before Israel had responded in any way.

The program suggested that Qatar was acting as both the arsonists and the firefighters at the same time. Only when Israel conducted an assassination attempt in Doha on the leadership of Hamas, Qatar showed a willingness to trade some of its support for Hamas for better security arrangements with the United States.

All in all, this was a frightening program. It is even more frightening  knowing that Netanyahu had some of his close confidants working for the Qatari government, some of whom have now become the focus of a police investigation and  charges.  The conclusion of the program was that Qatar has been willing to pay so much money to support its goals - that it can buy off just about anyone. 

Conclusion

Despite all of the "heavy" political news, the weather is beautiful in Israel and Israelis are flocking to the beach.  

It will be Tisha B'Av next week on July 22nd (at night) and  July 23, which is one of the saddest days of the year, where we commemorate the destruction of the great Temples in Jerusalem.  I am planning to attend an evening program in Jerusalem including lectures, prayer and singing with the Masorti movement at the Kotel (I assume the Davidson Centre section).

On August 20, 2026, the Jerusalem wine festival is scheduled to start at the Israel Museum. This is a wonderful event with the opportunity to taste many different Israeli wines - while enjoying a view of the city and some amazing Jerusalem summer weather - it cools down nicely in the evening.

I hope that we will be back from Toronto in time to attend - for one of the nights.

There is lots more to write - but I think this is about it for now.  I will wish everyone the best and hope to add more shortly - hopefully with more humour next time. Best regards.

World Cup 2022: Canada, the Middle Eastern Teams and Israel. Go Canada!

It is a huge day  in Canadian Soccer history tomorrow.  The Canadian national soccer team will compete in the FIFA World Cup for only the second  time in Canadian history.  Canada's first time out was in 1986.  The  Canadian side failed to score a goal.  Instead, it let in  a total  of 5 goals and lost all three matches - to France, Hungary and the Soviet Union.  This time out, the Canadian team was quite impressive  over the course of the qualifying  rounds  and is hoping to have better success.  The first game will take place at 2 p.m. EST (9 p.m. Israel time) on Wednesday  November 23, 2022 versus Belgium, one of the tournament  favourites.   Canada will also play Croatia on Sunday November 27,  2022 at 11 a.m. EST and will finish its round of three on Thursday December 1, 2022 at 10 a.m. EST vs Morocco.  Team Canada has its work cut out for it, having to face Belgium and  Croatia, two very strong  sides.  It probably has a better shot against Morocco.   Hopefully, the Canadian side can  score some  historic  goals and surprise the world with a victory or two.  

Israel has only played in the FIFA World Cup once, in 1970.  Israel managed a 1-1 tie with Sweden, a 0-0 draw with Italy and lost 2-0 to Uraguay.  Italy wound  up losing that World Cup final 4-1 to Brazil, so a 0-0 draw for Israel against Italy was a pretty decent result.  More recently, it has been very hard for Israel to qualify since  it has to qualify through the European conference instead of the Middle East, where it belongs. 

For the 2022 World Cup, Israelis can only watch from the sidelines, though many are in Qatar attending the games live.  It is only a three hour flight to Qatar and  Tus Airlines is offering direct flights for  "only" $666 USD.  All of the games are being shown on Israeli national  TV on channel 11 and  feature some rather amusing  Israeli commentators.    Israeli  press has sent  delegates to the games to try and  speak to Iranian  fans and other fans from  different Arab and Muslim countries about  Israel and about their thoughts about Israel.  Some have refused to speak to the Israeli press, but a surprisingly large number  of Arab  and Muslim fans, even fans from Iran, have been willing to speak and say some nice things about Israel.

Israeli commentators covering the games were thrilled to see  Saudi Arabia shock Argentina  earlier today with an historic 2-1 victory.  One commentator said that "Saudi Arabia had  won a huge victory for the whole Middle East," and that this represented a "new dawn for Middle East soccer."  Commentators were equally effusive  about Tunisia's impressive scoreless draw versus Denmark, later in the day.  It will be interesting to hear what they have to say when Canada plays Morocco.

Watching all of these teams from the Middle  East play - including Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Iran and Qatar, Israelis are clearly convinced that their national team should be at this World Cup taking up one of those spots since they would almost  certainly be able to qualify if those were their primary obstacles.  Perhaps if the Abraham Accords continue to expand - and more countries sign full peace deals with Israel, FIFA will recalibrate its conferences and put Israeli in the proper  place, where it will have a much better chance of qualifying.

For now, Israelis will jealously watch the tournament and  hope that their chance to attend for a second time ever is not too far off in the future.  If Israel were to make it into the tournament one day, the game days would almost certainly be national holidays since the entire country would be  watching.  Even now, without Israel in the tournament, the TV stations continue to wish everyone  a "Happy World Cup Holiday."

As for  me, I am cheering for Canada in the 2022 World  Cup - hoping that  I will not only get to see Canada's first World Cup goal ever - but a bunch  more - enough to advance Canada to the next  round, even though their odds of  doing so are currently set at about 200-1.  Miracles can  happen.   Go Canada!

Israeli Political Update, Sports News and Some other Comments - November 2022

Israeli Soccer fans in Israel

We are two-thirds of the way  into November, 2022, 19 days after the most recent Israeli election.   In  this blog, I am covering a few topics.   First some comments about Israeli politics and the ongoing coalition talks.  Next some sports news with a bit of an Israeli angle.  Then a comment on my most recent  flight to Israel from  Toronto.  And finally, a few comments on a movie I watched on the plane and other  Israeli programming.

Israeli Political Update

Israeli coalition talks continue and Israel still does not have a government in place.  Some had expected that these talks would be very quick and that a coalition would  be  formed well  within  the  28 day mandate that has been given to Netanyahu.  But as others probably expected, things aren't that simple.

As you may know from reading the news (or my other blogs), Netanyahu is trying to form a coalition government with three  parties, who will join his own Likud party as part of the government.  Two of the parties are ultra-religious ("Haredi") parties and the third party is a far right wing nationalist-religious party.

For all of the parties concerned here, there are no other real options.  The two ultra-religious parties were left out of the previous government.  This meant a reduction in budget allocations for Yeshivot and other ultra-religious institutions.   They are determined to be part of this government, no matter what to make up what they lost.  They also know that, for the most part, the other parties in the  Knesset do not want to give in to their  demands.  So they must make a deal with Netanyahu.

Likewise, the far right party, the Religious  Zionist party - also knows that it will not be part of any government  other than one with this current configuration.  Of course, the RZ party could  increase its seat total in future elections.  In fact, Ben-Gvir sees  himself, it seems, as a future Prime Minister.  But for now, they need the Likud and the ultra-religious parties to form their "dream governnment," a "completely right-wing government" as they referred to it during the election campaign.

At the  same time, Netanyahu needs all three of these parties (and only these parties) to form a government.  They are the only parties that will pass laws to help him end  his criminal proceedings.  He ran on a platform to govern with these parties.  And the ultra-religious parties  have been very loyal to him.  So all in all, I expect that these four parties will succeed in forming a government shortly.  Like any  good negotiators, they may all push the matter until the very last minute, just before the deadline, or even the extended deadline.  But they will eventually reach a deal.  They have no other choice.

The ultra-religious parties have made a wide range of demands.  First on the list is an "override law" that allows the Knesset to override any decision of the Supreme Court of  Israel.   This is somewhat like the "Notwithstanding  Clause" in the Canadian Charter.  It has served as a basis for attacks from a few different satire programs - including Eretz Nehedert ("A wonderful country") which ran a skit with impersonators of the different political leaders sitting around thinking up  bills that they could  pass with the power to override the Supreme Court.  The skit ended with "Bibi" wondering if he could change the electoral system to give himself a 10 year mandate instead of 4....

Other ultra-religious demands have included a steep hike in the monthly stipend paid to yeshiva students, a law that permits public gender segregation of certain events, an immediate repeal of the taxes on super  sweet beverages (cola etc.,) and on disposable products and a wide range of other changes.  The ultra-religious Shas party has also demanded that the law be changed to remove "public breach of trust" from the  criminal code and to overturn the  current  Israeli law that says that a convict cannot serve as a minister in the government if he or  she was convicted of  certain types of offences.  The leader of Shas, Aryeh Deri, has been convicted  twice (the second time in 2021) of financial improprieties.  He wants  to have the law changed so that  he can serve as the country's  Finance  Minister.  (You can't make this stuff up - but it sounds about  as absurd as things get....).   I suppose it is like putting some Arab or other Mideastern countries, like  Syria or Iran, in charge of the UN Human Rights committees....

Overall, it sounds like Bibi and his Likud party are more or less willling to go along with most of these requests  from the  ultra-religious.

The Religious Zionist party is giving  Bibi  more  difficulties so far.    RZ is comprised of three parties that run under  one umbrella.  One group, led by Ben-Gvir, "Jewish Power" is anxious to come to a quick deal.  They have met  with Bibi  and, apparently, agreed on a range of items, including the  legalization of certain settlements  that were previously classified as "illegal"by Israel.  Ben-Gvir  is pencilled  in to  be the Minister of the Interior - which includes  having charge over Israel's police forces.   As you may know, Ben-Gvir has been charged and  convicted in the past on incitement charges  (of violence  against Arabs  and  of threatening violence against gays and  leftists...).  So  this is not a particularly palatable posting for some of us but Bibi will agree to it.

The other two leaders of RZ - Bezalel Smotrich and Avi Moaz are apparently demanding  concessions above their political weight.   Smotrich would like to be  given  the Finance Ministry or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  So far, Bibi is  refusing these demands (preferring to put Deri in the Finance  Ministry and his own buddy, Ron Dermer, who wasn't even  elected, into the role of  Minister of Foreign Affairs).  Here  for the first time, Netanyahu is running into protests from some of his own  party members, since they feel  he is giving  away too many of the important roles and not rewarding  his own stalwart party members.  This rumbling might become louder  since the Likud loyalists who are  left are the ones who have stuck with Bibi through thick and thin - generally less qualified and  more extreme than other former Likudniks  who left Bibi when they felt  supporting him was no longer  viable.  They would now like to reap their rewards for having remained.

I guess they will all continue to negotiate until someone  blinks.  Sooner or later someone  will,  since they all realize that  they have  no other choice. As expected, this is shaping up to be a  very right wing  government, which will  overturn a  wide range  of legislation, weaken  the power of the Israeli Supreme Court, tilt laws towards religion in the sphere of secular-religious balance, set back gender equality progress and generally make things very uncomfortable for  Arabs, especially those  living  in the disputed territories.

We will see what  deal emerges and  I will write more  about this in the  coming  weeks.

Sport News

The big  sport  news, of course, is the opening of the  World Cup of Football in Qatar.  There is an Israeli angle here, even though the Israeli side did  not make it into this World Cup tournament.  In fact, Israel has only played in one World Cup.  Perhaps that will change one day (and perhaps the Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup...).

Israel does not have dipolomatic relations with Qatar.  However, Qatar agreed to allow Israelis to fly to Qatar and come watch the games. In fact, just yesterday it  was announced that Tus Airlines, which is 48% Israeli owned, will now run direct flights to Doha, Qatar for the World Cup.   This three-hour flight will set you back $666 USD though you can only get on the flight  if you can show proof of having a ticket to a World  Cup game.  Thousands of Israelis have apparently made plans to go  or are already there.  I watched a few being  interviewed just before the game  and they were  certainly very excited about being there.  None of them seemed to be concerned about any security issues.

Qatar has apparently agreed to allow cold  Kosher  food to be sold - but nothing warm and no meat, even though it had apparently promised to be  more hospitable earlier.   It has also stated that Jewish people will be prohibited  from praying in groups.  I would imagine that many of the soccer fans  going are  not  too concerned about these issues, but for observant Israeli soccer fans, this trip  might be somewhat uncomfortable.  Hopefully, there won't be any issues.  This is quite a contrast with what is going on in Dubai - where the UAE has opened up synagogues, brought in Kosher caterers and made extensive efforts to make Israelis feel at home since the signing  of the Abraham Accords.  Qatar is simply not there yet.

Soccer is the most  watched sport here in Israel.   On TV they are wishing everyone a "Happy World  Cup  Holiday."  One of the main channels, Channel 11, is interrupting much of its regular programming to show the games and there will probably be quite a number of people calling in sick or "working from  home"  over the next month. Sure this is also the case in many countries  around the world, even other countries that aren't actually participating in the tournament, like Israel.

As a Canadian, I am cheering  for Canada to do well.   Canada will face Belgium, Croatia and  Morocco in the first round.   The odds of Canada winning the World Cup are apparently 12,500 to 1 (though some sites are offering as much as 25,000 to 1 supposedly).  The odds of Canada emerging as one of the top two  teams from its group of four are apparently set at 215 to 1.  So if you think that Canada is about to be the big surprise of the tournament, there is lots of money to be made.  I imagine that quite a large number of Canadians will watch the Canadian side play - even if that means missing some work.  But the numbers probably won't  be as high  as the numbers who watch Team Canada Olympic Ice Hockey games.

Meanwhile,  I am not really sure if you could say Israelis are unified in cheering for a particular  team - though certainly Brazil, Argentina, and  France are all big  fan favourites.  I'm not normally a big watcher of soccer  but I have always enjoyed watching the World Cup  and I'm sure  I will watch my  share  of games, even though I won't be going to Qatar.  For now, I am clearly cheering for Canada.  If they exit the tournament quickly, as expected, I will have to find a different horse to cheer for.   Maybe  another underdog team.

Flight News

As you might know, El Al has "suspended" its Canadian service.   So there are no longer direct flights from Toronto to Tel-Aviv, which leaves Air Canada  as the only option.  In general, I have been flying  Air  Canada over the years.  Air  Canada offers a far superior  mileage  program, better deals with other partner  airlines,  lounge access  all over the world, and  a much greater  level of predictability, order, ease of boarding and baggage  allowance.  The in-flight service is also much better.

But with the decision by El Al to stop servicing Canada, Air Canada took the liberty of raising its prices - immediately and  drastically.  So whereas November is normally a "low season" to fly with very reasonable prices, it was much more expensive  now and the  flight was completely packed.  Clearly many of the people  were passengers who have  normally been flying El Al - which changed the feel of the flight as well.

Hopefully some other airline or  airlines will step forward and  offer some  competition on this route.  Otherwise, it looks like direct travel  between Toronto and Tel-Aviv (as well as Montreal and Tel-Aviv) is going to continue to get much more expensive.   

Movies and Shows 

On the flight from Toronto  to Tel-Aviv, I watched the movie "One of Us" which is a  documentary based on the lives of a few former Hassidic Jews in Brooklyn  who were able to "escape" and  are trying to rebuild  their  lives, some  with more success than others.  Certainly  the movie sheds light on some really horrible  situations and addresses a range of different issues,  including custody fights in the ultra-orthodox community in New  York courts, the cover-up of sexual abuse  in the  Haredi community, the limited  secular  education that community members receive and some other  issues.  It was  not a particularly balanced movie though it highlighted the work of Footsteps  a New York organization that assists those who have  chosen  to leave the ultra-religious community.  

Although there were interviews with some Hassidic rabbis and some attempts to discuss these  issues with community members, I felt that, overall, it was somewhat more of an attack on the community than a  balanced documentary.

That  being  said, there are similar organizations similar to Footsteps and  many similar stories in Israel.  It is a genuine  concern that this insular community  - in the U.S., Israel, and around the world, is not  providing its members with the proper  tools  to function and  make a living  and that creates ongoing, cyclical poverty.   Ultra-orthodox Jews are among the poorest Israelis.  Perhaps some of this is self-imposed, since  many of the men would  rather spend their lives  studying  in a Yeshiva instead of earning an  income.  In Israel, they don't serve in the army, they marry at a young age,  have  a large number of children,  and generally, have few skills that are marketable in the general workforce.

So although the movie itself was one-sided, the issues it raises are very serious  and are likely to be exacerbated by the Israeli  government in waiting that is rapidly taking shape - since the new government will be beholden  to  interests  that want  to promote and fund this way of life.

I should  also mention that after  I got back to Israel, I finished watching the  fourth  season of Fauda, centred on an  Israeli under cover unit that  fights terrorist cells in the disputed territories  and in other places.  I thought the fourth season was probaby the best.  Intense, riveting and more realistic than some  of the previous seasons.  I won't  give anything away - but it is really  quite a dramatic show.

The weather  has been beautiful here - 28 C during the day and sunny though we  have some days of rain forecast for later in the week.  We are looking forward to seeing a number of different guests, including family members and friends, here in December and then  in the spring and  fall  as well.   I don't celebrate American Thanksgiving myself - other than to  do my part by watching some of the NFL games that day - but I have attended a few Thanksgiving dinners  in Israel with some American friends.  Nothing  planned this year (since at least one of my American observing friends will be away) - but for all those celebrating - I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving!  

As it turns out, there is a chance that we will finally have our  whole  crew together for  dinner on Thursday  night - so maybe I need to consider making  some turkey....We could combine that  with some World Cup viewing and some  quality Israeli wine.  I guess we have a few days  to decide.