Transcript [00:00] The elections in Israel are still almost [00:02] two months away. October 27th is [00:04] election day, but the process of the [00:07] Israeli elections is very much underway. [00:10] There's a number of different uh uh [00:12] dates along the way that are significant [00:15] and we're in the middle of it and I'll [00:17] be explaining some of that in this [00:19] video. But if you really want the best [00:21] explainer video I have seen and you know [00:25] to really give you a clear understanding [00:26] of how the entire process works from [00:28] before the election through the [00:30] election, the a lotment of Knesset seats [00:33] and then ultimately the creation of a [00:35] governing coalition. Go to my son's uh [00:38] YouTube channel. He made a fantastic [00:40] video. My son Mayor recently started a [00:42] YouTube channel and it's already doing [00:43] quite well. And there's a a video up [00:46] there called the Israeli election [00:48] process. simply explained. It is [00:50] outstanding. I'm going to put that video [00:52] as the pinned comment in this video so [00:55] that you can access it easily. You might [00:57] want to even watch it before watching [00:58] the rest of this video. But, uh, yeah, [01:01] it's a great explainer for how the whole [01:02] process works. So, go do that. Now, uh, [01:06] news on the election front today is [01:08] this. Ben refuses Netanyahu's demand to [01:12] merge with Smutri Liood. He's crown. Le [01:16] could says he's crowning Eisenkot. Now, [01:19] this video is going to explain this [01:22] headline. Uh meaning you might already [01:24] know what the headline means, but I'm [01:25] going to get into a little bit more of [01:26] analysis about what it is we're talking [01:28] about, who the players are, and why this [01:30] is so important right now. So, [01:35] let's pull down the headline for a sec [01:37] and then and just talk about this about [01:40] what's happening in the election process [01:41] right now. [01:43] The election is on October 27th. [01:46] As explained in my son's video, as I [01:48] explained the other day, [01:51] every party that is running for Knesset [01:54] has to submit a list. It has to submit [01:56] an official final list of who its slate [01:59] of candidates are. And then depending on [02:02] how many seats in Kesset that party wins [02:04] as their proportion of the vote, that [02:07] number of people on their list starting [02:09] at number one at the top gets seats. So [02:11] they submit a list with however many [02:13] people on it and let's say they get [02:16] enough votes for six seats. The top six [02:18] names on the list go into the Knesset. [02:19] That's how that's basically how it [02:20] works. And the deadline for submission [02:24] of those lists is September 8th. So [02:28] that's a huge day in Israeli politics [02:31] because ahead of September 8th, [02:33] everyone's talking about who they're [02:34] running with and this party's running [02:36] and that party's running and there's all [02:37] sorts of parties that are saying that [02:39] they're running. [02:40] And that doesn't mean that they're all [02:42] actually going to run. And what happens [02:44] traditionally is as we get closer to [02:47] that final date. smaller parties that [02:51] there's a concern that they might get [02:53] close to the minimum threshold of votes [02:56] needed to get in and and and are are [02:59] worried that they might not get in will [03:02] join together with other parties that [03:04] are also small and they'll functionally [03:08] become one political party for the sake [03:10] only of election day. Meaning they'll [03:13] join together so that they're running as [03:15] one party. They'll submit that as the [03:17] list by the date. this this year being [03:19] September 8th and then after the [03:21] election they go their separate ways [03:23] depending on how many seats they got [03:25] whatever once they get into Knesset. [03:27] Okay. So there so that's the process and [03:30] I mentioned that process the other day. [03:33] So right now we are about a week out [03:35] from that date and there is panic going [03:38] on on the right in Israel because [03:40] there's a number of small parties a [03:42] number of what we'll call startup [03:43] parties. There's Ofra Winter's brand new [03:45] party, which so far in the early polling [03:47] looks like it it might break the [03:49] threshold. The threshold to get into [03:51] Knesset is three and a quarter% of the [03:53] total vote. And that gets you the [03:55] minimum number of four seats in Knesset. [03:57] If you get under that number, you don't [03:59] get in at all. And I'll explain to you [04:00] more about how that works and give you [04:02] some historical examples in a few [04:04] minutes. And what's happening right now [04:05] is that Prime Minister Netanyahu is [04:07] worried about the religious Zionist [04:09] party that is Betalosmotric's party. The [04:12] religious Zionism party um currently [04:16] currently has seven seats in the [04:18] Knesset. [04:19] In the last Knesset election, that party [04:23] ran as a joint list with Itamar Bengir's [04:27] Utsma Yehudit or Jewish Power Party. The [04:30] two right-wing mainly religious [04:32] nationalist parties, they ran together [04:35] as a joint list. There was also another [04:38] uh list, so to speak, another another uh [04:40] uh party that joined up with them. It [04:43] was actually a three-party list, but [04:44] that other party only had one person on [04:46] the list, a guy by the name of Avi Ma, [04:49] who ended up also getting in. So that [04:51] joint list got 14 seats. Seven of them [04:55] went to the religious Zionism party. Six [04:58] of them went to Bengiry [05:00] party and one went to Avi who's who's [05:03] currently a Knesset member. and he's [05:05] also saying that he's running again. So, [05:06] there's a number of different little [05:07] parties on the right that are saying [05:09] that they're running again. By the time [05:10] September 8th runs, uh, you know, rolls [05:12] around, a number of them could drop out. [05:14] Often people do drop out if they don't [05:16] if they see that they're not going to be [05:17] anywhere near the threshold so that they [05:18] don't waste votes. [05:20] And what's going on now is Prime [05:23] Minister Netanyahu is trying to get uh [05:26] Ben and Smootrich to get together again. [05:28] Ben does not want to do this. I'm going [05:30] to read, we'll get into that article a [05:32] little bit more after I give you more of [05:33] an explanation. [05:35] And the religious Zionism party is kind [05:36] of on the bubble. They're in all the [05:38] polls, they're hovering right around the [05:41] threshold. And the problem is that the [05:43] new party, the new party uh started by [05:46] General Winter really threatens it. It [05:49] it threatens the religious Zionism party [05:52] because a lot of the voters I wouldn't [05:55] say a lot, a segment of the voters who [05:57] will be attracted to that party also [05:59] come from the religious Zionist [06:00] community. For all the reasons I [06:01] explained in the video I made yesterday. [06:03] I'm not going to go over that again. Go [06:04] ahead and watch that video. What I want [06:06] to do now is I want to give you some [06:08] examples of these of this threshold and [06:10] these mergers and how this whole system [06:12] has actually worked historically [06:15] so you have a better sense of what it [06:18] looks like. So, I'm going to pull some [06:19] stuff up on the screen that's in Hebrew, [06:21] but I'm going to explain everything. I [06:22] just want to show but it has a lot of [06:24] numbers on the on the page as well. So, [06:26] I just want to explain it to you. So, [06:28] this is from the official government [06:30] website that has the results of every [06:32] election in Israel's history. And you [06:33] can go in and you can take a look and [06:35] it's very granular. You can see every [06:37] single party, exactly how many seats [06:38] they got. You can even go into each uh [06:41] polling station and see how many people [06:43] voted for each party everywhere. There's [06:45] a tremendous amount of information on [06:47] this site. But what you're looking at [06:49] right now on your screen is um is the [06:53] election results from the election in [06:56] 2022. Okay. So, here you have uh you the [07:00] names of the parties and you have how [07:02] many seats they ended up getting, the [07:05] percentage of the total votes they got [07:07] and then the raw number of votes that [07:10] they got. Okay, the total number of [07:11] votes that were cast were were 4,700 and [07:15] something thousand. That's how many [07:17] votes were cast. Uh the eligible voters [07:20] was 6,700 and something thou thousand. [07:23] So there was about a 70% voter turnout [07:26] which [snorts] is kind of normal for [07:27] Israel. Israel has a pretty high voter [07:29] turnout in general. So here you see [07:31] Likood got the most votes. They got 23% [07:33] of the vote. They got 32 seats. I want [07:35] to go down to the bottom where parties [07:37] don't get in. So what do you see down [07:39] here? There's a party that got 3.16% [07:43] of the vote. Very close. Remember the [07:45] threshold is 3.25. [07:48] 3.25 is the threshold. And this party [07:51] which is called the merits party uh came [07:54] in just under it. They got 153,000 [07:57] 150 I'm sorry they got 150,000 votes. [08:00] Really almost 151,000 votes. Now when [08:04] all is said and done in this election a [08:06] Knesset seat ended up being about [08:10] 37 38,000 votes. And why is that not [08:14] precise? It's not precise for because of [08:16] how complicated it is. That's not what [08:17] this video is about. So you see that [08:19] there was a whole bunch of votes that [08:20] were thrown in the garbage here. Okay? [08:22] Meaning this this party had they [08:24] received just a few more votes and [08:25] gotten over 3.25 [08:27] all of these votes would have counted [08:29] they would have had a minimum four seats [08:30] and that would mean that the total [08:32] number of votes that was being divided [08:34] up to make the 20 kesset seat the 120 [08:36] kesset seats would not have would have [08:39] included them. So what ends up happening [08:42] in an Israeli election this party gets [08:45] eliminated. the party. There was another [08:47] party that got close to 3%. It got 2.91% [08:50] and it's one of the Arab parties. There [08:53] are a number of Arab parties in Israel [08:54] and this is one of the Arab parties uh [08:56] that did not run on a joint list with [08:58] the other ones and they fell below the [09:00] threshold as well. They also got a [09:02] significant number of votes, 138,000 [09:05] votes. You put those two together, you [09:08] put together merits and and this Arab [09:11] party Balad and they received together [09:16] approximately 290,000 [09:18] votes which is a lot of seats. It's a [09:21] lot of seats in the Knesset. And then [09:23] there was another party that that [09:25] received 58,000 votes. And then the rest [09:27] of them were quite insignificant. There [09:29] were a few more with over 10,000. And [09:31] then there's a whole bunch of little [09:32] parties that got a couple hundred votes. [09:33] I don't know who the people are who vote [09:35] for these people. I don't know why they [09:36] even exist. Sometimes small parties are [09:39] started because they're basically like a [09:40] lobby group and they want to raise [09:42] awareness about an issue and show that [09:43] there's public support for it. But [09:45] people don't usually waste their votes [09:46] on that. There's always a few votes [09:48] scattered around these tiny little [09:50] parties that don't really matter. But we [09:52] see here that there were a few there [09:54] were a number of parties of of [09:56] significant size that did not make it [09:58] in. Okay. [10:00] What ends up happening is that those [10:02] votes after election day once it's [10:04] determined that they did not reach 3.25 [10:06] threshold all of these votes get [10:07] subtracted and the new total that's [10:10] going to get redivided into 120 to [10:12] determine the Knesset seats is all of [10:15] the votes of the parties that made it [10:16] in. Okay, so that's what happened there. [10:17] So you see an example. Now these two [10:20] parties, the merits party is the farleft [10:24] party that is not an Arab party in [10:27] Israel. They even call themselves uh [10:30] their their official name on the ballot [10:32] uh uh in 2022 was Merritt Israel's left. [10:37] Okay, they're very they are proudly the [10:39] most left-wing party in Israel. Uh [10:41] left-wing secular [10:44] uh and they and they didn't and they got [10:46] close and didn't get in and an Arab [10:47] party. So both of those parties would [10:49] have been part of the what became the [10:51] opposition block, the left-wing [10:53] opposition block, uh the anti- [10:57] right-wing anti-ist uh opposition block. [11:00] And that means that it's pretty clear [11:02] from this election that the left wasted [11:05] a lot more votes on small parties that [11:07] didn't make it in than the right-wing [11:08] did, which helped Netanyahu be able to [11:11] make a government. Now, why wasn't it [11:13] even easier for him than it was? And why [11:14] is isn't his uh his coalition larger? [11:17] And that has to do with this one party [11:19] on here. There's one party on here [11:21] called Israel El Betenu, Israel, our [11:24] home, that got six seats. They are a [11:26] right-wing party. They're generally [11:28] thought of as a right-wing party. Their [11:29] policies are pretty hawkish on security [11:31] and national issues. And they got six [11:34] seats, but refused to ever sit with [11:36] Netanyahu because of the reasons I laid [11:38] out in yesterday's video about the new [11:41] party. But that's that's the uh 2022 [11:45] election. And just to give you a couple [11:46] other examples, let's go back to the to [11:48] the 20 to the 2021 election, which is [11:52] the previous one. I know it's only a [11:53] year before, but it was the previous [11:54] Knesset. And we'll see something [11:56] similar. Oh, I'm sorry. We'll see [11:58] something very different. In this [12:00] election, [12:02] the parties, all of the parties that got [12:04] significant numbers of votes crossed the [12:06] threshold. They all did. In other words, [12:09] after the last party that crossed the [12:10] threshold, which was this joint Arab [12:14] list, that was all the parties together [12:17] or or a few of them together. Sorry. [12:18] There were two there were two Arab [12:20] lists. [12:22] Uh after that, you had the the next [12:26] party down got less than 1% of the vote, [12:29] meaning you didn't have wasted votes in [12:31] that election campaign. Okay? In the 20 [12:33] in the uh in the 20 in the 2021 [12:36] election. But if we go back and when we [12:38] go back to the 2020 election, we see the [12:40] same thing. The the lowest vote, the [12:43] lowest party that made it in had over 5% [12:46] of the vote. They got six seats in [12:47] Knesset and the next one down had less [12:50] than half of a percent. So you didn't [12:52] see much wasted votes in those earlier [12:54] elections. But it became an issue for [12:56] the left in the last election. And Prime [12:57] Minister Netanyahu is very worried, [13:00] legitimately worried that with all of [13:01] these smaller parties that have a [13:04] significant base of support running, [13:06] there could be a problem because there's [13:08] a three or four of them. I'm not going [13:09] through all of them right now. I may not [13:11] even make a video going through them. [13:12] They may not be relevant after September [13:14] 8th. I really think it it's best to wait [13:16] after September 8th and talk about all [13:17] the parties. But uh Prime Minister [13:20] Netanyahu is legitimately worried that [13:22] the right-wing is going to make the [13:24] mistake that the left that the left made [13:27] in the last election in this one. So [13:29] that's for that. Now I want to talk more [13:30] about about Itar Bengir and this party. [13:33] Okay? Because in these uh as I go [13:35] through the you know the parties that [13:37] are going to be running I don't have to [13:39] wait for all of that till after [13:41] September 8th because some of these [13:42] parties we know we're going to get in. [13:43] we know they're going to be successful [13:44] and itar Bengir is uh his political [13:49] career is fascinating. Uh I'm not a fan. [13:52] I'm a fan of some of the things. I mean [13:53] I what what do I mean? There's a few [13:55] there are some things that I that I [13:56] agree with him on. That doesn't mean [13:58] that I'm a fan. Let me just be very [13:59] clear about that. I'm going to be very [14:00] open about my opinions. Um and there [14:04] might be some Ben fans down here. I [14:06] don't mean to offend you. Uh again, we [14:08] agree on a lot of things, but there are [14:09] some fundamental issues that I'm in that [14:11] I I don't agree with Ben. uh on and I [14:14] don't want to get into them too deeply [14:16] in this video. But before we go on, uh I [14:21] want to just remind you all that [14:22] Russashana, the high holidays are [14:24] beginning very soon. And right now in [14:27] Israel, there are needy families who [14:28] will not have enough food on the table [14:30] to really enjoy the holiday. Um they [14:33] simply cannot afford it. Uh and this [14:35] month the team at Israel 365 charity is [14:38] running a dedicated campaign to assist [14:40] these families and make sure that they [14:41] can celebrate with their children like [14:43] the rest of the Jewish people. We're [14:44] putting together a massive uh campaign [14:48] uh with food packages that will be handd [14:50] delivered to people's doorsteps. We're [14:52] sponsoring participants to attend a [14:54] deluxe holiday meal being hosted in [14:56] Jerusalem if that's more appropriate for [14:58] them. If this initiative speaks to you, [15:00] I ask that you join us and help make a [15:03] difference for these needy people in [15:05] Israel. Click the link in the [15:06] description and let's make sure that no [15:08] family in Israel sits at an empty table [15:11] for the holidays. So, click the link in [15:12] the description or go to Israel 365 [15:14] charity.com. [15:16] Scroll down to our our projects and the [15:18] first project listed there will be [15:20] feeding a Jewish family this high [15:23] holiday season. Okay. Now, I I want to [15:26] talk a little bit about Itamar Beng's [15:28] political career. Here, here he is. [15:29] You've probably seen him. He's currently [15:31] a minister in the in the government. [15:33] He's in charge of uh internal security, [15:35] which basically means he's he's the it's [15:37] the ministry in charge of the police. [15:40] And as you saw in that opening uh story, [15:43] Ben is refusing Netanyahu's demand to [15:45] merge with Smutri. And um that's what he [15:48] he does not want to merge with Smutri, [15:50] but he ran together with him in the last [15:52] election. in this election which is the [15:54] one in in 2022. You see there's a a [15:56] party here that got 14 seats. That party [15:59] is the party of Smutric and Benir and [16:02] together with Abimma O they got the 14 [16:05] seats. Now, part of why they got so many [16:06] seats, why the right-wing parties did so [16:08] well is because so many seats were [16:11] burned by these two sizable [16:15] uh left-wing parties, meaning left [16:17] meaning that the Arabs, we include them [16:18] in the left wing because they're uh you [16:20] know, that's where they that's where [16:21] they line up politically in Israel. And [16:24] of course, u the merits party that I [16:27] told you about who blew you know close [16:29] to 300,000 votes. So that gave a little [16:32] bump to everyone uh you know to everyone [16:35] else. But uh you know Smutric ran with [16:38] Sonutit last time and he was really the [16:41] weaker uh the weaker faction in the [16:44] polling leading up to that election or [16:46] what people thought people thought he [16:48] was going to be weaker and that he did [16:49] not have a chance to get in on his own [16:50] and that's why there was so much worry [16:52] and that's why they got together. They [16:53] ended up doing very well and getting 14 [16:55] seats together. But in the interim, [16:57] Bengir has has strengthened a lot [17:00] independently and he doesn't really need [17:02] to uh another party to help him get into [17:04] the Knesset and now he doesn't want to [17:05] join with Smootrich and Netanyao was [17:08] trying to get him to join with Motriidge [17:09] to save or to ensure that the religious [17:12] Zionist faction doesn't get close and [17:14] fall short but makes it in. So let's [17:17] just read a little bit from this article [17:18] and then we'll talk a little bit more [17:19] about Smutri's career. Prime Minister [17:21] Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday publicly [17:23] invited far-right leaders Balos Matri [17:25] and Itamar Bengir to meet on Sunday to [17:28] discuss forming a joint list ahead of [17:30] the October 27th election saying the [17:32] alliance was necessary to save the [17:34] right-wing block. His suggestion was [17:36] soundly rejected by Osma leader Bengir [17:39] who said that under no circumstances [17:41] would he consider an alliance with [17:42] Smutri's religious Zionism promptingly [17:45] could to accuse him of risking thousands [17:47] of right-wing votes for the sake of his [17:49] own ego. There will be no talks or [17:51] meetings or discussions on the topic. [17:53] Not directly, not indirectly. Osmayudit [17:55] called on Netanyahu to instead push for [17:57] one of two alternatives. Either a union [17:59] of all the small right-wing parties that [18:01] aren't slated to pass the electoral [18:03] threshold because there's like four of [18:04] them right now, or to grant Smutri, [18:07] whose party is teetering on the edge of [18:08] the required three and a quarter [18:10] threshold, one of the premier's reserved [18:12] spots on his only coup party slate. In [18:14] other words, what Bengir is saying, if [18:15] hey, if you want Smutri around and [18:17] you're so worried about him not making [18:18] it in, just poach him from from the [18:21] religious Zionist party and give him a [18:22] slot in Likood on the Likood list so [18:26] that he can get into the Knesset that [18:27] way and then at least he's in Knesset. [18:30] He could be his own he could be his own [18:32] faction. That's not going to happen. Li [18:34] could responded with a blistering [18:35] written statement accusing Bengir of [18:37] risking tens of thousands of right-wing [18:39] votes and effectively handing power to a [18:41] government led by Gotti Eisenot. That's [18:44] the leftwing that's the head of the big [18:46] new left-wing party that is challenging [18:48] Netanyahu for to be the prime minister. [18:51] Okay. Um [18:54] yeah, so that's that story. Now I want [18:56] to talk a little bit about what I think [18:58] is motivating Ben Gir here because I [19:00] don't think he just you know is saying [19:02] you know I don't care you know what [19:04] happens to Smutri. He I think he he must [19:06] realize that uh that this could hurt the [19:10] right-wing block in the polls but I [19:12] think that he fears that it could also [19:13] hurt his own outcome if he gets together [19:16] with Smutri. And let me explain why I [19:18] think that [19:20] Hudit is a Jewish power is the most [19:23] extreme right-wing party in Israel. And [19:26] if you go back a few elections, they [19:28] weren't even making it into the Knesset. [19:29] Let me show you. Here is the here's the [19:32] elections from 2020. [19:34] And in the 2020 elections, Otsma [19:37] Houdinid, led by Bengir, same party, [19:39] it's on your screen now, received 0.42% [19:43] 42% of the vote, less than half of a [19:46] percent. They barely got they they [19:49] didn't get they barely got anything. [19:52] They almost didn't register on the uh on [19:54] the screen. And then in in the 2021 [19:59] election, [20:01] um [20:03] in the 2021 election, again, they didn't [20:06] they didn't run independently at all. [20:09] They ran as part of the tionit slate, [20:12] but they only got one seat. They were a [20:15] very small party still. They he had a [20:18] little he had some support. He added a [20:20] little bit to the religious Zionist [20:21] party. And Utsay Hudit made it into the [20:24] Knesset that way for the first time. And [20:27] then when they ran and then last time as [20:29] I told you they shared this uh this uh [20:32] this ticket with the religious Zionist [20:33] party with Sonut Tatid and they ended up [20:36] uh getting together 14 seats of which [20:38] they got OTMA got six of them and now [20:42] the the Jewish power Bengir's party on [20:45] its own is now depending on what polls [20:47] you look at it's pulling anywhere from [20:49] six to eight seats [20:51] meaning it's really the only party on [20:53] the right that is slated to [20:55] significantly grow on its own. So, this [20:58] has been quite a meteoric rise. You go [21:01] back in to 2020, not so long ago, they [21:03] were they were not even anywhere near [21:06] the threshold to get in. They were less [21:07] than 1% of the vote. And now on their [21:10] own, they're going to have no problem [21:12] getting, you know, six, seven, 8% of the [21:14] of the national vote and get a whole [21:16] bunch of seats in Kesset on their own. [21:18] Now, if you go back to their party [21:20] platform all the way back in 2020 when [21:24] this whole thing, you know, when they [21:26] were barely registering at all, because [21:28] the website still exists because they [21:30] don't really care about English [21:32] language, I guess, I don't know, but [21:33] their website, uh, I looked for a for an [21:35] English language website with their [21:36] platform, and I found this old party [21:38] platform. You can see by who's on the [21:40] list here, it's the people they aren't, [21:41] most of them aren't even involved in the [21:42] party. Ben Greer wasn't even the leader [21:44] of the party yet. I think this is 2019. [21:46] this uh I think this is from 2019. [21:49] He's one of the people listed there. Uh [21:52] you know, he's here. He looks like he's [21:54] third on third out of on the list. I [21:56] don't know. But on this platform, the [21:59] the platform is all about uh it's a very [22:02] religious platform. The first item is [22:05] our foundation is our patriarch Abraham. [22:08] It had the covenant that God gave him [22:10] the land. And then it talks about how [22:12] the people of Israel was born on Mount [22:14] Si and their first uh platform uh issue [22:18] is Erit Israel, the land of Israel. And [22:21] it talks about uh you know the you know [22:23] the biblical promises of the land of [22:26] Israel to the nation of Israel. And then [22:27] it talks about the Torah and how the [22:29] Torah is our way of life and and and the [22:31] and the Jewish people is not only a [22:33] nation is not only a religion, we're [22:35] also a nation and we have to live [22:36] according to the Torah. And then it says [22:38] we will act according to these values. [22:40] and it lays out these positions. What [22:41] are the positions that the state of [22:43] Israel? Number one, the state of Israel [22:45] is Jewish in its character, national [22:47] symbols, Jewish education for Jewish [22:49] children. Um and then uh you know [22:52] preserving the Jewish character of the [22:54] state. Uh and uh those are the top those [22:58] are the top issues. And it talks about [22:59] promoting aliyah and having a harsh you [23:02] know taking a you know taking a heavy [23:04] hand against our enemies. And then even [23:06] when it talks about you know you know [23:08] social issues it it quotes a verse from [23:12] Deuteronomy about taking care of your of [23:14] your brothers. [23:16] So you see it's a very religious [23:19] biblical platform. But then I went to [23:23] their platform from 2022 [23:25] and the platform from 2022 is very [23:27] different. So here it's in Hebrew. I I [23:28] translated it and here's what here's the [23:31] way their platform reads. Number one, we [23:33] will pass a death penalty for [23:34] terrorists. [23:36] Number two, we will pass an immunity law [23:39] for soldiers and police officers who are [23:41] involved in events where they're dealing [23:43] with what's called nationalist crime. [23:45] Another word for terror. We're dealing [23:47] with terrorists. We're going to have [23:48] immunity for soldiers. So that so that [23:50] soldiers who who who let's say shoot at [23:52] a terrorist are not end up brought are [23:54] not brought up on trial for maybe, you [23:56] know, acting too harshly, which [23:58] sometimes happens with our, you know, [24:00] with with our judiciary here in Israel. [24:02] And then number three, changing the [24:04] rules of engagement. So soldiers who [24:05] have stones thrown at them can open [24:08] fire. Uh establishing establishing [24:11] special units to deal with terrorism in [24:13] other parts of the country where it's [24:14] not being dealt with within the meaning [24:16] within the police. [24:18] Um and then he talks about judicial [24:20] reform and he talks about bringing down [24:22] uh the price of housing and zero [24:26] tolerance for terrorism in Judea and [24:28] Samaria. [24:30] And then all the way down is one line [24:32] about making sure that in the curriculum [24:35] of the public schools there's there's [24:37] more Jewish thought taught. [24:40] And [24:42] then there's a few u and there's a few [24:43] economic economic things in here. Okay. [24:47] In other words, the platform changed [24:49] radically. [24:50] And I don't think most people pay much [24:52] attention to what's going on with with [24:53] Otsma's platform. People didn't [24:54] necessarily notice it. But I think [24:56] that's part of what's happening here [24:58] with Benir not wanting to join with the [25:00] religious Zionist party. See I think [25:02] it's entirely possible that Ben is [25:04] saying hey look the identity of my party [25:06] has changed and it's true in terms of [25:08] his voters. Ethamar Bengir does not [25:10] market his party as a religious party. [25:13] He marks it as a nationalistic party as [25:15] a hawkish party. It's a populist [25:17] nationalist right-wing party. But he [25:20] doesn't emphasize the religious aspects [25:22] anymore. And a lot of his voters, a lot [25:25] of his voters are young Israelis who [25:27] fought in the war and who are who are [25:30] sick and tired of terrorism and are very [25:32] right-wing and hawkish in their [25:34] nationalist views but are not [25:36] necessarily part of the religious camp. [25:38] And I think that Bengir is is uh is [25:41] concerned that the brand that he's built [25:44] for Osmayudit that has actually led to [25:46] this surge in his popularity. I mean, [25:48] some of his most like one of his his his [25:52] top celebrity supporter is this rapper [25:55] who's like who's not part of the [25:56] religious community at all. This popular [25:58] rapper kind of seen as kind of like a [26:00] gangster rapper here in Israel, [26:03] you know. So, I think Benvir is is [26:05] concerned that a merger with Smutridge [26:07] would end up uh harming that brand and [26:10] putting him back under the label of [26:12] being a religious party. I think that's [26:14] what he's concerned about. I'm not sure [26:16] it's a valid concern because I think [26:17] people understand that these mergers are [26:19] just for the sake of election day in [26:21] order to in order to get across the [26:23] threshold. But I think that's uh [26:25] whatever that's my theory about what's [26:27] you know what might be underlying this. [26:28] But nevertheless, this story is far from [26:30] over. September 8th is uh is only a week [26:33] away, but there's a lot that can happen [26:34] between now and then. And I'm going to [26:36] continue to cover this issue about what [26:38] happens to the small parties on the [26:39] right and will they be successful in [26:42] merging? Because if they don't merge, if [26:43] some of those small parties still run [26:45] and get some votes and end up and end up [26:48] causing significant numbers of votes to [26:50] go in the trash and the right-wing [26:51] coalition uh is not able to form, there [26:54] will be a lot of blame to go around. So, [26:57] we're going to watch this closely. All [26:59] right, thanks for watching. Please drop [27:01] me a comment. Let me know what you [27:02] thought of this. This video is a little [27:03] different than what I usually do, and [27:05] I'm trying to cover the election. Please [27:07] ask questions uh in the u in the [27:10] comments. Someone asked about vote [27:11] sharing agreements. Excuse me. I'll [27:14] discuss that at a later date. Uh and [27:16] I'll explain the vote sharing agreements [27:17] a little bit more, but we'll get into [27:19] that. We'll get into all these issues as [27:20] we go. But again, the best way to [27:22] understand that whole system of how the [27:23] system works is go watch my son's video [27:26] uh and uh and everything will be clear. [27:28] God bless.
