Im really troubled by this trip to Israel by President Bush....I admire him greatly, but he crossed a line when he prevailed upon Shas and other right wing parties to not bolt the coalition.

There would be mass outrage if foreign leaders meddled in our politics.

But here is the best line I found in yesterday's Jerusalem Post.....

It seems that Labor has been preparing for parties to bolt....but have no fear...the Haredi parties will always be their to sell their soul and sell Jews down the river.....just as long as they get theirs....

Quoting from the article:
As a precaution in case Labor did leave, Olmert met with United Torah Judaism MK Avraham Ravitz on Tuesday and promised him NIS 173 million for haredi educational and cultural institutions and to support Ravitz's proposal to give tax benefits to organ donors

Olmert is a complete hack and terrible leader, and the religious parties are his enablers.

As a religious Jew...I find this behavior abhorrent and detrimental to the Jewish people.

Here is the link for the article:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1199964893724&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

the Haredi parties will always be their to sell their soul and sell Jews down the river

That's all fine and good, but tell me, who is it that actually sold Jews down the river? I'll tell you: Labor at Oslo, Likud in Gaza, Kadima now. In other words, every Zionist, secular party.

Kishke,

All very true....
Since the secular Zionist parties are the largest parties.....in most cases winning the most seats and charged with forming a coalition.

However, the religious parties will always be there, hands extended, and want, and demand, their pound of flesh to hold a coalition together.

Clearly, they are the enablers to the secular Zionist parties.

" ... I mean, hey, if President Bush wants Israel to live with these peace loving Arabs, how come he doesn't trust their security services to protect his body when he's in Ramallah? ... "

maybe Prouty failed her weapons training ?

am sick of the situation, and the insanity of the Israeli left,

so (besides Tehillim)
what provides most relief is to laugh at them,

here is a great site:
http://israelisatirelab.blogspot.com/2008/01/best-of-middle-east-satire-issue-no-2.html

Lance, my point it's odd to see someone saving all his ire for those who are, at most, enablers, with nothing reserved for those who are actually formulating and carrying out policy. It speaks of an agenda. If the larger parties (who are all complicit in these awful policies; heck, even Yisrael Beiteinu is in the govt!) would set a different agenda, the chareidim would be glad to go along. You're putting the blame in the wrong place.

Kishke, we seem to be talking past each other...

I would agree with you that the other parties, whether it be Labor, Likud, or Kadima, have not served Israel well. They talk tough, promise much, and in the end cave in to please the world.

Olmert....Barak.....Netanyahu...Sharon...
All have have talked tough only to steer towards disasterous policies.

Whoever would have thought that Sharon would withdraw from Gaza for empty promises??

My point about the Haredi parties, is that they go along to get along. They quote Torah...quick to criticize.....but yet they enable the policies of the goverment du jour....just to get money for themselves.

I really doubt they would bolt....even if Jerusalem were divided, heaven forbid, the Haredi parties would still remain in the ruling coalition to get their handouts.

Another analogy comes to mind....

If a person was addicted to a particular substance, whether it be drugs, alcohol, etc, and were trying to kick the habit, would it not be harder to end the dangerous addiction, if the enabler keeps providing them with the substance they are trying to stay away from?

In many ways the major parties and the Haredim are equally guilty of fulfilling this role.

Until one changes....Israel will only suffer.

Come on, all small parties - charedi or not - play this game. It's what the parliamentary system is all about. Yes, the mandate of the charedi parties, by their constituents, is to ensure that their constituents receive their fair share of the economic pie. They are focused on domestic issues b/c that is what their constituents elected them for. It is the same with every small party. Your problem is not with the parties, but with the parliamentary system.

Your analogy to an addict and his enabler effectively absolves the major parties of all blame. They're helpless addicts! The truth, of course, is the opposite. It is the major parties who have the power and set the agenda. The smaller parties are forced to fall in line for a piece of the pie. Any change has to come from the big boys, not from the small fry, who, if they protest will simply be replaced by some other small party.

If a person was addicted to a particular substance, whether it be drugs, alcohol, etc, and were trying to kick the habit,

There's another place where your analogy breaks down. The major parties are not trying to kick any habit! They are pefectly happy to continue as they have.

We seem to be talking in circles now....

I believe we basically agree; and without doubt, no matter what side of our friendly debate one may take, it is abundantly clear that the Israeli political system is broken.

And, until a real leader comes forward, I'm afraid nothing will really change.

Came to the realization today that there is good news about Bush being an ineffective President at this point; no one is really paying that much attention to him. And I think even he knows there will be no movement on a Palestinian state, but he's got that end-of-term "I want to leave a legacy" complex that seems to infect even good leaders.

Bush also made a speech at Yad Vashem today, said that the Allies should have bombed the rail lines to Auschwitz. That's the first time I've ever heard that from any government official; I lost my grandparents in Auschwitz, in 1944...and maybe they would have been spared had the Allies made an effort to close down the rail lines (which would not have taken much effort, in spite of the military's saying it would detract from the war effort.

But I really do give credit to Bush...in spite of this recent rhetoric, I really don't think he's as changed his tune so much, and is not fooled by the Palis. Over the years, there were plenty of times I thought he had given in...but eventually he would show himself to be a stalwart, certainly the only real leader to do so vis-a-vis Israel. And so I think much of this is a tiny bit of ego and hope and show, but he hasn't abandoned Israel quite yet.

but he's got that end-of-term "I want to leave a legacy" complex that seems to infect even good leaders.

The most dangerous time.