Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Israeli Elections - Final
Kadima was narrowly leading Likud with 28 seats
Likud has 27 seats.
Israel Beiteinu has 15 seats
Labor 13 *
Shas 11
United Arab List 5*
United Torah Judaism 4
National Union 4
Hadash 4*
Meretz 3*
Bayit Hayihudi 3
Balad 2 seats. *
*Left and Arab parties
What happened is that a great deal of Labor's support went to Livni as the most likely Left leaning candidate to win, while a lot of Likud's support went to Lieberman and Yisrael Beiteinu.. becauase there are lots of people on the Right who simply either don't trust Bibi or don't trust the Likud since the Gaza disengagement.
It's also worth noting that a lot of the Kadima list are to the right of Livni, like Shaul Mofaz.
The horse trading begins now, to see who can assemble the 61 seats necessary to govern.Senate Passes Spendulous Bill
Thank you, Senators Specter, Snowe and Collins. Our grandchildren will be working to pay this debt off, you spineless, lackwit weasels.
hat tip to Ace for the graphic...
', '
Israeli Elections Update
About 45% of the actual votes have been counted, and it's close. Kadima is slightly ahead of Likud by less than 1%,and so both Livni and Netanyahuhave proclaimed 'victory' an dare busily working on settin gup a coalition since neither has enough seats on their own to govern. Kadima is projected to win29-30 seats,while Likud looks to win 27-28. IsraelBeiteinu has apparently won 14-15 seats, with Labor at 13.
Remember however...the magic number is 61 to form a majority government in the Knesset, and there Tzipi Livni's chances look slim.
Avigdor Lieberman of Israel Beiteinu has pretty much signified that he will not be part of a Kadima/Labor Left coalition, saying Yisrael Beiteinu's list of priorities is clear, "and it's first objective is the defeat of Hamas. We will not have direct or indirect negotiations with them nor a ceasefire.
"It doesn't matter which government will be formed. If we will be in this government, the defeat of Hamas will be the foremost objective."
Given that Livni's potential coalition partner Labor has already said that they won't serve in a government that includes Lieberman, it's difficult to see how she gets to 61 seats, even with the Arab parties.
Livni already had one shot at forming a government after Olmertresigned, and failed. And the balance between the Right and Left in the Knesset was much more favorable to her then. Th eIsraeli electorate has definitely moved to the Right.
More as it happens...Early Exit Poll Results From the Israeli Elections
The early results fom the Channel 2 poll show Likud with 27 seats, Kadima with 29 seats and Labor 13 seats. Yisrael Beiteinu will have 15 seats in the new Knesset.
The Channel 10 poll shows that Likud will take 28 seats, Kadima will hold 30 seats and Labor 13 seats. Yisrael Beiteinu will have 15 seats.
This does not mean Tzipi Livni wins. The Rightist bloc now has 62-64 seats, will the eleftist bloc only has 48, a major fall from the 70 they had in the old Knesset. But the Rightist bloc also includes Lieberman and Yisrael Beiteinu, who are set to be the kingmakers, assuming the exit polls mirror the actual results - which they very well may not.
Labor, which would have to be part of any government Livni came up with has already said they will not participate in a government that includes Lieberman, and you may recall that after Olmert resigned, Livni tried to form a government with Labor's Ehud Barak and failed...largely because they hate each other pesonally. To make a government with 61 seats that does not include Yisrael Beiteinu, Livni would have to get Shas ( 10 seats), the Left wing parties (Meretz , 5 seats) plus the three Arab parties ( 9 seats) along with Labor to have a majority..and it's unlikely,to say the least.
I'll have more when the real results come in.
', 'Geert Wilders Refused Entrance To UK
Britain no longer deserves to be considered a home of free men.
Geert Wilders, Dutch MP and maker of the film Fitna ( which you can see here) has been barred from the UK and threatened with arrest if he goes there after receiving another invitation from a member of the House of Lords to come to the UK, present a private showing of the film and discuss it with the participants afterwards:This morning Lord Malcolm Pearson, a member of the British House of Lords, announced that he has invitedGeert Wilders, a member of the Dutch Parliament, to show the movie Fitna in a committee room of the House of Lords next Thursday (12 February). Mr. Wilders has been asked to address a private meeting with members of the British Parliament, explaining to the Peers and MPswhy he made Fitna and to engage in an open and frank discussion with them.
This afternoon Mr. Wilders received a letter from the British Embassy in The Hague saying that he is a “persona non grata” in the United Kingdom. The ambassador told Mr. Wilders that he is a threat to public security and public harmony because of the controversy created by Fitna. Mr. Wilders intends to go to London anyway. “Let them arrest me in Heathrow,” he says.
If Mr. Wilders is denied entry to the United Kingdom, it will be the first time that Britain refuses entry to an elected politician from another member state of the European Union. The Dutch government has protested to the British government over the unprecedented barring of an EU parliamentarian by another EU country
As regular members of Joshua's Army will recall, Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders was originally invited by a member of the House of Lords and some of her colleagues to a private meeting in London to see a screening of Wilder's film a month ago, followed by discussion, questions and debate, the way things normally go in a free society.
But what happened instead is that Lord Ahmad, a Labour-appointed Muslim Peer actually threatened to 'mobilize 10,000 Muslims' in the streets to prevent Wilders from entering London and threatened to sue the Peer who was organizing the event.
Wilders was subsequently disinvited and the showing of Fitna was cancelled. The Pakistani Press was jubilant, and Lord Ahmed praised Allah for delivering ‘a victory for the Muslim community’.
After that debacle Lord Pearson decided to reinvite Wilders:Lord Pearson could not bear the thought that the “mother of all parliaments” might be perceived as giving in to threats. Hence he decided to
reinvite Mr. Wilders. Black Rod, the head of security at the House of Lords, has ordered extra security for the event.
The House of Lords event is hosted by Lord Malcolm Pearson of Rannoch, a Peer with a special interest in the European Union, Islamism and education. It will be chaired by Baroness Caroline Cox of Queensbury, a Peer and a human rights campaigner with a strong commitment to humanitarian aid and education; she is the founder of The International Islamic Christian Organisation for Reconciliation and Reconstruction.
In the press release issued this morning, Lord Pearson writes:
Depite threats of demonstration from a British Peer and Muslim community leaders, the meeting will go ahead. Wilders’ film "Fitna features verses from the Quran alongside images of the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001, Madrid in March 2004 and London in July 2005. The film equates Islam’s holy text with violence and ends with a call to Muslims to remove ‘hate preaching’ verses from the Quran. It provoked protests in Muslim-majority countries including Indonesia and Pakistan.
The leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, Wilders has lived under 24 hour police protection since 2004. Following Fitna's release online in March 2008 al Qaeda issued a fatwa calling for Wilders’ murder. Wilders currently faces prosecution in Holland for incitement to hatred and discrimination. The charges are based on his film Fitnaand comments in the Dutch press last year in which he argued that as Mein Kampf has been banned in Holland, the Quran should
similarly be banned under Dutch incitement laws.
Wilders called the Dutch Court of Appeal’s decision to prosecute an attack on freedom of expression. “Participation in the public debate has become a dangerous activity. If you give your opinion, you risk being prosecuted,” he said.
Here's the letter Wilders received from the British Government that same afternoon:Dear Mr Wilders
The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the Secretary of State is of the view that your presence in the UK would pose a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society. The Secretary of State is satisfied that your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitna and elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security in the UK.
You are advised that should you travel to the UK and seek admission an Immigration Officer will take into account the Secretary of State's view. If, in accordance with regulation 21 of the immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, the Immigration Officer is statisfied that your exclusion is justified on grounds of public policy and/or public security, you will be refused admission to the UK under regulation 19. You would have a right of appeal against any refusal of admission, exercisable from outside the UK.
Yours sincerely,
Irving N. Jones
On behalf of the Secretary of State for the Home Department
The Secretary of State, of course, is Jack Straw, who is dependent on Muslim votes for his seat in Parliament. Just like the Labor party needs their votes to stay in power.
It isn't the British government who's running things in the UK anymore. It's Britain's radical Muslims.
Wilders, with characteristic courage plans to go anyway. "Let them put me in handcuffs at Heathrow."
He thus demonstrated more character than the British government which wants him barred and silenced.
The grimly funny thing is that is isn't Wilders or his film that threaten security in the UK. It's the people who are threatening a jihad if he's allowed in Britain who are the ones the UK ought to be worried about.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
With 99% of the ballot boxes counted , here are the totals:
Passed, 61-37.
The actual results are coming through now, and the picture is getting a bit clearer.
Very interesting.
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