By Zionist Federation of NZ president Rob Berg on the Israel Institute of NZ website…
The last time I was in Israel for elections, it was 1996 not long after the assignation of Yitzhak Rabin.
There were mixed feelings at the time. Shimon Peres was up against Benjamin Netanyahu in the only instance of separate votes, one for the Prime Minister and one for a political party. Peres’ Labour party won the most seats, but he lost to Netanyahu in the PM vote, handing victory to the leader of the Likud.
The election was on the back of the Oslo agreements with the Palestinians, a peace treaty with Jordan, but also against a backdrop of murderous suicide bombings by Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the PFLP. Netanyahu’s win was in part due to Israelis fearing for their lives.
This year, I was in Israel on a conference with KKL-JNF (Jewish National Fund) which ended a day before the November 2022 elections.
The conference focused on much of what KKL-JNF does for Israel, its sustainability approach, addressing climate change, and monitoring and dealing with forest fires.
Notwithstanding a full-on agenda (and incredible Israeli cuisine), the up-and-coming elections were always in the background…
Read the full article on the Israel Institute’s website here.
Read former Wellingtonian Daniel Hochberg’s take on the winners and losers in Israel’s elections on J-Wire HERE. [Hochberg is the current Chair of the Shoah Remembrance Committee and a member of the Executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies.]
