{"id":21838,"date":"2015-02-09T09:03:40","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T15:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=21838"},"modified":"2015-02-09T09:10:48","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T15:10:48","slug":"candidates-go-head-to-head-on-israels-future-and-in-english-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/candidates-go-head-to-head-on-israels-future-and-in-english-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidates go head to head on Israel&#8217;s future \u2014 and in English, too"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By BEN SALES<\/p>\n<p>TEL AVIV (JTA) \u2014 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Labor Chairman Isaac Herzog won\u2019t be debating each other ahead of Israel\u2019s March election, but English speakers in Tel\u00a0Aviv who packed an event hall here got the next best thing:<\/p>\n<p>Candidates from five parties\u00a0came out\u00a0for a panel-style discussion on topics ranging from\u00a0negotiations with the Palestinians to Iran nuclear policy to strengthening U.S.-Israel relations. (All the major parties were represented except for Netanyahu&#8217;s Likud, whose candidate arrived for the debate but had to leave\u00a0before it\u00a0began to attend a family event.)<\/p>\n<p>These are the candidates who appeared:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ayelet Shaked, Jewish Home<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21847\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a title=\"Ayelet Shaked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Ayelet-Shaked-thumb.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21847\" class=\"wp-image-21847 size-thumbnail lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Ayelet-Shaked-thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"EQUALITY OF THE BURDEN KNESSET COMMITTEE MEETING\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21847\" class=\"wp-image-21847 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Ayelet-Shaked-thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"EQUALITY OF THE BURDEN KNESSET COMMITTEE MEETING\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-21847\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ayelet Shaked, a rising star in the right-wing, religious Zionist Jewish Home party. (Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The candidate and her party: Shaked is a rising star in Jewish Home, a right-wing, religious Zionist party. At first blush Shaked, a secular Tel Aviv resident, would seem an odd fit in Jewish Home. But she has proved popular, ranking third after party chair Naftali Bennett and Housing Minister Uri Ariel on the\u00a0party\u2019s election slate. She has also been a vocal presence in Knesset debates and in the media \u2014 weighing in on relations with the Palestinians and Israeli policy toward African migrants \u2014 since becoming a lawmaker in 2013.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Policy positions<\/span>:\u00a0Jewish Home believes that achieving a two-state solution through Israeli-Palestinian talks and territorial compromise is a losing proposition. Instead, the party wants Israel to annex 60 percent of the West Bank, although Shaked acknowledged during the debate that the plan was &#8220;not realistic&#8221; in the short\u00a0term. The party supports Netanyahu&#8217;s hard-line stance against Iran&#8217;s nuclear program.<\/p>\n<p>What she said: &#8220;We should manage the conflict and not give up on any centimeter of land. Yes, it&#8217;s not perfect, but it&#8217;s better than any other alternative.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Michael Oren, Kulanu<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21848\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a title=\"Michael Oren\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Michael-Oren-thumb.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21848\" class=\"wp-image-21848 size-thumbnail lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Michael-Oren-thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\".\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21848\" class=\"wp-image-21848 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Michael-Oren-thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\".\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-21848\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Oren, Israel&#8217;s former ambassador to the United States, is running with the new Kulanu party slate. (Gideon Markowicz\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The candidate and his party: Oren, Israel\u2019s former ambassador to\u00a0Washington, is running with the new centrist party Kulanu, ranking fourth on its slate. While the party is focused on\u00a0lowering Israel\u2019s cost of living, Oren is looking at improving Israel\u2019s international relations. The New York native will likely be the next Knesset\u2019s only American-born lawmaker.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Policy positions<\/span>: Oren contends\u00a0that the peace process has failed, but that\u00a0Israel should leave the door open for future talks. In the meantime, he says, Israel should improve conditions on the ground for Palestinians\u00a0in the West Bank. Oren insists that Israel must tend better to U.S. relations and has called on Netanyahu to cancel his March speech before Congress that has stirred controversy. The prime minister has been criticized for agreeing to speak stateside two weeks before the Israeli elections and not following protocol by failing to check with President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n<p>What he said: &#8220;I&#8217;ve racked up more hours with Obama than any Israeli. &#8230; Irrespective of the difference between us, he is the elected representative of our most important ally in the world, and we have to learn to manage this relationship.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yaakov Peri, Yesh Atid<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21849\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a title=\"Yaakov Peri\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Yaakov-Peri-thumb.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21849\" class=\"wp-image-21849 size-thumbnail lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Yaakov-Peri-thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\".\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21849\" class=\"wp-image-21849 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Yaakov-Peri-thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\".\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-21849\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yaakov Peri, a former head of Israel\u2019s Shin Bet intelligence agency, is fifth on the Yesh Atid slate. (Marc Israel Sellem\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The candidate and his party: Peri, who is fifth on the centrist Yesh Atid slate, is a former head of Israel\u2019s Shin Bet intelligence agency and served as science and technology minister until last year. Yesh Atid is the Knesset\u2019s largest party but is middling in the polls. In this campaign, the party has targeted domestic issues like fighting government corruption and working on economic reform.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Policy positions<\/span>: Yesh Atid contends that bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have failed and has proposed a regional conference with willing Arab nations like Egypt and Jordan to advance Israeli-Palestinian (and broader Middle East) peace. Peri opposes\u00a0Netanyahu&#8217;s scheduled March speech\u00a0before the U.S. Congress.<\/p>\n<p>What he said: \u201cThose countries are ready to sit with Israel. To reach a settlement is possible, and to [have] bilateral negotiations with the Palestinians is possible inside this regional conference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hilik Bar, Zionist Union (Labor-Hatnuah)<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21851\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a title=\"Hilik Bar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Hilik-Bar-thumb.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21851\" class=\"wp-image-21851 size-thumbnail lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Hilik-Bar-thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\".\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21851\" class=\"wp-image-21851 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Hilik-Bar-thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\".\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-21851\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hilik Bar, a Labor Party lawmaker, is running on the combined slate with Hatnuah called the Zionist Union. (Miriam Alster\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The candidate and his party: Bar is the secretary-general of Israel\u2019s left-wing Labor Party, which combined with the centrist Hatnuah in December to form the Zionist Union. Bar, seventh on the Zionist Union slate, is a vocal advocate for Israeli-Palestinian peace. He chairs the Knesset caucuses for promoting a two-state solution and strengthening Israeli-European relations. Tied with Likud in the polls, Zionist Union has pledged to improve Israel\u2019s relations with its allies.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Policy positions<\/span>: Bar says Israel needs to achieve a two-state-solution because the alternative is either apartheid or a binational state with the Palestinians. He admits\u00a0that negotiations would be difficult, but says a Zionist Union government would push hard for a peace accord. While his party supported Netanyahu\u2019s stance on preventing Iran\u00a0from obtaining nuclear weapons, Bar believes the congressional speech by the prime minister is not worth harming U.S.-Israel relations.<\/p>\n<p>What he said: \u201cA two-state solution is the only possible and viable solution for a true Zionist \u2014 a respectable divorce, and not a Catholic marriage with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tamar Zandberg, Meretz\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21850\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a title=\"Tamar Zandberg\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Tamar-Zandberg-thumb.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21850\" class=\"wp-image-21850 size-thumbnail lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Tamar-Zandberg-thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\".\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 150px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 150\/150;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21850\" class=\"wp-image-21850 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Tamar-Zandberg-thumb-150x150.jpg\" alt=\".\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-21850\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tamar Zandberg of Meretz says a left-wing government could achieve a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians. (Miriam Alster\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The candidate and her party: Zandberg, a former Tel Aviv city councilwoman and fifth on the Meretz slate, is an assertive advocate of women\u2019s rights and religion-state separation in the Knesset. Her left-wing Meretz party has seen its poll position dip as Zionist Union\u2019s has risen. To bounce back, Meretz is positioning itself as the \u201creal left\u201d and pledging to oppose any right-wing government.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Policy positions<\/span>: Zandberg was more optimistic than her fellow candidates regarding Israeli-Palestinian peace. She says the blueprint for a peace treaty is well known and accepted internationally, and that a\u00a0left-wing government could achieve a peace treaty. Meretz is dovish on security issues, and Zandberg opposes Netanyahu\u2019s March speech in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>What she said: \u201cIf this government and the ones before it were very clear about their right-wing ideology in all aspects, the next one should be very clear in its left-wing ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Candidates%20go%20head%20to%20head%20on%20Israel%27s%20future%20%E2%80%94%20and%20in%20English%2C%20too\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1794],"tags":[6720,6724,6721,1740,8790,2188,8795,6574,4894,495,8788,6722,6723,1816],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21838"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21838"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21855,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21838\/revisions\/21855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}