Follow me to reinforce the. New views what does that mean he was not for and you know. A controversial point or two successes beyond question. One tragedy started both of w. Yet i was damn sure to feel here in tel aviv covering the National Primary election of israels conservative liquids. About One Hundred TwentyParty Members on choosing candidates for the list that liquid will run in the countrys parliamentary election on april ninth. The party leader and incumbent Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu is likuds top candidates and he also has a good chance of winning the parliamentary election. In spite of us goes on to give
you know but netanyahu is facing tough competition and hes also dealing with several Corruption Investigations as high as this election and the Coalition Negotiations afterwards promised to be dramatic extreme of wanting to be out of the nature of how out be talking with several guests about the election and what it means to them in the bible should own Discretion Historians Motion or cinema or mum on the Security Experts area. Imagine all the dots have a money family and arab israeli singer mariam two can. Israels Fragmented Society is reflected in the large number of Political Parties in the knesset or National ParliamentPrime Minister netanyahu is likud conti has been in power for years and now holds thirty out of One Hundred Twenty seats. The current Government Coalition is led by likud it into. Several parties whose primary
goal is to preserve their religious and social traditions another member of the coalition is the Jewish Home Party which favors israeli settlements in the Palestinian Territories the Party Leaders include the current Education Minister naftali bennett. Theyre all full of position parties that represent Israeli Arabs who make up about twenty percent of the population taken together these four parties are one of the largest groups in the opposition. Though to support for the Opposition Labor Party has collapsed in recent years they lost the twenty fifteen election to likud despite joining a short lived coalition with a party led by former foreign minister tzipi livni. A centrist party headed by former finance minister. Has now joined forces with the israel resilience
party which is led by benny gantz the former Chief Of Staff of the Israeli Armed forces against is trying to bridge the political gap between left and right and could pose a serious challenge to netanyahu senior Military Officers are widely respected in israel some have even become Prime Ministers. A number of smaller parties have teamed up to try to get around the Election Threshold law which requires them to win at least a three point two five percent share of the vote to qualify for seats in parliament. Some of these parties could end up in the next Government Coalition. Seen as heads as we have seen the Campaign Leading up to the april ninth election has been a dramatic one to find out more about the current political mood in israel im joined by Professor Moshe similar man. Hes well known in germany hes been a visiting professor. At several german universities and his Academic Research work
has won him several german awards. In Two Thousand And Five professor silliman was appointed to a Government Commission that investigated the role of the German Foreign office in the holocaust. Professor cinema on the Political Landscape in israel has changed substantially in the past several years why did that happen and what will it mean for the election. Political ideologies are no longer relevant in israel. It all boils down to the battle between netanyahu and his opponents. Voters are either on one side or the other. You either support the Prime Minister or you dont. And those factors are shaping the political environment right now. You would like israel has made to the right. In the class true for
a majority of israelis. Of course there are Political Parties on the left and in the center but the left is rather weak in israel right now. They usually win only five or ten percent of the vote. The centrist parties are actually center right. So in the final analysis it all comes down to how much netanyahu and the parties that support him will win by. Half israelis moved to the right. As well in many countries today right wing nationalist or semi fascist parties on the rise. Thats the case in israel as well. Theres a sort of Siege Mentality here israel is defending itself against the palestinians and iran. And if thats the way you think thats the way youll vote a lot of people arent thinking about peace. They say its rainy election
campaign billboards Benyamin Netanyahu with donald trump the president has expressed support for the Prime Ministers reelection in december twenty seven teen the u. S. Announced that it would move its embassy in israel from tel aviv to jerusalem. It was a controversial decision. From demonstrations in the palestinian terror trains the. Palestinians want to make East Jerusalem the capital of a future state. But at this Point Netanyahu appears to have abandoned his commitment to a two State Solution. And he supports new settlements in the Israeli Occupied west bank. This is apparently a concession to the nationalist and ultraorthodox parties that netanyahu will need to build a coalition government. And
israeli arab m. P. s are upset about the new Nation State Law which they say discriminates against them. Many israelis are deeply concerned about security right now and netanyahu has promised to address their concerns he has even taken on the additional post of Defense Minister and has promised to end hunger cybersecurity. The Prime Minister says that iran poses the greatest threat to peace in the middle east and President Trump agrees with him. Feel Israeli Military has recently launched a number of ass strikes against Iranian Forces and their allies deployed in syria. And tensions are still running high in the gaza strip there have been frequent clashes in the last few months between palestinians and israeli troops along the
border fence. Still netanyahu can take credit for a growing economy and let one employment but critics saying that the gap between rich and poor in israel continues to grow. My legs that is why you hear it by an explainer in central tel aviv to me to my next guest. Is an author. Political scientist and spokesman for the Israeli Intelligence ministry honestly wouldnt he was born in germany and raised in berlin his parents are jewish immigrants from iran he studied Political Science at university and emigrated to israel in two thousand and one. Quarter. Israelis are concerned about National Security and Prime Minister netanyahu has identified iran is a major threat clashes continue in gaza how would you assess the current situation. Its extremely complicated israel is stronger than ever and we have discovered and destroyed a number of hezbollah tunnels along the border with lebanon that has the situation in gaza remains tense. But weve managed to push back the iranians and syria. The one hand israel continues to provide it to turn a force in the region and that helps us to keep these threats under control to explode but at the same time iran and its hizbollah allies continue to cause trouble. Especially in syria. So theres a very real possibility that we could be drawn into a multi front conflict the primary threat right now comes from the could force. Unit of Irans Revolutionary Guard and report directly to irans supreme leader. So we could be placed in a situation where israel a small country is attacked from lebanon syria gaza and possibly elsewhere. It was just this effect the elections it was the hope to be a major factor that the politicians have to address these Security Concerns over these the team question couldnt handle a lot of the talk and its have held senior posts in the military. Certainly has and so has netanyahu. The Prime Minister is friends with some of the worlds most powerful leaders putin donald trump and boston are all in brazil. So a lot of israelis believe that netanyahu is the best person to lead israel right now. The right wing candidates who are running in this Election Position themselves by saying they are even tougher than he is on security and domestic
policy. Where. Are the older. But its netanyahu is also facing three different Corruption Investigations in the first the Prime Minister and his wife are accused of accepting expensive gifts in return for political favors as. In the second investigators say that netanyahu tried to influence the publisher of a newspaper that runs stories critical of the government. The Prime Minister is said to have promised to support legislation that would cripple the circulation of israels most popular newspaper. In the third case netanyahu is accused of backing regulations that would have benefited a Major Telecom corporation a Company Executive was recently detained in the Investigation Police say netanyahu wanted the companys news website to provide more favorable coverage of his government. Netanyahu has categorically denied any wrongdoing
and says that even if he is indicted on these charges he will not resign. In january the Prime Minister went on national t. V. To criticize the investigation which he called a witch hunt carried out by the media police and prosecutors. Attorney general. A former netanyahu. You Cabinet Secretary and Military Prosecutor has recommended that charges be filed but has not yet actually done so. The. Guy at work told me that people just arent worried about corruption anymore. Its not new for politicians to take bribes. It happens all the time. We had a famous politicians who took bribes of Five Hundred Thousand euros. For yes thats
sad. That the accusations against netanyahu arent all that serious and weve known about them for some time people have made up their minds are they they say thats terrible like we do or they say the politicians are always taking bribes. You think weve armed to the city of run nunna not far from tel aviv to meet with a Modern Orthodox family jenny until you have a man and the three Children Levi Arians Rosa Thirty Have Jenny have in mind is active in the Israeli Liberal Party and is using social media to try to get more young people interested in politics. Those Mere Human Lloyd to be pretty clearly still also the founder and c. E. O. Of an organization that brings together young entrepreneurs from germany and israel yeah. Yeah and you know her man is the son of sibylla i have a man on the german sing a song writer. So he was born in east germany and moved to the west in one thousand
nine hundred seventy seven have and converted to judaism and emigrated to israel in twenty ten now works as an i. T. Expert for an israeli company. Genuinely trying to find out what you both think of the political situation right now in israel. And i guess i might actually well first of all The Cost Of Living in israel is very high compared to europe. By the way we consider ourselves europeans and certainly most israelis. But food is really expensive and there are political reasons for that. We cant trade with neighboring countries we dont believe that should go and thats one of the things that makes living here expensive. This is im so going to the stars and their taxes are very high and the politicians havent done enough to cut them whats more
the business monopolies are much too strong the state should do more to regulate them. So this election is about both domestic policy and clipping the high cost of living and Foreign Policy the same as this is shawn iraq its got invited was a theme are we as far as from our meeting on Foreign Policy it seems as though the middle east Peace Process is dead in the water and talks on a two State Solution are on hold. But in reality you told me that some Israeli Arabs work at your company and everyone gets along fine so i dont know if those five almost never meet Well Netanyahu supports this new law. Called the nation state long. As its growth. And discriminates against Israeli Arabs. After im going to one of my arab colleagues told me that the law hasnt affected him at all park and his friends are still his friends and his job is still his job so hes exactly the same guy he was before and also by this law has caused
a lot of emotional pain which. Was my last response when. The actual wording of the law doesnt seem so bad. But the worst thing about that law is what it doesnt say to me to. Be done about me much good what do you mean exactly. When the Israeli Declaration Of Independence says that we are all citizens should you have. After the knesset approved the little Prime Minister netanyahu said that this was a defining moment in the history of the israeli state. Legislation sans that the jewish people have the right to exercise national selfdetermination in israel it also states that hebrew is the countrys official language and downgrades arabic to me a special status and it says that the state will continue to promote jewish settlement as a national value. Im talking about discrimination
in many. Ways to. Ups and women and minorities are experiencing and its getting more and more obvious whenever we are seeing the control of the right phonetic right to wings in the country and if im talking about the daily life im talking about discrimination in the. Places of the students for instruction on many things like we have less sources less funds less. That we can to improve our daily normal life this seemed to always come. To the town of abilene near haifa to me to sing our whose voice has captured the hearts of Israelis Mariam to camp she was the first person to sing in arabic on the israeli t. V. Some competition show
a star is born. Because the mariam is an arab christiane and now shes devoted her vocal talents to an Organization Called women wage peace a group that brings together people of all religions and ethnic backgrounds to create a mutually binding political agreement to end the Israeli Palestinian conflict. One can see. The organization was founded shortly after the end of the gaza war in twenty fourteen. It also supports a Un Resolution that reaffirms the role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. Earlier this year the group organized a peace festival in the port city of Jaffa Women Wayne Peace has Twenty Four Thousand registered members and Tens Of Thousands of followers on Facebook The Festival featured performances by mariam to cannes and the israeli canadian singer
yes. They perform around the world and use their music to inspire positive change and to support nonviolent efforts to resolve conflicts. Through. Get else