“Don’t you mean the Blue & White party,” said my friend.
“No” I responded. “I mean the White Party. I am casting my vote with a blank white voting slip as a form of protest. It’s my right.”
My friend was horrified.
Here is my reasoning, for now at least. Something might change in the next two weeks, although it is unlikely.
I can’t support either United Torah Judaism or SHAS. Both, in many cases, are non-Zionist parties, although the latter seems to have forgotten its social roots. And both seem only interested in the money. I don’t see either particularly concerned about the so-called West Bank or related settler issues.
And despite my often right-wing views which at times places me to the right of Attila the Hun, I can't support a fascist party like Otzma Yehudit.
Nor can I support the Joint List however I do wish them well and hope their representation does increase and that center their focus on bettering Israeli Arabs rather than worrying about their brethren in Gaza or Hebron.
Had Ayelet Shaked along with Naftali Bennett been leading a liberal rightwing party, I may at a pinch cast my vote for them. However, with Rafi Peretz and Bezalel Smotrich on the slate, there is no way given my views on the separation of religion and state and Smotrich’s dream of returning Israel to biblical rule and judgment. Heaven help us!
Labour, Gesher, Meretz is a spent force, marginal at best. Even if by some miracle they win 10/12 seats, their influence will remain marginal.
I have considered Likud and rejected the option. Its time for Benjamin Netanyahu to move on. Had the party been added by Yuli Edelstein, Gilad Erdan, Gideon Sa'ar or Nir Barkat, I may have been able to swallow hard and place my vote for them. With Bibi still in charge and three criminal cases against him, I know innocent until proved guilty but there is also no smoke without fire! And, I am sick and tired of seeing her pictured everywhere he goes. As far as I am aware no one voted for her, on one appointed her to represent Israel, and yet here sheis, time and again. She needs to go!
And what can I say about Kahol Lavan? The Four Horsemen thrown togeather with, it would appear, the single aim of removing Bibi from power. They have no real meaningful agenda, just sound bites, catchphrases and spin. They have no ideology. No background, no common theme save one. Avi Nissenkorn is center/left, as is Benny Gantz on many issues. Yair Lapid is center while Moshe Ya'alonis firmly rightwing. It’s hard to understand where Gabi Ashkenazi stands on any single issue. Gantz seems to flow in a dozen different directions at the same time. He supports the Trump plan while reaching our to the leftwing on social issues but seeming to push away Israeli Arabs. Maybe, Gantz, one day will reach the position of Prime Minister, I don’t see it happening this time around. He is simply a rookie playing in an arena of which he has no experience. And worst of all he became economical with the truth when he said last year “Israel First”.
And that leaves Yisrael Beiteinu, who I voted for last time. To me, it appears that Lieberman has lost his way. I don’t believe that the vast majority of his supports really care about the West Bank and the settlers that live there. And while his so-called position of kingmaker may still remain come March 3, I don’t his party having much success. Many I know, myself included fell let down by him.
Voting is a privilege. I would even go as far as to say that like Australia it should be mandatory for all citizens to cast their vote.
Which as feed up of the system I am, I am casting my vote for the White Party. And a pox on all your houses for the lying and cheating that you profess to make in the name of the people of Israel.
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