OTTAWA - Ottawa is announcing it has formally joined the Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade talks and will be at the table for the next full round
in December.The invitation to join the club of 11 Pacific nations was first
announced in July, but all governments needed to ratify the inclusion.The U.S. completed its 90-day Congressional consultation on Monday, the last hurdle in the process.Canada, along with Mexico, is a Johnny-come-lately to the talks, and is
expected to adopt decisions already reached by the other members --
Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the
United States and Vietnam.
Heritage Minister James Moore, who made the announcement, called the
TPP an important step in the government's goal to expand Canada's
presence in the fast-emerging Asian economies.The TPP market encompasses more than 658 million people and has a
combined gross domestic product of about $20.5 trillion, larger than
that of the U.S. and Europe.Read more:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-joins-trans-pacific-partnership-trade-bloc-1.988937#ixzz28sqDieBa
USTR Briefing on TPP: Canada and Mexico Formally Join Negotiations Next Week; IPR Progress Slow in Leesburg
October 5, 2012 By
Mike Palmedo
UPDATE: On Monday, Oct 8, Mexico announced that it had formally
joined the TPP negotiatios, and that it will host an intersessional
meeting in November. [Press Release]
Today Barbara Weisel, head of the Trans Pacific Partnership
negotiations for USTR, held a civil society briefing on the state of the
negotiations.She announced that Canada and Mexico will officially join the TPP
negotiations next week. They will have access to the texts and will
participate in all TPP activities between now and the next round in
December. Canada and Mexico will likely have bilateral meetings with the
U.S. and others to “get up to speed” on specific issues. USTR received
numerous comments in response to its Federal Register notice requesting
comments on the countries’ entrance into the negotiations.
Leading up to the September negotiating round in Leesburg, USTR staff
had embarked on a series of bilateral meetings, including side meetings
at the ASEAN and APEC conferences. Additionally, trade ministers met
at the APEC meeting and released an official
statement on the negotiations.Weisel said that progress was made in many areas, as described in the USTR
press release.
However, the IPR chapter is one area where there is still a lot of
work to do. She said that overall negotiations are on track, and that it
is normal at this stage for negotiations to be down to the more
difficult issues. Most of the IPR negotiations in Leesburg dealt with
trademarks, GIs, and the general provisions. The negotiators touched on
limitations and exceptions, but did not delve deeply into the
discussion. The same issues are likely to be on the table in the
December round. It is not likely that USTR will table any new text on
patents. (Patents and data exclusivity are under discussion, and there
will be further outreach o civil society on this before any new text is
tabled.)The next TPP negotiating round will be held December 3-12 in
Auckland, New Zealand. Before then, USTR expects numerous bilateral
meetings. (One of the civil society attendees noted that this morning
the New Zealand government announced that December 7 is the day for
stakeholder presentations.)After the December round, there will likely be an intercessional on
regulatory coherence and development in Mexico. The exact date and
location is yet to be determined.
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(UPROOTED ISRAELIS AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM)(THIS BRINGS ON WW3 BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED,WARNING TO ARABS-MUSLIMS AND THE WORLD).
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 33:8
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
PA Plans to Use UN Recognition to Push Israel in Corner
The PA has admitted that it will use UN recognition of its demands as a tool to force Israel to accept them in “negotiations." By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu First Publish: 10/10/2012, 9:01 AM
Mahmoud Abbas-Israel News photo: Flash 90
The Palestinian Authority has admitted that it will use United
Nations recognition of its demands as a tool to force Israel to accept
them in what it calls “negotiations," meaning accepting all of its
conditions in a face-to-face meeting.PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
plans
to ask the General Assembly, probably in November, to grant the PA
non-member observer status with recognition of its territorial demands,
namely sovereignty over all of Jerusalem that was restored to Israel in
the Six-Day War in 1967, as well as all of Judea and Samaria. Abbas
previously has said he would not allow any Jew to live in a PA state,
even though nearly 15 percent of the population in Judea and Samaria is
Jewish.Approval in the General Assembly also would include recognizing
Jerusalem as the capital of the PA and also would probably back the
demand that Israel allow the immigration of several million Arabs living
in foreign countries.The Obama administration has promised Israel it will try to convince
European nations to oppose the resolution, a move that might persuade
enough pro-Arab countries to abstain from voting for the resolution and
slice through Abbas’ guaranteed majority if all countries vote.Abbas is trying to pre-empt the United States by preparing the ground
for recognition in talks with European Union ambassadors, whom he met
on Tuesday. He said he accepts European declarations on the peace
process as the basis for renewing talks with Israel and plans to incorporate them into his UN statehood campaign,
AFP reported."The statements of the European Union on our cause serve as the basis
for a return to negotiations," a statement from official news agency
WAFA quoted Abbas as
telling
the EU diplomats at a meeting in Ramallah. "We will use them in the
drafting of a Palestinian resolution which will be presented to the
General Assembly of the United Nations in order to obtain the status of a
non-member state… When we have obtained the status of non-member state
at the General Assembly, we will be ready to return to the negotiating
table with the Israeli side to discuss all final status issues outstanding.”The “negotiations” in effect mean presenting Israel with the same
demands the PA has made for years. However, this time around, Abbas
would have the official backing of the UN and with an implied ultimatum
of accepting them or facing possible UN censure or an escalation of
violence, which presumably he could try to justify by charging Israel
with snubbing the United Nations.Another implied threat is the PA statement that accepting all of its demands would "preserve the two-state
solution,”
although official Palestinian Authority documents, speeches and sermons
by Muslim clerics, and the PA school system disseminates material that
calls all of Israel “Palestine.”
Palestinians propose peace talks after UN vote
Associated Press – 16 hrs ago OCT 10,12
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinian president appears to be backing away from his longstanding demand for Israel to halt West Bank settlement construction before peace talks resume.
Mahmoud
Abbas told European diplomats Tuesday that he will resume talks after
the U.N. votes on a Palestinian request for "nonmember state" status. A
vote is expected in November.Abbas
made no mention of a settlement freeze, and officials said Abbas
believes a freeze would no longer be necessary if he receives U.N.
recognition of a state that includes all of the West Bank.Peace
talks have been frozen for nearly four years, in large part because of
Palestinian demand for a settlement freeze and Israel's refusal to
accept it.
While U.N. recognition is largely symbolic, the Palestinians believe it will bolster them in future negotiations.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Romney Takes Lead in First-Ever Biblical Promise Election
Average of four polls gives Republican two-point lead. The U.S. is voting on a Biblical view of history and destiny.By Gil Ronen First Publish: 10/10/2012, 9:09 AM
Obama and Romney-Reuters
For the first time in the presidential race, an average of four
major polls gives Republican Mitt Romney a two-point lead over incumbent
Democratic President Barack Obama.The
Real Clear Politics website,
which offers an average of polls by major polling firms and is often
consulted by experts, shows IBD/TIPP, Rasmussen, Pew and Gallup polls
taken after the first presidential debate averaging out to a two
percentage point lead for Romney among likely voters.While the first debate centered on
the economy, the next debate between the candidates will feature both domestic and
foreign policy issues, and the last debate will be devoted exclusively to foreign policy.The fact that the first debate had extremely high rating levels and
had such a profound influence on the polls guarantees that the media and
the public will have heightened interest in the next two debates, and
makes them even more crucial.The central issue in foreign policy that Romney is bound to focus on,
and that Obama will have to play defense on, is the Middle East, where
an epic battle between the Biblical narrative and that of Islamists is
coming to a head after brewing for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.The recent debacle in which a U.S. ambassador was murdered in Libya
highlights
the stark difference between the Obama Administration's approach to the
Middle East conflict, and the traditional approach of U.S. Christians
-- especially that of Evangelicals.Obama's approach to the Middle East seeks to avoid conflict with the
forces of Islam at all costs, apparently even to the point of
self-deception, as the Libya affair has shown. Many Israeli observers
suspect that on the gut level, Obama actually favors the Muslim
narrative over the Biblical approach – shared by Judaism and
Christianity – that sees Jerusalem as continuing to be King David's
capital, not Mohammed's.Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened his recent speech at
the United Nations with a mention of King David. To a large extent, the
vision of modern Israel as a step in the continuity of the House of
David promised in the Bible – as opposed to the Islamist claim which
portrays the reigns of King David and his son Solomon, and the Temples
as described in the Bible, as a hoax, despite archaeological evidence of
the 2nd Temple and the Koran itself (
which talks of the destruction of the two Temples that had stood on the site of today's Al-Aksa) is what the final crescendo of this election may be shaping up to be about. Whereas on the surface, Obama's and Romney's policy statements on the
Middle East are almost identical, the "music" from Romney's statements
is markedly different from that emanating from Obama's. The obviously
good chemistry that Romney has with Netanyahu, compared to the frigid
relationship between the Israeli leader and Obama, is further evidence
of this.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
ISRAEL PERSECUTED WORST IN HISTORY YET
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
ISAIAH 14:12-15
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(SATAN HAS PROUD I PROBLEMS)
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
LUKE 10:18
18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
JOB 1:7
7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.(PROOF SATAN ON EARTH WALKING AND CAUSING CHAOS WITH THE 1/3RD FALLIN ANGELS WITH HIM FROM THE FALL-SATANS ARMY PUPPETS TO KILL ,STEAL,DESTROY)
MATTHEW 4:1,3,5,8-9,11
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.(SATAN LITERALLY ON EARTH IN THE WILDERNESS IN JERUSALEM AREA TEMPTING JESUS)
3 And when the tempter (SATAN LITERALLY ON EARTH) came to him,(JESUS) he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
5 Then the devil (SATAN) taketh him (JESUS) up into the holy city,(JERUSALEM) and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,(MOUNT)
8 Again, the devil (SATAN LITERALLY) taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him (JESUS) all the kingdoms of the world,(ON EARTH) and the glory of them;
9 And (SATAN) saith unto him,(JESUS) All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.(SATAN AS GOD INSTEAD OF REVERSE SATAN WORSHIPPING JESUS AS GOD OF ALL THE EARTH WHICH IS THE REAL TRUTH)
11 Then the devil (SATAN) leaveth him,(WALKS AWAY LITERALLY FROM JESUS ON EARTH) and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.(JESUS-GOD)
2 CORINTHIANS 11:3
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his (SATANS A MALE,NOT FEMALE) subtilty,(LITERALLY IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN IN THE MIDEAST ON EARTH) so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
1 PETER 5:8
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:(ESPECIALLY ISRAEL HE HATES THE WORST)
JOHN 10:10
10 The thief (SATAN) cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:
MATTHEW 12:24
24 This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub(SATANS NAME) the prince of the devils.(FALLIN DEMONIC ANGELS AT THE FALL WITH HIM)
JOHN 12:31
31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince (SATAN-ALSO THE PRINCE OF THE GODLESS MEDIA) of this world be cast out.
EPHESIANS 2:2
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,(SATAN THE SATANIC DEMON BEHIND THE GODLESS MEDIA) the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
REVELATION 12:4-6,13-17
4 And his tail (SATANS)drew the third part of the stars of heaven,(1/3RD OF ANGELS FELL WITH SATAN AT THE FALL WHO ARE DEMONIC FALLIN ANGELS-DEMONS) and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman (ISRAEL) which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.(SATANS LAST HOLOCAUST TO TRY TO DESTROY ISRAEL FOREVER)
5 And she brought forth a man child,(MARY DID-JESUS WHO IS(JEWISH) who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
6 And the woman (MARY WHOS JEWISH REPRESENTING ISRAEL)fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.(3 1/2 YRS)
13 And when the dragon (SATAN) saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman (MARY) which brought forth the man child. (JESUS IS JEWISH)(ISRAEL PERSECUTED THE WORST IN HISTORY YET)
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.(PROTECTED FOR 3 1/2 YRS IN PETRA JORDAN)
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.(A TSUNAMI I BELIEVE SATAN WILL TRY TO DESTROY ISRAEL WITH)
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.(GOD PROBABLY CREATES A QUAKE TO STOP THE TSUNAMI WATERS)
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,(SAVED) which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Alert over unidentified aircraft halts flights at Ben Gurion
Four
days after a foreign drone penetrated Israel’s airspace, air force
fighters scrambled to intercept a perceived intruder. No threat was
detected and international flights quickly resumed
Israel scrambled fighter jets to
Ben Gurion International Airport and flight activities there were
briefly halted early Wednesday after a perceived intruder was spotted in
Israel’s skies.The rare disruption of flight activity at
Israel’s main airport pointed to heightened concerns about illegal
penetrations of Israel’s airspace after
a foreign drone,
suspected of being dispatched by Hezbollah, flew over the country for
half an hour on Saturday before it was shot down by the air force.Army Radio reported that the airport ceased
activities for several minutes around 5 a.m. on Wednesday after
receiving warning that the military had spotted an unidentified
aircraft. Ben Gurion’s control tower was ordered to ground flights and
instruct incoming planes to circle in the air until given the all clear.The IAF reportedly sent fighter jets to the
area before determining that it was not a hostile aircraft and calling
off the alarm.“These are regular occurrences that take place
whenever suspicious objects are spotted,” a military source told Walla
News. ”It’s better not to take chances. We raise alerts and send out
aircraft to rule out security breaches.”
Israeli lawmaker: Obama is no friend of Israel
Associated Press – 16 hrs ago OCT 10,12
JERUSALEM (AP) — A lawmaker from the Israeli prime minister's party is in the United States ahead of the presidential election and has said that President Barack Obama has "not been a friend of Israel."
Danny Danon, chairman of Likud's international outreach branch, said in Chicago on Tuesday that Obama's policies have been "catastrophic."Danon
said he will also travel to Florida and New York to promote his new
book and to meet with Republican and Democratic leaders.He says he is not interfering in the presidential race but merely stating his personal opinion. He has previously praised
Mitt Romney.But his comments could be embarrassing to
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been trying to shed accusations that he favors his longtime friend Romney in the race for the White House.
For Netanyahu, a reelection campaign with an eye to Washington — and Tehran
In a
local field devoid of competition, PM is timing elections, in good part,
to give him freedom to tackle Iran without being bullied by the White
House
After Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations
last month, it seemed almost certain that he would call for new
elections early in 2013. Hardly anyone believed that he was able — or
willing — to make much of an effort to pass a budget for the coming
year, and the fact that he placed a “red line” for Iran by “next spring,
at most by next summer,” and not, as previously stated, by this fall,
signaled that he was seeking fresh legitimization from the Israeli
electorate.If Netanyahu is reelected — and while the
polls leave little doubt that he will win a second straight term,
nothing is quite certain with Israel’s volatile electorate and
unpredictable regional challenges — he can proceed with whatever plans
he has regarding a preemptive strike on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear
facilities. Indeed, buoyed by an election victory and with the US
elections well behind him, Netanyahu would have a much freer hand to act
in the Iranian arena than he would have had this fall. And preventing
Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, Netanyahu’s confidants claim, is
his political raison d’être.Political analysts also say that Netanyahu is
rushing to the polls in January to avoid trouble with Washington
regarding peace talks with the Palestinians. If US President Barack
Obama loses the November 6 election, he will be a lame duck president
until Mitt Romney is inaugurated on January 20, 2013. In the past,
outgoing US leaders have spent their last months in office trying
desperately to push Israelis and Palestinians to settle
their differences and sign an agreement. If, however, Israel is in the
middle of an extremely brief election campaign this winter, no US
president will seriously expect Netanyahu to try to sit down with Abbas
to rekindle a deadlocked peace process, especially not one that has been
lying barren for most of the four years Netanyahu has been in office.Netanyahu knows he’s not surprising anybody by
calling for early elections, but he also doesn’t need to. Former prime
minister Ehud Olmert, who might have mulled another run at the
premiership, probably won’t be ready in time for January elections. The
same is likely true of ex-foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who is also
planning a comeback but has not made much headway in getting organized.
Besides Olmert and Livni, there is no one who can seriously challenge
Netanyahu for the top job, even though Labor’s leader Shelly Yachimovich
claimed Tuesday she has a “reasonable” shot at it. Labor is set to grow
because of its credibility on socioeconomic issues, but it sorely lacks
a leading security figure in its top leadership — an ex-general with
clout and gravitas.Indeed, all recent polls predict a large
majority for the prime minister’s Likud party, which can expect to gain
one seat, and, with 28 mandates, become the Knesset’s largest party. In
the current Knesset, the Likud lags behind Kadima, but in 2013 Shaul
Mofaz’s centrist party will be nearly wiped out by the voters, surveys
indicate. Out of the party’s current 28 seats, merely a handful will
remain, according to the pollsters’ forecasts.
Of course there will be new players on the
block, such as television anchorman-turned-politician Yair Lapid’s
centrist Yesh Atid party and other yet-to-created and yet-to-be
announced lists. But one thing is already all but certain: The
center-right bloc currently governing Israel will also dominate the 19th
Knesset.Over the last few days, Netanyahu has been
meeting with the heads of the factions that currently form the
coalition, and while things in the center could shift dramatically —
with some Kadima voters migrating to Yesh Atid and a revitalized Labor
party — the picture on the right will likely remain more or less the
same.The nationalist Yisrael Beytenu party swings
between 14 and 16 Knesset seats in the polls, indicating that Avigdor
Liberman could well remain foreign minister. The ultra-Orthodox Shas
party is likewise expected to retain its 11 mandates, which likely means
that Eli Yishai is safe in the Interior Ministry. What happens with
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, however, is still unclear, as his tiny
Atzmaut (Independence) party may not make it into the Knesset come
Election Day.What’s ahead in the coming weeks? Even before Netanyahu took the stage Tuesday evening to announce
what he considers his government’s stellar achievements in the fields of security and the economy, the
campaign season was already in full swing. And just seconds after the
prime minister’s announcement, opposition head Mofaz slammed the
government for its perceived failures, offering his Kadima party as the
only alternative.This coming Monday, when the Knesset returns
from its 81-day recess and enters the winter session, Netanyahu will try
to push through a bill that will dissolve the current Knesset and set
new elections within three months. Once the Knesset is dissolved, a
transition government takes over, which means that Netanyahu can more or
less rule as he pleases for a while. All legislative work will grind to
a halt, bills will be frozen, and the only people working in the
Knesset will likely be those MKs with little chance of reelection
clearing out their offices.
