For the last six months or so, my background reading project has been about the disturbing below-American-radar changes that have been happening in Israel during the last few decades. In my files I have a long shapeless “Israel’s Identity Crisis” article that is far from ready for public consumption. But I was able to pull together some of those thoughts this week to discuss the significance for myself and for Americans in general of how Prime Minister Netanyahu’s turn-to-the-dark-side saved his political career. He trashed Obama, the peace process, and Israel’s Arab citizens — and the voters loved it.
I’m still debating on the title, which currently is “What Just Happened?”. This is the kind of article where every sentence has to be phrased just right, so even though it seems complete I probably won’t get it out until 9 or 10.
The weekly summary will probably be later than usual, maybe noon or one.
The Weekly Sift 
Comments
I heard on the news the day Israel voted that exit polls showed the candidates neck and neck, but when they started counting, Bibi surged ahead. And the polls up to Election Day also were neck and neck. Have you heard any speculation that they came up with a count that wasn’t there? I wonder.
Irene G.
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Apparently the voters who came to the polls late in the day went overwhelmingly for Netanyahu. I’ve heard speculation that this is a sign of a corrupt election, but I haven’t seen anything solid to back that up.
You are wise to choose your words with great care. I commented on a post by an American newspaper columnist
Read Amos Oz speech – brilliant
Sent from my iPhone
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