(no subject)
Would it be reasonable to say that the mechanics of Israel's electoral system are a major obstruction to the peace process? If I'm understanding correctly what I'm reading in the press, the blunt proportional representation hands power to the fringes. It's a bit like those annoying situations in Australia where a single independent is suddenly calling the shots, just because they have the tie-breaking vote. Might Israelis, and the region, be better off with (for example) a bicameral system, or at any rate, some kind of electoral reform?
An email doing the rounds has a crafty Benjamin Netanyahu pwning a British interviewer on the topic of proportionality by bringing up the bombing of Dresden. Snopes describes it as "partly true", producing interviews from 2006 in which Netanyahu has indeed had an attack of tu quoque. Dresden seems like an odd example to bring up; for Britons, it's long been a subject of regret and controversy, and some commentators have branded it a war crime.
ETA: On the subject of Snopes: the claim that Obama has set aside millions to resettle hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the US is a lie.
An email doing the rounds has a crafty Benjamin Netanyahu pwning a British interviewer on the topic of proportionality by bringing up the bombing of Dresden. Snopes describes it as "partly true", producing interviews from 2006 in which Netanyahu has indeed had an attack of tu quoque. Dresden seems like an odd example to bring up; for Britons, it's long been a subject of regret and controversy, and some commentators have branded it a war crime.
ETA: On the subject of Snopes: the claim that Obama has set aside millions to resettle hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the US is a lie.