A double whammy for American advisers to Israeli campaigns

Ami Kaufman By Ami Kaufman January 23, 2013 | Edit

Stan Greenberg and Arthur Finkelstein are both architects of two of the biggest election flops Israeli politics has ever seen.

First of all, let’s get things straight: these elections results show that the two evils – corporate capitalism and the occupation – will continue to reign supreme.

Yet, there are a few bright sides: mainly, Israel seems to be a bit less fascist. Just a tad. For example, Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben Ari will not be in the Knesset (as of 99% of vote counted). Good riddance.

Also, there will be many more women in parliament than before, and more social activists. Over 50 new MKs will be sworn in – that’s quite a change.

But for me, I’m particularly happy about one thing that has ticked me off for years and will hopefully come to an end: the meddling of American advisers in Israeli elections.

Why are these people here to begin with? Let’s face it, it’s not their fault. It’s the people who hire them, still believing that those guys from the Goldena Medina must know better about everything, anywhere. Even on their own home turf.

So, is it true? Do they understand Israelis better than we do ourselves?

Let’s see:

Stan Greenberg: The polls at certain points had Labor well over 20 seats, yet they ended with a mere 15 seats (99% of the vote counted). A mere two seats more than the all-time low that Ehud Barak was responsible for. It takes American genius to only get two more seats after the social protests that should have boosted Labor sky high, if they had played their cards right.

Arthur Finkelstein: According to reports, Finkelstein (who left the country just days before the election) was the architect of unifying Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu, worth 42 seats back then. They’ve dropped to 33, maybe less (99% of the vote counted).

A word to Stan and Arthur: Go home, and stay home.

A word to Israeli parties: Go local. And grow up. The fetish with everything American is so 80s.

Ami Kaufman

Ami Kaufman was chief night editor for Haaretz, for the prominent Israeli financial daily Calcalist, and correspondent on Israeli affairs for 93.6 RAM FM, a joint Palestinian-Israel radio station. His interest in food and cooking led to culinary studies at the "Israeli CIA" (Tadmor, Herzliya) and a brief stint in the restaurant business. Born in Tel Aviv, Ami lives in Bat Yam with his wife and two daughters. In his spare time he blogs at Half & Half.

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