fbpx
[additional-authors]
March 19, 2015

Israel’s Consul General in Los Angeles David Siegel took the stage in a Pico-Robertson banquet room on March 17 — as returns from the recent Israeli election were still coming in — and quoted baseball legend Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over till it’s over.” 

As he spoke, results were being streamed live on two television sets that were set up on both sides of him. By 7 pm, when Siegel spoke, a winner had not yet been declared and the question still loomed: Would it be Zionist Union’s Yitzhak Herzog or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud?

By the end of the night, it was obvious that, as suspected, Netanyahu’s Likud Party had triumphed, winning 30 seats in the new Knesset, Israel’s 120-member legislature, whereas the Zionist Union fell short with 24 seats. Siegel said whether one agrees with the final results, what happened on Election Day was important — for a lot more reasons than those that generated controversy during the run-up to voting.

“The Knesset represents Israel’s democracy and it represents something that is absolutely beautiful, rare and unique, certainly in the Middle East, but also in many parts of the world. I think it’s something we should be very proud of,” he said.

Siegel, speaking at the event sponsored by the Israeli-American Council (IAC), said the voter turnout rate of upward of 70 percent is a testament to the success of the Knesset and of Israel. 

“If you’ve seen the photos, Arab-Israelis went to vote today. Some Bedouins were in full hijabs and next to them is a kibbutznik in shorts exercising their same right to vote,” he told the Journal. 

And conjuring image, he said the diversity of the Knesset, comprising a patchwork of parties, beliefs and wardrobes, was the reason behind the evening’s festivities. (The snazzy venue, hummus and falafel galore were a nice complement.)

Dikla Kadosh, IAC’s regional director, echoed these sentiments when she announced to the room, “We are here today to celebrate Israel’s democratic process.” 

She said Israeli youth tends to be more politically literate than American youth because they have to be. 

“Here, I feel like from election to election, my life isn’t changed dramatically. But I think in Israel with every election and every change of politics, people feel it right away,” she said. “It has an existential effect on their day-to-day, so everybody is clued in … and come election time, they know how to vote.”

Although politics and party identification was a bit of a taboo subject at the event — Kadosh, for example, asked the audience to keep questions “apolitical” during an open Q-and-A session with Siegel — there was a stirring sense of nationalism.

Arieh Warshel, distinguished professor of chemistry at USC who shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in the subject, said he was attending the event not as an Israeli-American, but as an Israeli living in the United States. This was his first time attending an IAC event.

Actor Mike Burstyn, another attendee, was born in New York, but raised in Israel. 

“It’s not an easy democracy,” he said of the Holy Land.

But back here, he stressed, there will be important ramifications, too. “It’s important that the community here in Los Angeles stays together,” he said.

For Siegel, the gathering of Jewish and Israeli-American communities contributed to the feeling of celebration. 

“It’s really a feeling of family, no matter where you go, and I love that and I’m proud of that,” he said.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.