In direct contravention of my wife's explicit instructions, herewith I inaugurate my first blog. Long may it prosper.

For some reason, I think I have something to say to you. You think you have something to say to me? Email me at: gideonsblogger -at- yahoo -dot- com

 
News flash: Yisrael B'Aliyah has merged with Likud.

I'm not 100% sure what this means, whether YBA will cease to exist permanently or whether it will, like Meimad or Gesher, continue to exist as a separate party currently within a Likud "alignment." In any event, I will be sorry to see the party go, but glad to see Sharansky in a position to rise within Likud, potentially. As I've said many times: I think he's PM material, eventually, and I think Likud badly needs his reforming, democratic spirit. I had thought that YBA would become Likud's "natural partner" in the way that the Free Democrats are the natural partner to the CDU/CSU in Germany. But this'll work, too, if it means Sharansky and his ideas now get a bigger megaphone, and not just that he is swallowed up and becomes irrelevant.
posted by Noah at 12:51 PM