I Host a Pre-Election Special Debate

In less than a week's time, Israeli citizens will go to the polls to elect the 19th Knesset. Over 30 parties are listed on the ballot and the latest opinion polls indicate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will again form the next government, even though his Likud-Yisrael Beytenu party will have fewer seats than it has in the outgoing parliament.

Ahead of the elections, I served as co-host of a Special Pre-Election Debate in English, broadcast live over the Internet. The event was organized and produced by Israel Vibes Interactive Broadcasting, in partnership with Aliyah Magazine. The debate was screened live at Ynet News and Israel National News as well.

Included here is the debate that was shown as a live videocast on the Internet:

Participating in the debate were English speaking representatives of six political parties. Representatives from the Labor Party and Otzma L'Yisrael were last minute no-shows.

The program was co-hosted by David Lev from Aliyah Magazine.and behind the scenes was Avraham Venismach. The program was staged at Pomeranz book store in downtown Jerusalem and ran for 90 minutes.

Despite the very different conflicting viewpoints expressed by the candidates, the debate was very civil and took place under the slogan "Celebrating Israeli Democracy." The show was targeted at English speaking new immigrants in Israel, and towards those considering making Aliyah. The program concluded on a positive note, with each candidate expressing a call to Jews from around the world to come live in Israel so that they, too, can participate in the Israeli democratic process.