The Left won the popular vote

[oberliner]

1,758,594 (Yesh Atid, Labor, Hatnuah, Meretz, UAL, Hadash, Balad, Kadima)

1,750,936 (Likud Beiteinu, Jewish Home, Shas, UTJ)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_legislative_election,_2013

Truly historic and especially surprising (to most) considering all the shrill talk of the coming right wing dominance (that never happened).

[LeftishBrit]

1. Huge relief to me. Not perfect..

(perfect to me would be an absolute majority for Meretz, which was obviously not going to happen!); but very very much better than expected.

Just as Obama was going to probably be a One Term President, and even if he squeaked through he'd probably lose the Senate ... and none of that happened either.

Wish we'd get some good political news in the UK now!

[shaayecanaan]

2. Its wrong

The Right won a popular majority, admittedly a fairly bare majority, but a majority nevertheless:-

Right Camp

Likud Beteinu 884,625
Jewish Home 345,935
Shas 331,800 (theocratic)
United Torah Judaism 196,038 (theocratic)
Otzma 66,840 (ultranationalist)
Am Shalem 45,691 (a Shas breakaway. Admittedly more moderate than Shas on many issues, most Israelis commentators still view them as right wing)
Koach Lehashpia (shas breakaway) 28,048
Chaim Bekavod (theocratic) 3,639
Kalunu Haverim (hasidic, rather vague platform, but certainly not leftist) 2179
moreshet avot (theocratic) 461

Total votes of right camp 1,911,284
Total amount of valid votes cast 3,793,469

Percentage of popular vote for right camp = 50.22%.

[oberliner]

4. No it's not

You've got it wrong.

Am Shalem is not part of the "right camp" - in fact they specifically split off from Shas for that very reason.

Total votes of right camp is 1,865,593
Percentage: 49.1%

And that's counting the fringe parties that did not qualify for seats.

[shaayecanaan]

6. Yes it is...

Am Shelem seeks to appeal to the more moderate constituents of Shas. By "moderate" I mean moderately right-wing, not moderately left-wing. Am Shelem still favours a religious rather than a secular state, but they think that the religious character of that state should be less extreme than that advocated by Shas.

Essentially Am Shelem's closest corollaries are the Christian Democratic parties in Europe, such as the Christian Democratic Appeal in the Netherlands, in that it is a religious party but one that seeks to reconcile its religious principles with support for democracy. Such parties are generally considered as belonging to the right.

You havent bothered to include Am Shelem amongst the left-centre previously, and are only trying to do so now to avoid the impression that you have been caught in a lie.

[oberliner]

10. No it's not

Fascinating though to consider the machinations and the motivations behind this particular attempt at spin by you and your fellow anti-hasbarados.

[shaayecanaan]

11. So you think that this guy is left wing?

When asked, however, what he thought of the inclusion of homosexuals in Israeli society, Amsalem responded plainly, “My position is that of the Torah. The Torah prohibits it.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/ultra-orthodox-knesset-candidate-gives-nonreligious-voters-his-spiel/

[azurnoir]

3. well that's great and explain to us exactly what that means for the peace process

Not to mention Israel's settlement enterprise, will the settlement6 building will cease now that there is a 'leftist' government ?

or is it that in this case the terms Rightist and Leftist really only apply to the majority of Israelis on an economic level only

[holdencaufield]

5. Could it be ...

... that to the Israeli voting public the most important things (and what draws them to the polls) are the social, economic and domestic issues that concern voters all over the world and their focus isn't entirely on the IP Conflict as with so many here?

[oberliner]

7. I think you've hit it

People like to paint this picture of Israel that just doesn't comport with the reality (which is much closer to what you've described).

[azurnoir]

8. Thank you for that confirmation

of course the realities of normal everyday life in the way of housing jobs economy ect are of the greatest importance to Israelis as they are to most people the world over, with the I/P situation taking a backseat to that

That said for the rest of us 'outsiders' it is the I/P situation that takes precedence and what draws attention and the terms Left and Right wing hold very little meaning when applied to that situation

once again thank you for confirming that for us

[oberliner]

9. You are welcome

It's still staggering to me to see how people are trying to spin what I thought everyone here would agree was a surprisingly positive result.