Translating to English from Politician-ish
It is a common occurrence for politicians to say what they believe the people want to hear – and not what they really mean. That practice was more pronounced than ever during the political crisis that finally ended Tuesday with the deal that prevented an early election.
One particularly common lie is that politicians do not want to go to an election. If they are doing well in the polls, they actually often do want an election but do not want to be blamed for it... That can explain behavior by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days that was seen as zigzagging.
The public rarely wants to go early to the polls. A survey taken by pollsters Mano Geva and Mina Tzemach for Channel 2 found that 54% of the public opposes an early election and just 30% want one.
A group of visiting American dignitaries who attended Netanyahu’s Knesset speech Monday said they were impressed by his impassioned plea to keep his coalition
together. They were shocked to hear afterward that Netanyahu’s aides were seeking votes for an early election at Netanyahu’s orders as he spoke.
Therefore, as a service to the readers of The Jerusalem Post, rather than merely translate what politicians say from Hebrew to English as usual, here are translations of what the politicians say to what they actually mean.
• Netanyahu said: There is still time to keep the government together. It is late but not too late.
Netanyahu meant: I wanted a June election because I thought a convincing victory would send a message to the attorney-general. Had there been an election, in order to enter my government, every party would have had to agree to not topple me even if I got indicted, and to pass a law barring investigating a sitting prime minister. But no one else wanted an election, so I failed to move it up.
• Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman said: The people of Israel do not need an election, which would go against the electoral interests of Yisrael Beytenu and the personal interests of Avigdor Liberman.
Liberman meant: Standing up to the haredim makes me look good to the Russian immigrant voters, which is very important, because I can’t play the “victim of police” card I’ve played in the past. Netanyahu reserved that one this time around.
• Avi Gabbay said: Let’s go to an election as soon as possible.
Gabbay meant: Anything but an election! Our polls are terrible.
• Future Likud leadership candidates said: We hope the crisis will be resolved and an election avoided
Future Likud leadership candidates meant: We hope the election will be held soon, so we can ride Netanyahu’s coattails to a big victory and then quickly take his job after he gets indicted. •