One positions likely to raise eyebrows is that Shahak supports negotiations with Syria and Lebanon over Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon. Israel has maintained a military presence in a buffer zone since 1982 ostensibly to prevent missile attacks on Israeli settlements along the border. However, Hezbullah guerrillas have been successful on a number of occasions in launching attacks as well as fighting a war of attrition with Israeli forces, killing over 50 Israeli soldiers in the last year. Israel has retaliated on a number of occasions in the last several weeks with air raids on suspected guerrilla sites killing civilians.
Shahak is a political novice, having never held political office prior to announcing his campaign. This shouldn't amount to a major obstacle as several other former military officers retired to run in politics, including Rabin who became Prime Minister. Shahak is also known to have been extremely close with Rabin and some suggest they had a virtual father and son relationship, journalists working for the Jerusalem Report magazine wrote in a biography of Rabin. (Profile: Amnon Lipkin-Shahak: From the army to a new battlefield, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, January 6, 1999)
It is understandable why so many Israelis would favor Shahak in elections as they appear to be disillusioned by the continuing bickering between Likud and Labor, but the problems go much deeper. Netanyahu locked himself into a vicious cycle when he consistently appeased the extreme right wing and ultra-religious parties that make up his coalition government. Moderates and left wingers saw this as a threat to normal daily life; the religious parties have been relatively successful in winning major concessions for keeping Orthodox Jews from participating in the military draft and maintaining a stranglehold on Jewish religious affairs that include conversions (a flashpoint in Jewish religious affairs).
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