Help the winner Brian Blum's excellent “Israel's electoral system: The best for us?” (This Normal Life, March 6) illustrates the obvious: It's very difficult to have an electoral system that works, or one that most approve of. One frustrating aspect in Israel is the dissipation of power caused by the fractured vote. I wish to remind readers of the suggestion by a political student to add 15 seats to the Knesset, making a total of 135. These extra 15 would literally be given to the winning party, no matter the margin. Coalition governance is a permanent fact of political life here. If anything is frustrating, it's the inability of the winners to carry through most of their promises. It might be following this form of democracy to a T, but it is neither practical nor constructive. With the knowledge that bad policies and/or mistakes can be righted by new elections to be held some four years after the previous elections at latest, why not give the winner a better chance of putting promises into practice? STEPHEN POHLMANN Tel Aviv Based on hate Reader Sha'i Ben-Tekoa's March 6 letter (“Naïve or too kind”) is so full of outrageous distortions that it demands a response. Mr. Ben-Tekoa states that US President Barack Obama gained power “in order to drive [the US] onto the rocks.” How does he explain then that Obama changed a nation on the brink of a depression, losing an average of 750,000 jobs per month when he took office, into one that now has had 60 consecutive months of positive job growth, with over 11 million new net jobs created, despite consistent Republican efforts to obstruct him? Mr. Ben-Tekoa also states that “Obama is arguably the greatest enemy agent in the history of enemy agents, a dissembling Muslim....” How does he explain that, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli strategic experts, strategic cooperation between the US and Israel has never been better and the Obama administration has consistently backed Israel at the UN and in many other cases when Israel was criticized, including with regard to the Goldstone report and the Gaza flotilla events? It seems like Mr. Ben-Tekoa's letter is based far more on hatred of Obama than on reason and facts. RICHARD H. SCHWARTZ Jerusalem/New York No frills It's true that the Left-controlled press makes Sara Netanyahu appear to have more cuckoo than a Swiss clock. However, I think that distinction goes to Naomi Ragen for her bizarre observations and statements in “A professional woman” (One on One, February 27). Regarding the old furniture in the Prime Minister's Residence and the impression it makes on world leaders, who cares about chintz or prints when Islamic State is on our doorstep? Any extra money should help the thousands of Holocaust survivors hanging on by a thread, or [those] living in a room smaller than most bathrooms. Why does Ragen praise her strength yet assume that the next prime minister will be a man? Sara, no promises on that plant, but I will toss the chocolate. My children love me. I only expect a manager to pay me. If you are looking for someone to organize that office, call me. I'll speak to you from my no-frills futon. LAUREN ADILEV Efrat Write to: maglet@jpost.com Only a selection of letters can be published. Priority goes to those that are brief and topical. Letters may be edited, and must bear the name and address of the writer.
