Was It Really A Shock?

Local Labor and Likud supporters agree that
Netanyahu's win wasn't so unexpected.

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ANIL

t's been two weeks since
media, both nationally and
locally, decried Binyamin Ne-
tanyahu's "shocking' victory
over Prime Minister Shimon
Peres in the Israel national elec-
tions.
But was the Likud leader's win
such a shock?
For some, it was merely the
drama of going to bed with in-
formation that one candidate was
narrowly ahead only to awake
and learn that the sundown run-
nerup was the sunrise winner.
For Dr. Jay Novetsky, there
was no surprise in Mr. Ne-
tanyahu's victory. It was, the
Southfield resident said, a state-
ment made by the people of the
Jewish state.
"Some want to forget," he com-
mented, "that this is about the
voice of the Jewish people, that
Eretz Yisrael is a Jewish home-
land." _
And that choice, he added,
started with Sarah's biblical com-
mand that Isaac, not Ishmael, be
the choice to multiply and thrive
in the land.
"The question," he said,
"shouldn't be, 'are we in shock?'
The question is, 'What is Israel
facing now?' It's not about peace
but war. What kind of peace fur-
thers the continued killing of Is-
raelis?"
The absence of shock was also
shared by local supporters of La-
bor. Ronald Aronson, a professor
of humanities at Wayne State
University, said Peres lost be-
cause he didn't really present a
peace alternative.
Mr. Aronson said the Israeli
assassination of the Hamas bomb
maker, known as the "Engineer,"
as well as the bombing of Hezbol-
lah in Lebanon, indicated a
change in strategy by Mr. Peres.
"He was doing pretty much
what the people expected him to
do," said Mr. Aronson. "In a num-
ber of respects, rhetoric aside, he
began to dim. People had less of
a sense that he was representing
a peace alternative."
"I think this represented a
short-term decision by the Is-
raelis," said Mr. Aronson. "I was
depressed as hell, and surprised.
But, anyone who remembers
back to former Prime Ministers
(Menachem) Begin and (Yitzhak)
Shamir wouldn't be surprised.
Netanyahu is likely to be less
proactive than Begin and
Shamir. The peace process re-
mains a fact. He can nibble
around the edges, but it is some-
thing that has changed the coun-
try.

"I think that the assassination
of (Yitzhak) Rabin was a horri-
bly proactive act. We could have
foreseen the suicide bombings
based on that. Peres is part of
that chain. It's a chain of violence.
The question is, when will it
end?"
Ken Knoppow, a local peace ac-
tivist, also said there was no rea-
son to be shocked at the election
results. The polls, he comment-
ed, were so close that a margin of
error either way could mean vic-
tory. "Neither outcome would
have been shocking," said Mr.
Knoppow. "From my standpoint,
it was a tragedy, but not an un-
foreseeable tragedy. We have Ne-
tanyahu for better or worse."
For West Bloomfield resident
Rae Sharf n ian, the choice was
definitely for the better.
"I was so afraid to even hope
that Bibi (Netanyahu) would
win," said Mrs. Sharfman. "I'm

"The Jews made
their choice
overwhelmingly."

— Rae Sharfman

thrilled obviously. Israel is a Jew-
ish country, which a lot of people
seem to put aside. The Jews there
made their choice overwhelm-
ingly."
Dr. Jerry Kaufman, another
local Likud activist, said "shock"
was too strong a word. He was,
instead, "pleasantly surprised.
"The reason there was shock
was because the media had built
up a strong likelihood of a Peres
victory. Also, the media in Israel
is a leftist sort of media. Every
poll gave Peres an edge of 4 to 5
percent, and when Netanyahu
won, it went against everything
we had heard leading up to the
election." El

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Deadlines

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noon Thursday, eight days pri-

or to issue date. The deadline
for birth announcements is 10
a.m. Monday, four days prior
to issue date; out-of-town obit-
uaries, 10 a.m. Tuesday, three
days prior to issue date.

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