Election Fever

My friend woke up at 5:30 am this morning to go to an election party with some of people at her yeshiva.  The German intern went to a bar, waiting in anticipation.  A British coworker was out until 4:30 in the morning watching as the election results rolled in. The Israeli on the elliptical next to me at 7:30 am this morning was even talking about them.  Election fever is everywhere.  People from every country and every ethnicity were on edge to hear the results. 

The reaction was mixed here.  Most people my age celebrated Obama’s victory, where others had mixed emotions about how this would affect Israel.  When I told the man on the elliptical next to me Obama won, he shook his head in disappointment, but without comment.

While our government is preparing for a new leader, so is Israel.  Tzipi Livni failed to form a new coalition government within the time allotted, so preparations for elections have begun.  Two of my roommates were set to intern at the Knesset and now longer have jobs as parliament members hit the campaign trail.  The Knesset is no longer running sessions and things seem to be put on hold while they deal with this unique situation.

In the meantime, two rockets fell on Ashkelon, Baltimore’s sister city, yesterday as part of a larger barrage of rocket fire from the Gaza strip.  No Israelis were killed.