I was reading an Israeli newspaper because I wanted to learn more about the election, and I've also been reading a written history of Israel from when it officially became recognized as a country in 1948 up until present day.
I went to the beach and played matkot, which is a game played with two paddles and a rubber ball. You volley the ball back and forth with your partner. It's similar to badminton, but there is no net to get the ball over.
This week, the news really is overwhelmed by the election. Israel is run on a parliamentary system, so it has a government similar to the United Kingdom. Rather than a single president, Israel has a Parliament, which they call the Knesset. There are 120 seats in the Knesset, and parties form based on their political interests, such as security, economics and education. Citizens vote for parties, and the number of seats given to each party is proportional to the number of votes they receive in the elections. There are seventeen officially registered parties in Israel, but they don't all hold seats. The largest party in the last election won 30 seats, as it is well known and widely supported. I will report back next week on the outcome of the elections!
