The elections in Israel.

Why don't the Jews accept Jesus as their Messiah?

This is Dr. Jim Denison's The Daily Article podcast for Tuesday, April 9th, 2019.

In America, many of us are sleep deprived after watching Virginia defeat Texas Tech in overtime last night.

Meanwhile, much of the world is focused on Israel, where one

of the most significant elections in years is taking place. I have led approximately 30 study

tours to Israel over the years. Each time, the two most common questions I'm asked are,

why don't the Jews accept Jesus as their Messiah? And, how does the Israeli government work?

The two questions are more related than one might think. Since Israelis are voting today in parliamentary elections,

we'll address the second question first. Here's the process. 14 parties are vying for votes.

Citizens vote for parties, not people. At stake is control of the Knesset, aka the Israeli

parliament, and its 120 seats.

The more votes a party receives, the more seats it wins.

No party has ever won a 61-seat majority.

After today's vote, the President of Israel, a largely ceremonial position, will invite

one party's leader to form a governing coalition with other parties.

That person will have 28 days to form a government with a possible 14-day extension.

The president selects the leader who, in his opinion, has the best chance of forming a multi-party

coalition to reach 61 Knesset seats.

This is usually the leader of the party that receive the most votes in the election, but not always.

If that leader is successful, he or she becomes the prime minister of the country.

If not, the president invites a different candidate to form a governing coalition.

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