Supporters of FPTP also argue that the use of proportional representation (PR) may enable smaller parties to become decisive in the country's legislature and gain leverage they wouldn't otherwise enjoy. They argue that FPTP generally reduces this possibility, except where parties have a strong regional basis. A journalist at "Haaretz" noted that Israel's highly proportional Knesset "affords great power to relatively small parties, forcing the government to give in to political blackmail and to reach compromises;" Tony Blair, defending FPTP, argued that other systems give small parties the balance of power, and influence disproportionate to their votes.