Posted on 06/07/2021 4:19:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
Evangelical Christians who have become used to the effective leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister, may have grave concerns about the newly formed coalition government. But I believe there is good reason to hope that this new government might be just what Israel needs.
When I was asked by the New York Times about evangelical reaction to the potential ouster of Netanyahu, I replied, “Your average American evangelical would think it’s a tragedy if Netanyahu is out. It will be similar in many of their minds to Trump losing to Biden.”
Despite those concerns, however, the great majority of evangelicals from whom I’m hearing are expressing their support for the new government, wanting to continue to stand together with Israel and have a positive, supportive relationship.
Given that Netanyahu was such an effective leader on so many fronts, what, then, could be good about his ouster? And what could be positive about the new government?
First, Netanyahu’s latest attempt at forming a government caused him to lurch further to the right, to the point of embracing some dangerously anti-Arab ideologies. Increasingly, he was not serving as the leader of the whole country.
Second, in order to form a coalition, he needed to cozy up to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, whose almost exclusive focus is on the wellbeing of their communities. This often comes at the expense of the rest of the nation, which is forced to subsidize these devoted, ultra-Orthodox families (also known as Haredim).
Almost all of the men do not serve in the military, and many of them study rabbinic texts day and night rather than work secular jobs, underwritten by taxpayer money. (In their view, this is their sacred calling and is a spiritual key to the nation’s preservation.)
Not only so, but these ultra-Orthodox parties always demand control over certain important positions, including the Ministry of the Interior, which then works against the interests of Messianic Jews in the Land.
This is a perspective often missed by many Christians in the West: within Israel, while Netanyahu certainly has his backers, and while he has done much good, the believing community is hardly united behind him.
In keeping with this, one of my friends who emigrated to Israel in the 1970s and has been a citizen ever since, underscored these issues to me, adding: “I always saw Netanyahu’s lack of interest in promoting the good for Israel’s Arabs as unbiblical. For most of the years, the Israeli Arabs have been decent citizens for the most part. But their cities were unpoliced, and lately are often ruled by gangs which are terrorizing the normal citizens of Israeli Arab towns. They need infrastructure on a level with all of Israel. They are Israeli citizens.
“There needs to be more fairness in giving Arabs reasonable rights to build housing, even though the country is tiny, and there isn’t enough room for anyone.”
And this is where I see hope for the new coalition.
First, the incoming, two-year prime minister, Naftali Bennett, himself strongly to the right, seems to have put the good of the country ahead of partisan interests.
According to Bennett’s long-term advisor George Birnbaum, “in all his private conversations with Bennett, he never spoke against Netanyahu. The enemy, for Bennett, was a fifth election in under two-and-a-half years. ‘His main driving force was not vitriol against Bibi,’ Birnbaum said. ‘He said we need to do what is best for Israel, and what is worst for Israel is a fifth election.’”
To be sure, Bennett, like Netanyahu, is a shrewd politician, emerging as incoming, two-year prime minister while garnering less than 10% of the total vote. This is quite a political feat. Yet, I am hopeful that it is not only personal ambition driving him and that he does want to see the nation move forward.
With the new coalition, no one got everything they wanted. Everyone had to compromise somewhere. Idealism had to yield to pragmatism.
Second, as much as I have concerns about an Islamist party serving as part of the government (as opposed to simply having votes in the Knesset), Arab Israelis do make up more than 20 percent of the nation and their needs and interests must be addressed. (This number is separate from the self-identified Palestinians living in Gaza and Judea-Samaria, also known as the West Bank. They total almost 6 million.)
As noted by my friend in Israel, “Bennett, Yair Lapid [leader of Yesh Atid, who would serve as the next prime minister for two years after Bennett) and Mansour Abbas [leader of the Islamist party] have spoken in reasonable, even caring speeches, while Netanyahu has blasted and blasted and was at his best with his fear-mongering, anger and hate-filled attacks against Bennett and company.
“If Abbas will genuinely seek to better the lives of his people, he will be the very first Arab politician to do this. If he breaks the mode, it will be a great breakthrough for the betterment of the Israeli Arabs and the entire nation.”
Yet the challenges are immense: “this new coalition is new. It is going to have horrific challenges, especially in dealing with Jerusalem and Har HaBayit [a Temple Mount controversy that could erupt into terrible violence]. A war can always start in a second. Iran and Biden are tremendous challenges. This Bennett/Lapid coalition is going to need all the prayer power and angelic protection it can possibly get. Only a small percentage of Israelis believe this government will last.”
Still, there is reason for hope.
In any case, the end of the current Netanyahu reign of power could turn out benefitting the nation more than hurting it. All the more reason for ongoing prayer.
But then again, it could turn out very badly. Time will tell.
You only have to fail once
Meanwhile, the IDF is not stopping Egypt from rearming Hamas. Rocket tubes and other needed materials are crossing in big convoys. Soon Hamas will replace the 4000 odd rockets expended and be able to resume attacking Israel.
But then again, it could turn out very badly.
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Especially since to form a government, they had to include the Arab party which is now in the position of kingmaker ...
Hamas was defeated and set on it’s ass.
The Temple Mount is now regulated by Israel. The Palestinian Authority knows that life will be better under Israeli hegemonic peace than Hamas war.
The Arab states have joined Israel in the campaign to save themselves from Iran. The PA will not receive Arab money if it resists the Israeli hegemony. Hamas is thus left dependent on fickle EU assholes and Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran is under actual physical kinetic attack with ships at sea being destroyed, various leaders killed, many very bad fires destroying all sorts of places including major oil refineries and steel mills.
People talk about the cost of rebuilding Gaza overlooking the $$ cost of facilities destroyed in Iran.
The role of the new government is to build on the change Bibi promoted and allow Israel to function in a completely new and better world
They had to include bunches of people, that probably don’t like each other much. They hate Netanyahu more than they love their own country. Kind of like never Trumpers.
Mostly likely meaning Netanyahu sees fundamental, Muhammad-true Islam for what it is and tell it like it is, while Muslim leaders are politically savvy. "The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords." (Psalms 55:21)
As noted by my friend in Israel, “Bennett, Yair Lapid [leader of Yesh Atid, who would serve as the next prime minister for two years after Bennett) and Mansour Abbas [leader of the Islamist party] have spoken in reasonable, even caring speeches, while Netanyahu has blasted and blasted and was at his best with his fear-mongering, anger and hate-filled attacks against Bennett and company.
Yeah, because telling the ugly truth sounds hateful. Bennett saw one path from 10% to 2 yrs of leadership, and that involved allying with an enemy of Israel, probably two.
If the NY Times is asking the question, if the NY Times is printing the “answer” then the results are bad for America.
Bad for Israel.
First alarm went up here and only got worse.
... not only personal ambition driving him and that he does want to see the nation move forward
Normally, this means moving the nation towards the far left.
With the new coalition, no one got everything they wanted. Everyone had to compromise somewhere. Idealism had to yield to pragmatism
Compromising with Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan might have been pragmatic, but it would not have been a good thing as this writer seems to think. Something positive came out of WWII only because we insisted on the unconditional surrender of our enemies.
(And BTW, the writer's hatred of Netanyahu leaked out despite his effort to hide it. And I'd bet money that he absolutely hates Trump.)
FOOL!
Townhall is sliding downhill fast.
Writer sounds as though he has some blinders on.
“First, Netanyahu’s latest attempt at forming a government caused him to lurch further to the right, to the point of embracing some dangerously anti-Arab ideologies. Increasingly, he was not serving as the leader of the whole country.”
I watched Amir Tsarfati’s telegram channel daily during the recent Hamas attacks and there was a lot of Arab Israeli violence, tremendous amount. Some of the Arab Israelis are decent citizens, but plenty are not, and placating them is not the path to peace. I am not a telegram member but anyone can read there and watch most videos. Amir is an Israeli and lives in Israel.
https://t.me/s/beholdisraelchannel
PS - Amir also posts a lot of his religious beliefs, I am do not espouse the same, so just mentioning that... I read him for news.
This article is a joke. Behind Bennett’s talk of “doing what’s best for Israel and preventing a fifth election” is his own desire for power, no different than Netanyahu’s shrewd moves to keep himself in power. Bennett & Sa’ar haven’t been able to defeat Likud at the polls, so this is their last chance.
Recall that there were not have even been four elections if Bennett, Sa’ar, & Liberman hadn’t refused to sit on Netanyahu’s coalitions in the first place. Yes, Bibi was unwise to push them aside and not deliver on his promises to them, and they have reason to be frustrated, but putting your own petty turf wars above the good of the country is not “doing what’s best for Israel.” Bennett could’ve had the all right-wing government he claimed to want, and avoided new elections, had he sat on Bibi’s coalition. The reason why he didn’t was because he wouldn’t have the opportunity for power & position thanks to Bibi’s snubbing. Unfair on Bibi’s part, yes, but it’s not all about Bennett either. In 2018 Bennett threatened to leave the coalition and bring down the government if he weren’t appointed Defense Minister after Liberman resigned. He threatened to force new elections if he didn’t get what he wanted. He backed down in the end, because it was patently obvious that all his grandstanding about how tough he’d be as DM was just a show (because any minister can be overruled by the PM), and pulling out of the government for such petty reasons would look, well, petty. (Which also makes his talk about avoiding elections pretty hollow, given that he was willing to force elections 3 years ago over a cabinet position).
His coalition is so fragile it relies on an Islamist party ideologically aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood to gain the majority. Is such a party in the government really “what’s best for Israel”? He was willing to side with far left Meretz over Netanyahu just because he didn’t get everything he wanted from Netanyahu? Really? It’s not about Israel, it’s about him.
Ultimately, he went from his party having 10% of the vote to the prime minister for 2 years. Tell me it’s not about him.
Not to mention that this government is so ideologically disparate that it’s likely it won’t last more than a few months before it falls apart and forces fifth elections anyway.
Likud has repeatedly won the most seats in the Knesset in the last 4 elections. It’s a strange system in which a government can be formed that doesn’t even include the party who actually won the elections.
The Israeli people did not vote for this. They voted for Likud. But Bennett & Co. will have nothing to do with Likud for personal reasons and have engineered a way to clear the obstacles that block them from power, and conveniently put themselves in power because they can’t win at the polls. And what’s worse, he’s playing into the hands of the left’s & the corrupt legal fraternity’s years-long war on Netanyahu that bogged him down with a sham court case. The “anyone but Bibi” attitude enables the left into power, as Yamina will sit with a leftist government if it means unseating the dreaded Netanyahu. It’s such a blatant power-grab move that I’m amazed people fail to see it and genuinely think Bennett is doing this for the good of the country. If he cared about that as much as he says he does, he’d have joined Netanyahu and enabled the all right-wing government he wanted. The fact that he didn’t makes it clear he just wanted to be at the helm himself.
This government is united by only one thing: hatred of Netanyahu. That’s not how you build constructive leadership. Leading a country is not a “We Hate So-and-So” club. A government that can agree on nothing but despising a certain person cannot last long.
BTW, I DON'T RECALL SENDING YOU A PING!!!
Since when was this post limited to your pings? And Townhall is posting a lot of leftist articles.
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