What Should Israel do to Mitigate the Portman Controversy?

 

Before even approaching this subject, it will be necessary to make an assessment of why Ms. Natalie Portman decided to refuse the 2018 Genesis Prize. Initially, she had appeared to be extremely excited and honored to be receiving this prize and looking forward to the ceremony despite the fact that Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu would also appear and make a speech. She initially had no problem sharing the stage with the Prime Minister, the same person she claimed was impossible for her to appear alongside as part of her reasons for refusing the award subsequently. Early last November she exclaimed, “I am deeply touched and humbled by this honor. I am proud of my Israeli roots and Jewish heritage; they are crucial parts of who I am.” Additionally she reacted, “I am particularly inspired by the opportunity to make an impact on women’s issues in Israel…Israel has already achieved much in terms of social and economic development, education and science, and we can all be rightfully proud of it as Jews…” And a last quote of her reaction is as follows, “It is such a privilege to be counted among the outstanding Laureates whom I admire so much. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Genesis Prize Foundation, and look forward to using the global platform it provides to make a difference in the lives of women in Israel and beyond.” These quote came care of INTO THE FRAY: Natalie Portman as a symptom written by Dr. Martin Sherman, an opinion author we often read and have found to often put forth profound thought.

 

Natalie (Black Swan) Portman and Bibi Netanyahu

 

We have established that initially Ms. Portman was eager, honored and desirable of receiving the Genesis Prize. So, what happened? Her initial claim was that the violence on the Gaza border was a large mitigating factor and that she found the Israeli actions abhorrent and she could no longer receive the award. Portman said later in a statement posted on Instagram, “Let me speak for myself. I chose not to attend because I did not want to appear as endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu, who was to be giving a speech at the ceremony. Like many Israelis and Jews around the world, I can be critical of the leadership in Israel without wanting to boycott the entire nation,” Up to this point, her reasoning was purely political but confusing as she knew when she initially was reacting to being chosen that, as we already stated, knew that Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu would be attending and making a speech and sharing the stage. But then she goes off the rails making a vacuous statement which starts with a completely incorrect claim that Israel was founded to be a refuge for the survivors of the Holocaust. We have to take into consideration that she is an actress whose fame is for her physical appearance and ability to repeat lines with the proper emotion, definitely a talent but not necessarily requiring any actual knowledge of history, something often proven by today’s actors and actresses. Israel was set into motion by the 1917 Balfour Declarations and codified in the 1922 San Remo Conference and restated in further treaties and the Mandate System set in place by the League of Nations and all recognized under Article 80 of the United Nations Charter. Her following statement goes, “Israel was created exactly 70 years ago as a haven for refugees from the Holocaust. But the mistreatment of those suffering from today’s atrocities is simply not in line with my Jewish values. Because I care about Israel, I must stand up against violence, corruption, inequality, and abuse of power.” This last statement is definitively telling and on this we shall discuss as it describes Ms. Portman’s refusal, the support of the BDS Movement by the late Stephen Hawking and the numerous performers, both actors and musicians, who have cancelled tour appearances or declined making appearances in Israel, particularly Tel Aviv which is largely secular and very liberal.

 

What happens often in these cases is that the BDS Movement has a system which is largely financed by the Arab League and numerous Arab nations and which was initiated by the PLO when they supported boycotting Israel which was quickly adopted by the Arab League and eventually was transformed into the BDS Movement as the Arab boycott of Israel was too restrictive and the BDS Movement took the Arab boycott into the leftist mainstream. Since then, the BDS Movement has gained in sophistication and financing has increased and numerous leftist NGOs have adopted the BDS boycott of Israel. Some of the groups supporting BDS Movement against Israel include; Black Lives Matter, International Solidarity Movement, Olive Tree Initiative, Palestine Summer Encounter, IfNotNow, Adalah, Campus Action Network, Christian Peacemaker, Friends of Sabeel, Interfaith Peace Builders, National Lawyers Guild, Presbyterian Synod, Rachel Corrie Foundation For Peace and Justice, US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, United Church of Christ Palestine/Israel Network, United Methodist General Board of Church and Society, Women in Black, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Council on American Islamic Relations, If Americans Knew, Muslim Public Affairs Committee, Muslim Students Association, Council for the National Interest, International ANSWER, International Socialist Organization, Jews For Justice For Palestinians, La Voz De Azatlan, La Raza, Middle East Studies Association, Nation of Islam, Veterans For Peace, Who Profits and finally, of no surprise, the American Nazi Party. Then, of course, there are numerous people of wealth who also assist financing the BDS Movement which can be found here along with a more complete list of organizations and NGOs as we only took the majority of those listed. Still, with these numerous mostly leftist organizations, there is no problem getting people to volunteer to make phone calls to whomever is the target of the moment, send e-mails from as many accounts as each has set up for their use, and make other communications making the target believe that there are millions who would never buy their albums, books or other goods or services or would no longer go to movies or plays in which they appear which can make some weaken and decide it is not worth one stop on their tour to risk this loss of support. But for others, such as Ms. Portman, there is another force in play and this is what we believe likely is what was largely behind her rejection of the award, namely peer pressures. The Hollywood crowd is not exactly known for their support of Israel just as they are not known for their support of President Trump. Israel’s main crime is that first off it is a very religious nation which in Hollywood means they are backward and ignorant. Further, Israel has repeatedly elected conservative governance which is another sign of retardation and a sick population in the minds of the mental giants in Hollywood. The real problem is that Hollywood has a herd mentality and the leadership has decidedly chosen the far left to the point that to be part of the “in crowd” in Hollywood, you have to pass a litmus test proving that you are a strong leftist and believe as the politics chosen by the crowd. Part of that politics is to support all the leftist political movements which includes the BDS Movement because it supports the Muslims who it has been decided are the downtrodden and victims in the world as well as being thought to be people of color despite the fact that being a Muslim says nothing about your pigmentation as it is a religion, not a race. Still, this measure makes Israel the greatest evil on the planet as the Muslims desire that Israel be eradicated and thus to be part of the accepted crown in Hollywood, you must hate Israel. Ms. Portman was likely informed by numerous of her “friends” that she must refuse this “Israel” award, especially if she desired to be invited to the “in” parties or be considered for any future roles in movies for the rest of her life. Simply put, she was likely threatened by her community that this would be considered an unconscionable sin which would be inexcusable and be held against her forevers. This is our theory and it has been a systemic problem with many concerts being cancelled for their Tel Aviv or Jerusalem appearances which has been effective for many newer bands while many of the old rock-n-roll bands have simply ignored or stated outright that they will perform in Israel, BDS be damned.

 

Now, as our title stated, what can Israel do to mitigate this effect? There are many who claim that Israel need invest far more funds in external affairs to fight against these efforts and work to put the Israel reality story into the public discourse. This would be a possible means for Israel to combat this and there are many who are out there, us included, telling the Israel reality and standing up for Israel. The question to ask is how much Israel should put into such a program to make it successful? Well, at least as much as is invested against Israel. Were Israel to do such, then the Saudis, the NGOs, the European Union and many member nations, the United Nations, and numerous billionaires will simply double down and Israel cannot keep pace and still have any funds left for anything else, especially for the IDF. Israel cannot keep pace with the funds put up against her so that is not an issue. Even if Israel were to triple the funds and efforts into such policies, they would be but a small drip compared to the tsunami her detractors are spending. Perhaps having those people with famous names could be encouraged to stand stronger and louder in their support would help. The other side has the trump numbers and could bring far more people to the floor through intimidation or simply depending on true believers. The only thing Israel can do to protect herself is to continue to be the most moral nation and work within the systems which already give her legal right to the lands west of the Jordan River. What would likely surprise even the supporters of Israel is that it would be legal for Israel to deport the Palestinian Arabs into Jordan from the entire Shomron without so much as a how do you do. This would be just as legal as the deporting of the German people in the lands Poland was awarded after World War II and from the lands France was awarded after World War I. It would be legal just as the two populations which were exchanged between India and Pakistan after the founding of Pakistan. There were a number of population exchanges made in the world within the last century and should have occurred when Israel liberated the Shomron and Gaza Strip during the Six Day War in July of 1967. The Arabs in the Gaza Strip would have been displaced into the Sinai Peninsula or into Egypt. Technically, under the rules of warfare, since Israel was responding to a breach of the treaty by Egypt who blockaded the Straits of Tiran in the Red Sea which was a casus belli as an act of war. This made all the actions by Israel during the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War legal and Israel should have been permitted to retain all the land Israel deemed necessary or desirous for her defense and future requirements. This means that Israel could have retained the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula and forced the Egyptians residing there to move across the Suez Canal into Egypt and that would have been legal. This is how the Rules of War read since they were agreed upon through World War I. Since then, the main alteration has been that lands gained in a defensive war may be held until decisions are reached between the involved nations in a formal peace treaty. The aggrieved nation which was attacked, they are permitted to retain the land they gained should this be coded in the peace treaty and cannot be forced to return the lands otherwise. This is why Israel could only be required to return land and not all the land after the Six Day War as encoded in UNSC Res. 242. The Egypt treaty surrendered the formerly occupied Gaza Strip and the peace with Jordan surrendered all of the formerly occupied Shomron, the lands west of the Jordan River. Once the people in Gaza had been moved into Egypt and the people in the Shomron moved into Jordan, that should have been the end of everything. The world decided they could not live with Israel being permitted the same rights of other nations which had been established over the years. Israel had been promised the lands west of the Jordan River which she possessed when founded in May of 1948 until she was attacked by six Arab armies intent on the eradication of the Jewish State and genocide of the Jews within the nascent state.

 

Israel survived that assault but lost the area of the Shomron and Gaza Strip including half of Jerusalem including the entirety of the Old City. The Jews residing in the lost territories were forced from their properties mostly without taking their belongings and their homes were gifted to the favored of the King of Jordan. Jordan then destroyed the Synagogues and the Mount of Olives cemetery and other Jewish properties. The marker stones from the Jewish cemeteries were taken and used as paving stones and for making bathrooms intended as insult to the dead Jews. When Israel regained the Old City and the Temple Mount all of the holy sites were found in poor repair and the entirety of Eastern Jerusalem was found to be mostly a ruin with everything broken and in disarray. Since then, Israel has revitalized the entire region and repaired the holy sites, rebuilt some of the Synagogues and some are still in the planning stage and will be rebuilt with time. Some were so completely destroyed that they are not being rebuilt. Water systems and electrical systems have been repaired and improved and waste systems repaired with new treatment facilities built. The entirety of East Jerusalem has been modernized while taking care to keep as much of the original structures intact or repaired as necessary. The Palestinian Arabs were established with one intent, the complete destruction to destroy all of Israel. This was in the original charter of the PLO and remains in the charter of Hamas and Islamic Jihad while the Arab League still calls for the destruction of Israel and Iran has stated their desire to destroy Israel as well as the United States. Perhaps the United Nations would do something unprecedented and honor their Charter, in particular, Article 80 which claimed that they would enforce the Mandate System which would imply that they would recognize the lands west of the Jordan River as belonging rightfully to Israel. Such a decision might end the problems which have been behind the Arab-Israeli conflict should the United Nations in the Security Council recognize the Jordan River as the eastern border of Israel and support the resettlement of the Palestinian Arabs either in Jordan or allow them to choose whichever Arab nations or nation which would accept them allowing their removal from the land of Israel, something eminently legal under the laws of war. For those who wish to apply the Geneva Convention to the Arab-Israeli conflict, since the lands of the Shomron were occupied by Jordan and Jordan definitely attacked Israel as part of the Six Day War making Israel the aggrieved nation, Israel is the only nation with a true claim to the lands west of the Jordan River. Facts can be sticky objects, and these are the facts. As for Gaza, Israel surrendered claim to Gaza and Hamas took Gaza in a coup, thus if the world really desires to make a Palestinian State, Gaza would serve well and it could be called one of many names. Allow us to suggest a few; there could be Hamastan, Islamasstan, Gazastan, Terrorville or Hamastania.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

The Gaza Proof on Palestinian Problem

 

People who have for years heard about the plight of the poor Palestinian Arabs under the harsh yoke of Israeli (Jew) oppression in propaganda paid for by leftists and Arab nations and groups. Billions upon billions of dollar and Euros have been spent on these campaigns. There have been further investments in the Palestinian Arabs with billion of dollars from the United States and billion of Euros from the European Union (EU) and its member nations a well as a good amount of funding from Arab nations and non EU European nations. Much, if not most of the money has gone for terrorism. Of the remaining funds, the vast majority of these presumably go for public works projects of which Mahmoud Abbas’s sons own the companies who supposedly do the work. Often the work is signed off as completed when in reality nothing was performed. The remainder is used for actual benefit of the Arabs. The Palestinian Authority (PA) uses their heavy financing for bribing cooperation from Hamas who are less well financed as the United States and the EU recognize their terrorist agenda. Still, the Hamas terrorist ruling dictatorial regime has found ways of regularly playing hard to get followed by relaxing their demands once the “desperate to unify with Gaza” Palestinian Authority offers sufficient support. We recently witnessed another fake reunion brokered by Egypt which, as expected by many who follow these events, has already began to crumble and will be dust blown into the crevasses of history soon to be forgotten. Now that Hamas has received the cash, they could stop the pretenses and soon what had appeared to be mended splits in their relationship returned to tearing the two apart. Unfortunately, all of the Hamas outstanding bills are paid and there is a terror organization on the Israeli border flush with cash and this means rockets returning to the border areas aimed at Israeli civilians. And there is the lesson of Gaza and the proof of what another Palestinian Arab state would be like.

 

Polls taken in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) of the PA Arabs on what governance they would desire and overwhelmingly they choose Hamas over the Mahmoud Abbas Kleptocracy. This was the exact situation when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President George W. Bush came up with the perfect way to prove exactly how civilized and ready to have a normative democratic state under the rule of law willing to live peacefully side-by-side with Israel. They pressed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon until he gave in and allowed the PA to rule Gaza so they could prove their competence and desire to coexist peacefully, possibly even cooperatively. The Arabs of Gaza proved what many Israelis knew, they do not want a state, they want Israel destroyed and the Jews murdered. Within two and a half years, Hamas had stirred a popular uprising and taken control of Gaza throwing most of the PA officers and near all their security officers from Gaza and, as happens with every coup, more than a few PA officials and supporters were purged from our Earth. The periodic wars with Israel initiated by Hamas rocket fire into Israel reaching levels unacceptable and the terror tunnels and everything else that goes along with a governance set very few things, terrorism, destroying the state of Israel, murdering every Jew on the planet and self-enrichment. Much of this is included in the Hamas Charter and as such is not a secret. The Arabs living under PA rule poll similarly to the polls taken in Gaza around 2002. Should Mahmoud Abbas and the PA be granted their own state it would result in the same result with one exception, Israel could not survive an intense rocket barrage from the Judean heights which overlook Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Netanya, Ariel and the bulk of Israeli population and industrial and power production. Israel is merely nine miles wide at these points.

 

Nine Mile Wide Israeli Waist

 

Let us discuss the eleven-year history between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and the actual reasons the media gave insufficient and inadequate coverage and where they concentrated their animus every action taken by Israel. Let us play a game called what if you lived there, what would your nation do. The there we are asking about could be south of the Falafel Restaurant on Hertzl St, in Hofit, Israel a short distance west of the northwestern end of Gaza. Let us take the first two months which eventually lead to an Israeli incursion and then we will discuss the after incursion events and why they could make Israeli leaders in a democracy wary of resorting to an intervention. The first week of this two-month period was not too abnormal for you and your friends in your neighborhood as the usual one rocket a month struck just south of town. The difference was that near every community was hit with a rocket, or at least another twenty or so. The next week is much the same, except that this has doubled the number of rockets you receive each month, but this week there were thirty other rockets. When a rocket lands in the center of town the next week, no fatalities and only a few people treated for shock and damage to a parking lot; you are too busy thanking Hashem that nobody was actually hurt. This time, escaping your knowledge as you were avoiding the news, over one-hundred rockets were fired into communities surrounding Gaza, mostly the northern half. By this time, many mayors and town councils are petitioning the government in writing and even in person from the larger communities such as Sderot where there was a concentration of rockets fired this week, a full one fourth landed within their area. So, with such a provocation your country would have responded with more than simple words. Thusfar, the only reaction from then Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has been to address the media that his office is handling this as best is possible considering the situation. This was supposed to calm the population and it does, at least where the rockets are not falling.

 

Week three is much as was week two and the same for week four except there were twice as many total rockets. The new month, a five-week month even, and now two hundred rockets fall each day resulting in protestations from the government and finally direct contact and demands from Jerusalem to the Hamas Gaza government. The result, Hamas took the warnings well and again doubled the numbers of rockets and now over a half-dozen are falling in your general area. Week six and another doubling then week seven it doubles again then week eight and there are over two-hundred rockets fired from Gaza into Israel with a couple of dozen longer range rockets hitting Ashkelon and Ashdod. The warnings coming from Jerusalem have become terse and border threatening. Week nine and there are over a thousand rockets a day and some are striking the southern parts of Tel Aviv and the entire Tel Aviv population is up in arms. Tel Aviv can mean all the difference in an election and when they scream the government listens. Finally, the IDF is given orders to end the rocket fire from out of Gaza. This let loose the hounds on both sides and the number of rockets coming out of Gaza seem to multiple as they use up their entire stockpile of short-range rockets which means your town is next to uncountable and much of the population has left to live with relatives and citizens in northern Israel are opening their homes to any from around Gaza or wherever the rockets strike so they can both be and feel safe.

 

How many rockets would other nations tolerate before retaliating and ending the danger to its citizens? Let us see what we might guess might be the response. Mongolia fires five rockets into Russia and we would guess half of Mongolia would be wastelands under Russian military rule and the Mongolian government and military leadership stood against walls and shot. Mongolia decided it is time to target China as it has been a few centuries and the end result would be much the same as Russia except more violent. What if in a foolish rage, Mexico fired seven rockets into Texas? This might be one time that the country would not have an opportunity to act; Texas might take care of Mexico all by themselves. Pick a nation and the story would be much the same. Even South Korea acts against North Korea when fired upon unless the United States intervenes. What happened when the Iranian backed Houthis fired one missile at Riyadh, the Saudis launched a full-on air assault on the missile’s launch location immediately afterwards. There is not a single nation with military capabilities which would not respond when hundreds of missiles are launched into their territory daily with the singular exception of Israel. This is due to the singular fact that the Israelis know that one of Hamas’s main tactics is to launch from heavily populated areas, hide behind civilians and do all they can to maximize civilian casualties. Israel actually takes the civilian casualties of the civilians in Gaza into account as well as the Israelis. For the sake of the people of Gaza that the Israelis do not simply attack at the first rocket as Hamas fires at least one and sometimes as many as five to ten each month when they have sufficient stores.

 

So, now that we imagined that possibility and you realize that Israel takes weeks of provocation, let us discuss what the media sells the world, even some of the Israeli media as we have extreme left leaning reporters and editorialists here just as left as the NYT. When the first sortie is flown by the Israeli Air Force (AIF) the media lights up with headlines about Israel bombs Gaza and not until the, most often, next to the last or there abouts paragraph do you read that it was in response to Hamas rocket fire into Israel. They always say Hamas rocket fire so that it sounds like Hamas fired one rocket and Israel bombed twenty locations. Eventually, in the reporting over the next few days, once the average reader is tired of reading the same story day-in and day-out, the media will finally tell that Israel faced two months of ever increasing rockets fired into their civilian areas and once they hit Tel Aviv Israel reacted. Afterwards, when reporting on such events the media returns to the singular use of rocket and always second so it sounds as if Hamas fired in defense, not Israel. These incursions are as short as feasible as Israel tries not to maximize the damage done. The bombings by the IAF are military types of targets. When you read that Israel bombed a blacksmith shop and the owner cries, “about why did they bomb my store, now I and my family will go hunger,” know that he was making rocket parts for Hamas. This even goes for when Israel attacks schools, something done with IDF ground forces so as to minimize damage, it is because it is also being used as a weapons storage as the UNWRA supervisor admitted. Israel attempts to minimize civilian casualties but Hamas desires maximizing civilian casualties even to the point of disarming terrorists who died in battle and then taking pictures of what is claimed to be a slaughtered civilian as their fighters wear exactly the same clothing as the civilians. Hamas leaders take pride that their children, women and elderly are used as human shields openly declaring, as in the video below, “Saying to the Zionist enemy: ‘We desire death like you desire life.’” Their children are taught this in their schools and in the UNWRA schools as well as being taught a poisonous hatred for Jews particularly and all those who do not follow Islam.

 

 

The Middle East is the most anti-Semitic region on earth; further 93% of Palestinians are holding anti-Semitic beliefs, most a pure and unadulterated hatred. As stated above, the anti-Semitic propaganda is taught as curriculum in their schools, preached in their Mosques and ubiquitous in their society with those unwilling to die when called for immediately murdered in front of everyone else as an example. This teaching of hatred and genocide against the Jews is not limited to Gaza, the Arabs residing in the PA ruled lands hear the same from their teachers and Imams as witnessed in the video below. Should the Arabs currently residing in the areas ruled by the PA be granted the state Mahmoud claims they desire, they will assist Hamas in a coup taking over these lands as well. Once Hamas has taken over their area, then Tel Aviv and the surrounding region will be under the range of even the smallest rockets with a ten mile range as Israel is a mere nine miles wide at her waist.

 

 

This is the problem Israel would face within a few years, if not months or days, after Hamas replaced the PA and proceeded to continue their war just as they have in Gaza except now Tel Aviv can be fired at directly. Europe is fully behind allowing for Palestinian Arab takeover of the entirety of Judea and Samaria all the way to the Green Line. Such a state would result in rockets fired along line of sight into downtown Tel Aviv and place aircraft taking off from Ben Gurion International Airport also within direct line of sight as they taxi along the runways and taxiways. Israel would be cut in half with a huge swath across the middle before Israel could react. Hamas taking control of these areas would result in the Hamas dream, the depopulation of the State of Israel and an end to the Zionist dreams. That is why there was an article titled An appeal to Alan Dershowitz – Renounce two-statism! Alan Dershowitz had been a great voice for Israel but his continuing to push the dead and buried two-state solution. One can only hope that Mr. Dershowitz at least read one if not both of these articles and learns the error of his ways. One can only hope he learns as his voice is written into the NYT as the near sole voice backing Israel in that publication. Change need come and the reality of today is required and not repeating an old story even rejected by the PA even before the Oslo Accords were signed in September 1993. Actually, as we have pointed out repeatedly, Yasser Arafat, and after him Mahmoud Abbas, have rejected every last offer no matter how generous even those which included half of Jerusalem, acceptance of refugees and lands in 90% or more of the area within the Green Line saving Israel in the process. Please tell us we do not need post this picture yet again to prove the point.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Yair Lapid and Avi Gabbay Show True Colors

 

Yair Lapid and Avi Gabbay each revealed their real positions and declared war on all religious, nationalist, Zionist and Conservative or right-leaning voters and the work done by the Knesset to legally pass legislation. They claim they will use the courts and all other means at their disposal in thwarting the will of the people. Their actions are simply an extension of their mutual belief that only they possess true sight and that makes their opinions more correct and necessary than that of the voters. Their inability to accept the will of the majority simple reveals their own self-derived greater-than-life image of themselves as the true prophets of our times who have been chosen by Heaven to intervene and make the government upright again. If only they actually had such insight, but alas, they only possess self-righteous pride and the belief that they know better and we must accept their wisdom or else they will go to any length to defeat our triumphs and overturn our accomplishments. Let us recount each of these gentlemen’s latest announced crusades and the revelations they provide.

 

Let us take the more reasonable Avi Gabbay who at least claims he will use legislative means to accomplish his quest. Mr. Gabbay was kind enough to spell everything out for us when he stated, “December 27 is a dark day in the history of the fight against crime and corruption. I reiterate my commitment: The government which I will head will abolish the Recommendations Law, the Supermarket Law and the Job Law.” Well, there it is. If the people of Israel would simply realize the opportunity facing them and place their trust in the Zionist Union, then they would do their best to undo everything accomplished in the past year’s efforts. You like being a Jew and think that the religion should be the basis for attitudes of the government, then Avi Gabbay is not your man. If you believe that laws need to be made by the Legislature, interpreted by Judges and merely enforced by the police, then Avi Gabbay is not your man. The simple truth from Mr. Gabbay is that he desires an Israel which is democratic and multicultural with perhaps a touch of Judaism permitted in certain neighborhoods. His vision is known as a Secular Israel where Israel is the Middle East version of the United States and he is the Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and friends modern Democrat Party where the Zionist Union are the Democrats working for that brave new world where the government is supreme. They also have a problem fulfilling their party’s name, Zionist Union. They have the Union part down pat if they are referring to Union as in Soviet Union as they love all things leftist but they are not all that much Zionist. They believe that the Arabs have just as much right as the Jews to the land and the Arab claim is just as historically valid as the Jewish claim. We have to wonder if Avi Gabbay was at all impressed and pleased with President Trump’s announced recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital City of the nation of Israel or would he prefer Israel moving the capital to Tel Aviv where the embassies still sit. What is the difference and why are those religious types making such a fuss, we can almost hear them asking. It has to do with the history of the Israelites and all of the generations of the Jewish people for the past three-thousand years plus. But what is the big deal, Avi just does not get it.

 

Now for Yair Lapid and his cry that every last one of the hundreds of reservations brought forward against the bill, many by his party, were being voted down one after the other, that should the Knesset pass the Recommendations Law, his party will challenge the law hoping to get it annulled by the Israel Supreme Court. This law, according to Arutz Sheva states, “According to the coalition’s conclusions, the law will only relate to the non-publication of police recommendations in the media, and will determine that in investigations in which there is an accompanying attorney, there will be no recommendation but only a summary of the hearing.” Yair Lapid recently stated that he should be considered to be the next in line for the Prime Minister position as he is the logical extension of Benyamin Netanyahu as he, Yair Lapid, is just as conservative, just as religious, just as strong a Zionist and simply more Bibi than Bibi. Apparently, the more Bibi than Bibi opposes the actual Bibi who supported the passing of the Recommendations Law and Yair ‘I’m more Bibi than Bibi’ Lapid will go to the Supreme Court demanding that they overturn the legislation immediately once it has passed, or at least some time convenient after he wakes and gets a good breakfast under his belt, then Supreme Court must act as Yair Lapid has spoken.

 

Both of these politicians suffer from a severe misreading of the Israeli public as they believe in their post-Zionist views and their anti-religious pro-governance by autocrats and the Black Robed Dictatorial Courts. We discussed this concept and its birth and continued applications and the ramifications in greater depth in Democracy’s Greatest Threat Wrapped in Black and how the current Israeli Coalition, led by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, has worked to change the self-replicating appointment methods of judges, particularly Supreme Court Judges, and lessen the power and range of adjudicable subjects to coral the runaway power extension and liberties taken by the Supreme Court. Their days of overturning laws passed by the Knesset, reversing decisions made by the Prime Minister, authoring laws they believe are necessary to advance society in the “correct” direction, and even countermand orders given by command level officers of the IDF during a conflict. The Israeli Supreme Court has long worked under the concept put forth by Israeli Supreme Court former Chief Justice Israeli Aharon Barak in his statement that “everything is justiciable” granting the Supreme Court and all courts unlimited power. Yair Lapid hopes to use their power to once again impose the leftist views of the court, and Yair Lapid, upon the nation overturning legislation passed by the Legislature. Yair Lapid, a former editorial newscaster who was famous for reporting the news as he saw the news. He used his name identification and popularity gained from reading the teleprompter and having good writers with whom he likely had a working relationship.

 

Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked

 

One thing we will give Yair Lapid credit, he can read a teleprompter with the best of them, sounds smooth, and presents well. He can tell you exactly what you should want and then convince you to vote for him to get it. Unfortunately, Mr. Lapid is most often simply reading a script constructed to make him sound exactly what the audience to whom he is speaking wants to hear and are willing to but unchallenged. To Zionists, he sounds as nationalist and pro building in the Shomron sounding like Naftali Bennett with just sufficient Bibi and a small amount of safe centrist pabulum making him too good to be true. To the secular post-Zionists, he does not even need speechwriters, as this is what he actually believes. The secular Israel is a Democracy first, second, last and everything inbetween with Judaism simply one of the plethora of religions observed here. Yair Lapid was once a proud two-state solution water carrier who believed that if Israel just found the perfect combination of land and other incentivizes then peace would be reached and the terrorism would end and everything will be perfect. One can only wonder how far from his roots he has managed to move. He claims he can out Bibi, Bibi, and can almost match Bennett but his idea is to be more logical and able to compromise where required to get the most, yet he spoke as a supporter of the Gaza pull-out. Not all that long ago, right before the last elections, Mr. Lapid stated, in clear English, “The details may be complex, but the basic idea is simple – Israel doesn’t want to absorb 3.5 million Palestinians. It is time to separate and guarantee our future as a Jewish and democratic state.” One must believe now that he is a Zionist’s Zionist? Really now, why are we having problems believing this. Of course, he can also out Gabbay, Gabbay, when speaking to the left wing demonstrators in Tel Aviv. He is the perfect politician capable of being whatever the crowd wants to hear and he counts on his true friends in the media to cover his chameleon-like presentations molding his speeches to each crowd.

 

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely

 

The next Israeli election is going to be so much fun for us as politicians attempt to assure their leftist base that they really do not mean most of what they are having said in the media as everyone attempts to out Bibi, Bibi except for Bibi who will be attempting to out Bennett, Bennett. Unless something changes within Beit Yehudi (Jewish Home), then Naftali Bennett will run believing his time has come. The one big problem standing between Bennett from a fair chance at making it to the top spot is Bibi. Should Bibi step aside, then Likud, with a large assist from Netanyahu, needs to groom the next seemingly permanent Prime Minister and do so fast. Netanyahu has so efficiently prevented anyone challenging his position at the top of the party that there has not developed a successor. Without Netanyahu or a strong Likud candidate, then the field will be open and then who knows what will come next. The one person who would make a formidable candidate for Likud might not desire the top spot, Tzipi Hotovely. Some day Israel might face two women running for Prime Minister with Tzipi Hotovely for Likud and Ayelet Shaked for Jewish Home, now that would be a real choice of two of the most competent and complete candidates who would, either of them, make for a strong and well represented Israeli Prime Minister. That would be the political race the world would watch. For now, we are going to have to settle for the biggest question of the moment, will or will not Bibi Netanyahu run at the head of Likud, and if not, then who? Then there is another less tempting question, who will be the candidate to lead Zionist Union? Will it be Avi Gabbay or will it be Ehud Barak? Beyond these questions, there are some other side items such as who will be running under what name and in what grouping as the new election laws has had the making for strange bedfellows. Who will combine with whom and how they divide up their lists is the kind of minutia which makes this boring to all but the most invested and the people who live politics. We will try not to bore you with these items unless they are surprising or particularly amusing. You’re welcome.

 

Beyond the Cusp