Political Declarations and Social Movements

 

Every social construct exists solely because at some point it was a political declaration made by a social movement. One glaring example was the anti-slavery movement which eventually became the abolitionists. Even as the political potential of the abolitionists, they were mostly members of a faction within the Whig Party and when the Whig establishment refused to be rushed into opposing slavery openly and politically the abolitionist movement became the Republican Party and the rest is, as they say, history. For every social movement there is eventually made a political declaration which more often than not begins in one party. From humble beginnings often come greater results and this becomes even more likely when the social movement can claim the moral high ground through respected spokespersons lending their names and reputations being place amongst the ranks of the early movement.

 

In the brief history of Israel there have been a few peace initiatives which gained their acceptance due to the names of great and respected military heroes whose names were placed behind them. The Four Mothers movement turned into the call of Ehud Barak and the pacifist wing of the social left movement and the heart and soul of the Labor Party. Almost all of the Israeli self-made catastrophes began as peace movements which then took on a name or founded a political party and finally that party took that movement’s cause up to electoral victory or as a means to facilitate a desired political end. Each of these in recent history was formed around soothing the raging beasts across Israeli borders and their echo chambers in the European Union, United Nations and the Presidency of the United States and more. The first was the call to pull the troops from Southern Lebanon as the government had already admitted the IDF was holding land to which Israel was making no claim making them an occupying force, a position untenable under the best of circumstances and impossible in anything less. Almost the entirety of the nation was made to appear behind bringing our boys home and ending the slow bleeding of our forces and Ehud Barak bent to this movement making it into a political declaration supported by the Labor Party as they were the Peace Party who exemplified trusting Israel’s neighbors to do as promised and the assurances of the United Nations who would be providing additional troops under an agreement setting up UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) in Southern Lebanon which Israel vacated.

 

Today, one abortive military fiasco known laughably as the Second Lebanon War, and later those very areas turned over to the Lebanese Army and the UNIFIL forces of the United Nations, now bristle with twice as many UNIFIL forces acting twice as futile in their complete and total failing to prevent Hezballah from arming with upwards of a quarter of a million rockets and missiles. These include antitank missiles, short and medium range rockets, Multiple Rocket Launch Vehicles (MLRV), entire systems of mobile and fixed launching platforms for long range ballistic missiles with GPS and other sophisticated guidance systems, RPGs (Rocket Propelled Grenades), anti-ship C-803 missiles (Chinese YJ-83鹰击-83; pinyin: yingji-83; literally: “eagle strike 83”), anti-air surface to air missiles SAM sites, and various surface to surface rockets and missiles. Much if not almost all of this firepower was provided by Hezballah benefactor Iran. But wait, there’s more.

 

Enter another of Israel’s greatest warriors, the Bulldozer himself, Arik Sharon. He led a social movement which called for an experiment to prove the worthiness of the Palestinian society to work in peace side-by-side with Israel, a kind of mini two states for two peoples living side-by-side in peace and security and with programs which would prove mutually advantageous. This time the infection started in the Likud Party which had a strong resistive force dragging down the efforts and resisting the necessary efforts of trust and change which would eventually lead to a dull Arab Palestinian State living side-by-side with Israel. Prime Minister Sharon tired of the resistant Likud Party members holding him from this vision for a future filled with peace where Israel would no longer be the occupying power but instead the fountain for peace. To facilitate his vision he formed Kadima Party (Hebrew: קדימה‎‎, translates to; Forward) and gathered likeminded people from Likud, Labor and other parties and independents forging a new coalition mid-term, an unusual and may prove dangerous precedent in Israeli governance as it now frees any Prime Minister from their own party which when elected chose them if they can forge a new coalition dropping those members of their original party list and replacing them with others even including from the opposition and then making up your own party midstream. The Gaza removal of “settlements,” which were actual cities functioning and employing Arabs as well as Jewish residents, and the removal of the IDF allowing for the Palestinian Security Forces to take over the challenge of enforcing the rule of law and keeping order, failed and Hamas with Islamic Jihad and a number of other lesser terror groups and criminal families stole Gaza in a coup where the Palestinian Security Forces made for scant resistance before fleeing. Numerous wars later, with one threatening on the horizon, Israel faced a better armed and stronger force each time rocket fire reached levels which demanded interventions. Again Iran has a finger in the pie pumping in monies, expertise and the plans for larger and guided missiles capable of striking as far north as Haifa and easily striking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Currently Hamas has been promising a reign of terror with bombings, shootings, abduction of soldiers and civilians and other infiltrations through expertly built tunnels using the European Union provided cement which did not rebuild a single house when purloined, more like appropriate, for tunnel construction. This also allows for another Hamas propaganda line where they claim that Israel would not allow the free flow of cement and that this was why all of Gaza was not rebuilt and then during the next conflict Hamas points to the previous damage as part and parcel of the damage this time adding to the apparent toll and making Israel appear to be the monster. We know this because pictures taken at the start of the last war showed the remaining rubble and destruction from previous wars and could correlate the claims of Hamas that these were caused by Israeli carpet bombing and destruction proving further disproportional use of force and the world laps up this poison.

 

Now we have the multi-front set of social movements, political statements, and the potential making of a new peace party structured around numerous retired military generals, Shin Bet security chiefs and other renowned names and faces from the IDF, Mossad, Israel Security Agency and Police. Commanders for Israel’s Security is the name of this group and once again the name sounds so much better and stronger than the actual politics, programs and desires of the group. We wrote about this movement yesterday but it deserves another look as it is still forming and revealing its truth. What needs coverage first is the initiation of a social movement brought to the fore by two former IDF Chiefs of Staff Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi. Both have previously been named as the latest and greatest potential leader for Israel to realize a new age and lamenting their required waiting period before they can enter politics designed to allow a cooling period thus preventing a general staff officer to sweep into politics upon their return to civilian life potentially leading to catastrophic consequences. This social construct is the designed path for keeping both men in the limelight thus preventing the cooling period to have its complete and desired effect. Joining them is former Education Minister Shai Piron who served as a Minister in the Knesset for Yesh Atid in the previous government, a political construct by Yair Lapid to advance his political aspirations populated by a number of self-proclaimed political visionaries and opportunists. According to Channel 2 News, the new movement will be called “Pnima” (Hebrew: פנימה literal translation: inside) and is defined as a “cultural movement.” Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi, both IDF Chiefs of Staff who were well viewed by the public and were predicted to be capable of forming their own centrist party and winning any election hands down with possibly a straight all-out win by receiving over sixty mandates. As these proclamations were first trumpeted by Haaretz and then echoed around the leftist circle so often and so strongly that the reporting itself became a news story furthering this prediction as being next to gospel, one must also realize their definition of centrist is to the left of the Labor Party and in Meretz territory.

 

So, now Benny Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi have their Pnima “cultural movement” which will grant the left-leaning media their avenue for keeping their names in circulation as they go through their cooling off period by not cooling off. This is absolutely genius in action, a marvel to witness. Additionally we have this new “Commanders for Israel’s Security” and their political manifesto which is a rework of the Saudi Peace Plan with a few twists which would all prove unworkable and disastrous for Israel and her future. They claim to have learned from history but apparently have missed every lesson along the way. Perhaps part of this reason was due to their being such an integral part to the events to which we refer, the Gaza retreat and the South Lebanon retreat. These great military and security minds with their cumulative six-thousand-years of experience in Israel’s various security agencies are expounding their plan as political agreements and security arrangements with the Arab World, including the Palestinians, which are vital Israeli national security objectives, plus additionally recognizing local and regional realities that make it mandatory and urgent to pursue these objectives of peace with security. They do merit the IDF as being by far the most potent military force in the region which can provide effective security and address all challenges within the present or any future borderline as agreed-to by our government and endorsed by our people. This last stipulation is extremely important to their claims to a future for Israel as the wording would make the IDF capable of defending an Israel defined as only the greater Tel Aviv area, a claim which is complete nonsense. Their idea for peace is to use a slight variant of the Arab Peace Deal, also called the Saudi Plan. Their difference is more a difference without a difference than anything else as they call for the new borders to be the security barrier while the Saudi Plan demands the 1949 Armistice Lines better known as the Green Line. The differences are small but stark as the Saudis and the Arabs have already declared their complete opposition to any alteration from their plan as stated using the pre 67 lines as the border. The map below shows the two lines which are within yards of each other along the majority and anywhere there is no Separation Fence the two are the same and no changes are proposed.

 

Green Line versus
Separation Fence Borders

 

The “Commanders for Israel’s Security” plan has proposed that all Israeli cities, towns and “settlements” be removed and the hundreds of thousands of Israeli be uprooted, their livelihood destroyed and then dump them next to the Gazan Israelis removed from their homes and employment in the August of 2005 Gaza withdrawal. Their plan would once again divide Jerusalem and surrender any and all Israeli claims to the lands beyond the Security Barrier unilaterally. But having learned from Gaza the “Commanders for Israel’s Security” will insist on instead utilizing the Southern Lebanon historic record with having the IDF defend Israel from potential enemy activity from land Israel has no claim upon. Eventually the human toll in murdered soldiers along with internal political pressures and world political pressures the IDF would necessarily beat a hasty retreat turning the area over to whoever proves to be the strongest which would likely be either Hamas or Islamic State, a difference without any difference. The plan is a straight out surrender to every demand the Arab side has ever made with one exception, Israel has yet to retreat to Masada. The reality of this plan is the complete surrender within a couple of years if not measured in months giving up everything back to the 1949 Armistice Lines, the Auschwitz Borders to quote Abba Eban.

 

Masada Fortress

 

This is the total reset the Arabs have been seeking as their first step towards slowly chopping up the remainder of Israel by any and all means possible. As we have pointed out in discussions repeatedly is that after the initial success of shrinking Israel down as close as readily attainable to the pre-June 1967 borders, the next step was to claim the Negev belongs traditionally to the Bedouins and thus must be surrender to the Palestinians as these are Palestinian Bedouins. Never mind that the Bedouins are nomadic and it is only in Israel that they are seen as having indigenous rights and claims to land ownership. Never mind that most of their deeds are suspicious as they are written on modern paper often by an electronic printer for the picture and the embossing seal is flat as if a print and not a stamping crimp. The reason given is that these are copies of the originals provided by Jordan or Egypt or Saudi Arabia or even the Palestinian Authority (PA). Some even suspiciously are copies of the Ottoman Empire deeds with obvious changes made to the location and owner name as if a real one was scanned and then alterations made and not that professionally. The PA has already begun their claiming the Galilee as their natural homelands and that Israel, you guessed it, stole the land from them. This falls right in line with their teaching the school children from an early age which city or town their family came from within the Green Line including Tel Aviv, Haifa, Nahariya, Ashkelon, Caesarea, Netanya, Beersheba, Jaffa, Eilat, Tiberius, Lod, Nazareth and all the rest as shown in Palestinian television show excerpted below.

 

 

The problem that Israeli leaders need to understand and the military generals and all the wonderful security chiefs is that the whole storyline which has been shoved down our throats and that of the world until it is all their ears know is all a lie and the truth must be spoken clearly, repeatedly and at every turn and opportunity. Every time there is stated the lies that Israel stole the land we must insist that all the land is ours and has always been ours since over three-thousand-five-hundred years. We need to restate that the Israelites returning to the Promised Land drove out the idolaters cleansing the land from savages who practiced abominations such as human sacrifice and particularly child sacrifices. That was their form of abortion and population control. Any and all children found to be deformed, weak, dull or in any way not capable of defending the village, the fiefdom, would be sacrificed before any investment of food and other materials were wasted on a future liability. This was replaced by the Israelites with a Hashem fearing and obedient people though flawed which we admit in Torah and all Jewish writings. Still, we were civilized ahead of the time then as now and treated human life with a reverence of something special and precious in all its forms. We do not sacrifice the weak or the disabled, we protect them and allow them to grow to their full potential and many are surprising when we view their accomplishments. This was amongst the lessons brought to the world and the world which adopted these customs flourished for as long as they followed the law that all human life is precious.

 

The Jewish and Israelite claims to the lands are written into history and are probably the best defined borders through historic writings of any nation existing today. Oh, wait, none of the civilizations from those days still exist in their original community as the Greeks did not yet exist, when we built our second Temple after the Babylonian Exile Confucius and Buddha were teaching their first disciples. Christianity was still a dream yet to be dreamt and Islam was well over two thousand years into the future. Rome was not even a strong city-state, Athens and Sparta were still fighting each other at every opportunity, Persia had yet to rise and Egypt was on her downward slope. China was awakening and the Israelites were readying the world to accept the Ten Commandments and concepts such as the Day of Rest, the Sabbath, the rotation of crops and a Jubilee Year where the land is rested and debts mitigated. The contract law was part of Torah along with six-hundred-thirteen Commandments for the Israelites to live by. They included limited governance, fair and impartial judges, individual rights, abolishment of slavery by replacing it with a system of wages for work and a day of rest for the worker and even the beasts of burden. Some might claim the Israelites invented the Bar-B-Que and the pancake. Even back in those primitive times when the world ran by “might makes right” the Israelites, the Jewish Peoples, had a code where right and wrong decided relations and not strength. They respected strength for what it was, but it did not automatically make one right in the eyes of the law and justices. It was Torah that initiated the ideal that justice was to be just and judgement would be to bring just justice free from any influence or pity. Torah instructed not to favor the rich for their wealth nor the pauper for their lack thereof.

 

Those are the facts and those are the base of our claim to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, just as it is defined in Torah. That is what has been our promise since before time was recorded by dates and was instead ruled by the stars and their positions as they were the gods to others, not to the Israelites as Hashem made those stars and thus it would be absurd to believe that Hashem was merely a star or group of stars. The discussion needs to change to the land is ours and of that there is no doubt, what we are discussing is how much autonomy will you have to rule over your areas where we permit. There will be no Palestine, just a semiautonomous area which will be permitted to decide over the areas allowed it for as long as such is permitted and to our favor. Violence against us in our lands will not be tolerated ever and each time that law is ignored you will lose another metric dunam (exactly one decare 1000 m² approximately 31.6m square). Write such into the laws of the land and step one disassemble the PA Security Force and disarm the men as it is more a safe haven for terrorists than an agent against terrorism. With time the people under PA rule will be eligible to apply for Israeli citizenship which will be considered on a family by family situation unless one is running from their family at which time as this is verified, they will be given a new identity and protection from their own family should the threat prove valid. Still any Palestinian self-rule will take place under Israeli sovereignty and their schools will include the mandatory teachings of all Israeli schools and learn the history of the land, the real history. Mahmoud Abbas and the rest of the ruling class from the PA will be granted a choice of relocating to the Gaza which Israel will leave as independent, relocate to another nation or live in a safe house in Israel where they will be under all but house arrest and we will try to make you comfortable. Allowing your continued practicing of incitement and hate speeches is a risk we cannot take if we are to expect the PA people to live at peace and develop their society. That has to be the new paradigm as the current whittling away a little here and there and our own generals proving to explain why winning outright has become so difficult. An army cannot win decisively if their leadership has no faith in what they are doing, why they are doing, or the honest validity of their actions. That is a breeding for failure and that must be turned around. We need more commanders who enter the battle with a prayer on their lips and their men and their lives forever on their minds. That is how we regain our land and the impetus to retain what is ours and has always been ours and that, my friends, is Israeli Security First and Foremost. Any questions?

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Time to Fight Back and End Coddling Detractors

 

In Israel one would believe that identifying our enemies would be far easier than in other places but the truth is more complicated. The picture painted by those desiring to make this simplistic such as the media, especially the leftist media, cast the conflict as all Jews against all the Arabs. If this conflict was that simple then a solution might be equally simplistic, but that is far from the case. Such might be difficult to understand but there are Muslim Arabs who are better friends and allies than a number of people of Jewish birth. I am not referring to the ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta who opposes Zionism and support passively, praise Hashem, the dismantling of the State of Israel calling for the Jews only to have their own state until the coming of the Messiah. But obviously the Arab Muslim supporters of Israel are nowhere near the problems that Israel faces and not only are not likely to perform favorable overt acts, neither should such actions be expected as why should they take chances when much of the Israeli government refuses to do so. Amongst those Israeli in high places who remain silent or worse are in high offices of the government, the military, intelligence community, judicial appointees and even some in the current ruling coalition are not standing up and fighting for what is theirs by international treaties which obligate many of the very governments around the globe that are signatories thereof but cowering when those same government paid assassins work tirelessly to delegitimize Israel. Where we here have been on the case of attempting to make the case legally, spiritually, emotionally and by any other means we can and are able to employ here at BTC, we are not any more able to turn the tides until Israeli politicians and the courts stop working against our efforts.

 

Fortunately, we read today about another who is also making the case and through research has discovered and revealed many of the truths we have warned were active in our articles over the years and has written about them in two books, I Sleep in Hitler’s Room: An American Jew Visits Germany and Catch the Jew! of which this article gives some insight which compliments much of the strongest points covered in these two revealing books. The author’s name is Tuvia Tenenbom and was born in Israel later emigrating to Germany, for reasons that escape me except that it was necessary for his great work to be accomplished and is just another reaffirmation that Hashem works his wonders and miracles sometimes in discernable mannerisms and other times not so much; this time it was somewhat apparent. Tuvia Tenenbom assumed a name for his research, Toby the German, which proved to be extremely disarming and coaxed feeling of his being a friend, a European and coconspirator in their working towards the delegitimization of Israel.

 

There were two distinct venues in which Tuvia Tenenbom researched for these two works, one being Europe and the other being Israel including Judea and Samaria. He was able through contacts he had made while in Israel with Jews and other Israelis who upon being softened by his charm introduced him to others which eventually led to his meeting veteran PLO spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi and Jibril Rajoub, the recent instigator and master manipulator of the media with his threats and maneuverings over the supposed filing of a motion before FIFA to have Israel expelled from the organization and thus unable to join in any FIFA soccer tournaments or games against FIFA member teams, a sentence which would basically ban Israel from all of the soccer events including likely the Olympics. Such an exclusion could lead to other sports’ governing bodies also moving to follow the lead set by FIFA and also evict Israel from membership eventually leaving Israel all but permanently barred from sporting events worldwide. So, Tuvia Tenenbom really got a feeling for where the Arab Palestinians were coming from and their beliefs such as that there never was a Temple on the Temple Mount, there was no Holocaust, and denying there was ever a Jewish State. One last point before moving to the next area of this article is that Tuvia Tenenbom gave one outstanding, perfect and agreeing with what has been stated here for why so many Jews take the position opposing their own nation or those Jews external to Israel will so oppose Israel’s rights as a nation was simply driven by their desires to, as he stated, “They want to be the elitist of Israeli society, invited to panels, dinners, events – they want acceptance.” Further proof that insanity runs ramped in the far left has even struck the Knesset was proven when the far leftist Meretz Party has actually posted legislation to impose BDS labeling of all Israeli goods raised, grown, produced or manufactured in Judea and Samaria as being made in the Settlements and not in Israel. That was it for many like me in a nutshell, no more, no less.

 

Another subject which was given far less stress and importance in the article was the area of what the Jews, both Israeli and those in the Diaspora, though the Israeli Jews must take the lead here, should be called upon and requested to perform supportive acts whenever possible and once they have received training and guidance on the main pro-Israeli facts and other truths and been armed with the reality and the size, scope and depth of the forces they will be facing off against and opposing, and yes, given the risks; then those who have the inner strength and fortitude must be given all the silent assistance requested to facilitate their efforts to protest in favor of Israel even should doing so present those who have chosen to remain in a passive role must at the very least standup for Israel at least by enabling others. Those of us taking the fight into the world and readying to face the unbelievable hurdles and trial by fire, the motto has to be Israel first and foremost and before all else. The defining ideal is we must apply now to all of Israel that which Kind David demanded of our forefathers regarding Jerusalem when he wrote in Psalm 137 versus 5, 6, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.” That is the extent and kind of love we must not only hold in our hearts and souls, but in our words and actions. Let us not fall prey to the ill-conceived words of the few who are weak in spirit and are on a path which leads one from the faith and love from Torah as it has shown us in our own history how in the reports of our Promised Land where the evil and horrid faithless description of the Promised Land by ten of the twelve spies, all but Joshua and Caleb reported of the wealth of these lands but made their stature as being giants of formidable size and strength who lived in great walled cities whose walls reached great heights and were thick beyond belief.

 

Joshua and Caleb both reported how the peoples, the Canaanites were fearful of these people who marched through all lands unmolested as their all-powerful deity, Hashem, had preceded them and totally laying entire armies to waste so as to permit their passing unharmed. The peoples living in the Promised Lands were so fearful of the imminent engagement which would certainly leave their armies shattered and their fields and livestock taken by the Israelites. These were a people who doubted their gods and knew of the power and of the hand of the Angel of Death and how the first born of all issue, man and beast, were taken even to include the son of the Pharaoh. Despite the massive trepidations which filled the souls and minds of the Canaanite peoples in their numerous fiefdoms, the majority of the spies retuned with false and fearsome stories of the adversaries who were undefeatable within cities with unable to be scalable and unable to be breached thus selling distrust in Hashem to keep his promises. This caused the children of Israel to be returned to the harshness of the desert, no matter how bearable Hashem made their stay, such that the entire generation of those who had been sapped of their willpower and courage during their lives of slavery were to die off and be replaced with a new generation ready and willing to do as Hashem demanded.

 

Those who are willing to take up the banner and wage the new warfare for the minds and hearts of the world’s populations must know that such is far from an easy task, but with every success comes a warmth and exhilaration indescribable. How do I know, I can proudly claim to have had just such an experience. The details are unimportant and can be left at I refused to back down or even give an inch even knowing that if the altercation of the verbal variety were to reach the higher-ups it would be the end of my position with the company, but I stood and defended Judaism and Israel and it does feel wonderful. But I must take my hat off to Daniel Pereg, a lone Jewish-American sixteen-year-old who can teach the rest of us a valuable lesson as he showed no fear and no backing down all while following the directives of law enforcement with whom he can be seen arguing his point that he was exercising his rights. A video of Daniel in the proverbial lions’ den can be found below. The video was shot outside the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles during pro-Arab Palestinian rally against the legal naval blockade of Gaza to prevent arms from entering an area where they would be deployed against Israel. The protesters probably are unaware that there is an area of Egyptian waters through which a ship might pass to reach a Gazan port except that these waters are patrolled by the Egyptians enforcing their identical blockade for the exact same reason as the Israelis but there are no protests against the Egyptians, curious, no? As Promised, here is the video.

 

 

 

The secret of what is required of individuals, be they Jewish, Christian or any other supporter of Israel needs to be consistent and determined in those facts you defend, such as the lands claimed by the Arab Palestinian are part and parcel of the lands promised and secured for the State of Israel and is undeniably set by treaties and enforced by the United Nations despite what so many there claim. While Israel by these treaties is required to grant any inhabitant of the lands citizenship and rights, but not all rights, included amongst those guaranteed are the right to own property, the right to employment including self-employment, the right to use public amenities, freedom of movement subject to the laws of the lands, freedom to leave and return without fear of being refused reentry, and numerous other rights; there is one right which is permitted to be denied anybody other than the Jewish citizens, and those are political rights. Any political right granted to those Arabs claiming to be Palestinians is a gift which Israel is not required to grant them. Further, the area which may come under Palestinian control does not have to be made Judenfrei as the land remain a part of Israel which also has the right to deny or rescind the lands under her control. Currently there is a push by the world to deny Israel the right to be the home of the Jewish People.

 

This is an idea which is steeped in anti-Semitism and is one of the purest forms of anti-Semitism one can ever find. It is the double standard where the Jews, or in this case Israel, are denied a basic right granted all peoples. This case singles the Jews out as the sole people for whom there can be no homeland, no place where they are permitted self-rule and pressed to spend eternity living at the whim and pleasure of whatever nation they reside. Another example of this double standard is the complaint that during the conflicts with Hamas or Hezballah when the demand is made of Israel to explain why there are Arab deaths but the Jews are not dying at anything approaching the same level as the Arab casualties. They ignore the fact that Hamas, Islamic Jihad are using human shields to guard their rocket launchers and the personnel operating these positions. Was Israel to strap children to their tanks to prevent anybody from firing on them we can imagine, but only barely, the outcry from at least a few hundred NGO’s, every nation in of Europe as well as the European Union, also the United Nations, United States and possibly even Canada. Needless to say that anybody who holds an ounce of love for Israel would be appalled by such a barbarous action and should rightfully join in the condemnation of such an act. The difference between Israel and the Arab Palestinians is that Israel would condemn the same deplorable actions and would take steps to prevent the person or persons from ever taking such actions again. Israel and her IDF fight honorably and would never resort to such tactics. But this type of action shows the basic difference between Israel and her enemies as Israel uses her rockets to save Israeli people while the Palestinians use their people to guard their rockets, and that also provides the reason for the discrepancy in the casualties between Israel and the Arab Palestinians.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Netanyahu Coalition is Ungovernable

 

Prime Minister Netanyahu was able to form a government, but with just a bare bones, slim and minimum sixty-one Ministers. The numbers break down as such; Likud is the predominant party by a mile with their thirty Ministers followed by Kulanu, a new party with ten Ministers along with Shas with seven Ministers and United Torah Judaism with six Ministers and the last party joining at the eleventh hour, Jewish Home with their eight Ministers. Tallied up that is

30 + 10 + 7 + 6 + 8 = 61

The minimum number necessary to hold a majority of the one-hundred-twenty seat Knesset. Having the minimum numbers Netanyahu will likely make some deals to secure three or four additional Ministers who will agree to bolster the coalition though unspoken as their Party did not accept joining the coalition for whatever reasons, some strictly political and others purely tactical and still others a combination of reasons including posturing. There are some still waiting for Yisrael Beiteinu headed by Avigdor Lieberman to potentially join or offer to be the saving cushion with its six Ministers able to make-up for some wayward coalition members on certain votes thus threatening the coalition. Needless to point out, Prime Minister Netanyahu has cobbled together a coalition which as it stands cannot govern for very long before any single party or even an internal faction within Likud could force a crisis and bring down the government. Should the coalition fail then President Reuven Rivlin could call for snap elections to be held again giving an even shorter campaign cycle bringing Israelis back to the polls yet another time so quickly. The turnout for another government would likely have a lower turnout potentially changing the mix of parties as Israelis would measure their votes against the results of the recently past elections where many Israelis were less than thrilled with the results.

 

Still, do not expect overt changes but rather a refining of the vote with the potential for increases in the portions for Jewish Home, Kulanu and Yisrael Beiteinu. On the other hand, the protestations and self-important tantrums thrown by Yair Lapid could affect the numbers received by his Yesh Atid Party placing some of his eleven Ministers vulnerable to lost support. New elections might bring into play the joint parties of Yachad and Otzma Yehudit which missed making Knesset by the slimmest of margins. New elections could produce a far stronger Jewish Home which was on the mend in the final days of the election but never did quite make it all the way back to the high-points it had hit earlier in many polls. Additionally, one might expect to see Yachad and Otzma Yehudit make it past threshold which would bring a change in the end total results as Yachad and Otzma Yehudit would easily reach four and potentially higher as they would be able to prevent some of the rumored destruction of their ballots and also such simple things as swapping out their ballots with others and other such tricks and deceptions. It could also be predicted that the Zionist Union Party would split back to their two parties, the Labor Party and Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah Party. While Hatnuah Party would likely not come even remotely close to breaking the minimum and would not make the Knesset, the split might make the Labor Party cleaner and without Tzipi Livni it would potentially garner two or three additional seats. Meretz and the Joint Arab List would each remain the same of gain or lose a single seat.

 

The question of the hour is how long the slender coalition can hold together when all it would take is a protest by the single Minister protesting to bring down the coalition. There have already been some rumblings of discontent within Likud by some of the Ministers who had their hearts set on gaining some of the Ministerships which ended up being given to the joining coalition members as they demanded those Ministerial positions from which they could wield the power of the department which would have the greatest and most direct influence in addressing their promises from the elections. The coalition coming out of the gate will likely be tested potentially by opposition members. Yair Lapid has already threatened to take the current coalition to court as it has more Ministerial positions which is one item which always seems to grow and is fortunately cut back every so often; after all, do we really want these politicians thinking they are more important than they actually are? This government is inherently unstable which will make for a wild ride while watching for what will be the defining moment when it becomes obviously impossible to hold the coalition together any longer. Sometimes it is the most fragile of coalitions which end up holding together for the longest amount of time as the members realize exactly how fragile their rule is and treat it as the vital but fragile thing as it really is. Still, there are going to be a good number of members of the opposition who see this tight race where the Prime Minister was only capable forming the most delicate of beast of a coalition.

 

The one item such a coalition, constantly under threat of collapsing, gives the Prime Minister a perfect reason to state that this is not the time to rock the boat and press through any peace initiatives from the outside world. All it would take to shoot down any demands for Israel to make additional sacrifices for peace is a single person threatening to leave the coalition should such a proposition even be introduced, let alone actually forced through the Knesset. This is already understood by even the most ignorant and blind fool, yet I might bet that such a proposition will not prevent the Europeans and President Obama from making just such demands as it does not cost them any lost sleep if the Israeli government should collapse as the sole purpose there is an Israeli government, according to too many people both within and outside of Israel, is to make sacrifices before the Arab Palestinian Authority as such sacrifices are the sole item expected from Israel and thus from her government no matter the size or opposition to such demands. The simple and obvious fact that there are members of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s own Likud Party who have threatened to vote against or resign from their positions, not to mention the entirety of the Jewish Home delegation would hopefully bolt from the coalition if such a vote in favor of such were demanded from them.

 

Hopefully this slim coalition can hold its own against all assaults from the entire spectrum starting from within the government and reaching as far as Turtle Bay in New York where the United Nations is located, and is just barely further than Washington D. C. and the White House. Perhaps the knowledge that the coalition is so fragile will force the Ministers within the majority to work together for the betterment of Israel. May such a government prove fortified against Israel making any sacrifices to entice the Arab representatives to come and grace us with their presence for as long as they are comfortable and then bolt from any further meetings where it is again demanded of Israel to sweeten the pot to get the Arab representatives to grace us with their presence for as long as they are comfortable and then bolt from any further meetings where it is again … No more climbing aboard the flight to the destruction of Israel and time for a new approach, annexing lands until Arabs honestly decide to enter into talks designed to end the conflict and make an agreement satisfactory with Israel otherwise Israel is satisfied with the terms and accepts granting the Arabs some adequate areas for them to have semiautonomous controls while remaining under Israeli security control and remain an integral part of Israel. There is no need or necessity which requires Israel to surrender any of the lands promised her in the San Remo Agreement and the fact Israel will permit a semi-autonomous defined region within the whole State of Israel living with in and with peace with Israel should be accepted and satisfy the world which can then go address real problems in the world. That is a stance for which this narrow coalition can unify and stand united demanding that their aspirations be included as integral to any final agreements.

 

Beyond the Cusp