Israel: Netanyahu poised for comeback

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared well placed to return to power as exit polls following Tuesday's election showed his right-wing bloc heading for a narrow majority lifted by a strong showing from his far-right allies.

Israel's longest-serving premier, on trial over corruption charges which he denies, was poised to take a narrow majority of 61 or 62 of the Knesset's 120 seats, according to Israeli television exit polls.

"It's a good start," Netanyahu, 73, said in a video broadcast by Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11, but added that exit polls were not the real count.

A final result is not expected until later in the week and wrangling broke out immediately with Netanyahu's Likud party warning of possible attempts to falsify the results.

Israel's fifth election in less than four years exasperated many voters, but turnout was reported at the highest levels since 2015.

The campaign was shaken up by firebrand West Bank settler Itamar Ben-Gvir and his ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism list, now poised to be the third-largest party in parliament after surging in from the political margins.

"The time has come that we go back to being in charge of our country!" Ben-Gvir said in a speech punctuated by chants of "Death to Terrorists" from hundreds of cheering supporters.

Netanyahu's record 12-year consecutive reign ended in June 2021 when centrist Yair Lapid and his coalition partner Naftali Bennett managed to stitch together an alliance that included an Arab party for the first time.

Security on the streets and soaring prices topped the list of voter concerns in a campaign triggered by defections from Prime Minister Lapid's unlikely ruling coalition of right-wing, liberal and Arab parties.

The campaign was dominated by the outsized personality of Netanyahu, whose legal battles have fed the stalemate blocking Israel's political system since he was indicted on bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges in 2019.

Lapid's camp was poised to take 54-55 seats, with his There Is a Future party coming in second-largest in parliament, according to the polls.

Speaking to supporters at his party headquarters, Lapid stopped short of conceding the election and said he will wait until the final results were in.

"We have no intention to stop," Lapid said. "We will continue to fight for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic, liberal and progressive state."

He campaigned on his stewardship of the economy as well as diplomatic advances with countries including Lebanon and Turkey. But it was not enough to stop the right.

The result, however, left Netanyahu depending on support from Ben-Gvir and fellow far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich, who have moderated some extreme anti-Arab positions but still call for anyone deemed disloyal to Israel to be expelled.

The prospect of a government including Ben-Gvir, a former member of Kach, a group on Israeli and US terrorist watch-lists, and who was once convicted for racist incitement, risks alarming allies including Washington.

It also reinforced Palestinian scepticism that a political solution to the conflict was likely after a campaign which unrolled against a backdrop of increasing violence in the occupied West Bank, with near-daily raids and clashes.

"The election results proved what we already know, that we have no peace partner in Israel," Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said in a statement.

The outcome could be affected by whether or not Balad, a small Arab party, gets over the threshold for entry into parliament, which could shake up the distribution of seats and potentially thwart Netanyahu.

The Central Elections Committee said it had found no sign of any manipulation and said there was no basis to rumours of supposed fraud.

 

Welcome Yair Lapid, Goodbye Naftali Bennett

Yair Lapid swears in as interim Prime Minister of Israel at midnight, replacing Naftali Bennett, who announced not be running in the next elections being held on November 01, 2022.

This makes Lapid the 14th Prime Minister of Israel

Bennett, Lapid and their families participated in a small ceremony for Lapid's transition to Prime Minister. Before the ceremony, Lapid also paid a visit to Yad Vashem.

"Yair, I'm handing you the stick," Bennett told Lapid. "This country and this position do not belong to any one person. We're doing this together and now it's your time."

The Knesset dispersed a few hours earlier the same day with a 92-0 vote.

When Knesset Speaker Miki Levy announced the dissolution of the 24th Knesset, Bennett rose from his chair and signaled incoming Prime Minister Lapid that he would be replaced.

The two are expected to sit down for a long conversation in which they will discuss the overlap between them, Ynet reported.

On Tuesday, Lapid will make his first political trip abroad as Prime Minister to France, and will meet with French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron.

He will also host US President Joe Biden in his visit to Israel.

In accordance with the coalition agreement, Naftali Bennett stepped down from the premiership, becoming alternate prime minister, a title Lapid held for the past year. Lapid will remain foreign minister, as well.

Lapid’s first stop after becoming prime minister was the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, which he said he visited “to promise my father that I will always keep Israel strong and capable of defending itself and protecting its children.” His father, former justice minister Tommy Lapid, was a Holocaust survivor.

After that, Lapid went to the Prime Minister’s Office for a handover ceremony and transition meeting with Bennett. Lapid’s wife, Lihi, and Bennett’s wife, Gilat, and their children attended, as did Prime Minister’s Office staff, but the ceremony was otherwise closed to press or guests.

Lapid made brief remarks, saying to Bennett, “I have worked under Prime Ministers. I am familiar with Prime Ministers. You are a good man and an excellent Prime Minister. You are also a good friend. This is not a farewell ceremony because there is no intention to take leave of you."

Bennett told Lapid that Israel and the premiership do not belong to any one person; they belong to the entire people of Israel.

“I hand over to you the responsibility for the State of Israel. I wish that you guard it well and may G-d watch over you,” he said.

Bennett wished Lapid luck and said to him the blessing parents traditionally say to children on Shabbat, “May G-d make you like Efraim and Menashe. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you. May He lift up His face to you and grant you peace.”

Lapid said his mother, author Shulamit Lapid, had blessed him in the same way earlier that day.

The new Prime Minister’s next stop was expected to be the residence of President Isaac Herzog. Lapid’s first trip as Prime Minister, originally planned for Bennett, is set for Tuesday.

 

 

Another blow to coalition government in Israel

The gyrations of Israel’s coalition government, which still hopes to survive to its first anniversary on June 13, only make sense in its unique context. On Monday, June 6 it lost an important vote, in which more than half of the Knesset members on both sides voted against their own most fundamental beliefs.

It can be termed a desperate effort to either bring down the coalition or to save it. The substance of the legislation was barely more than a pretext, but the opposition smelled blood and was willing to do virtually anything to regain power.

The legislation at issue was a routine bill to maintain Israel’s jurisdiction over the West Bank for another five years, in order to ensure that the half-million Israelis who live there are treated as if they live within the “Green Line,” Israel’s pre-1967 borders. Though, much of the Knesset — including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett — would very much like to permanently annex part or all of the West Bank that is not on the agenda for this government. The bedrock principle is to maintain the status quo with regard to the West Bank and the Palestinians. A fundamental aspect of this policy is the perpetuation of a military regime for West Bank Palestinians and an ordinary life for Israelis living there — and thus the legislation extending it for five more years has always passed with ease.

It’s not that the majority of the MKs disagreed with the legislation. Probably between 80 and 100 of them would have supported it in a free vote, out of the total of 120. However, politics in Israel are now decisively split between supporters and opponents of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which takes precedence even over the left-right divide.

That is the only reason why the current government, unprecedentedly, contains far and mainstream rightists, centrists, leftists, and an Arab party, many of whom would be politically more comfortable with the opposition were it not for the divisive figure of Netanyahu, whose Likud Party and its allies, with a total of 60 members in the evenly divided Knesset, are determined to prove the country ungovernable under the current coalition. The chaos that would theoretically ensue if this legislation isn’t passed, even though they themselves are unashamedly holding it up, is, for them, a perfect example of the government’s inability to accomplish anything.

In fact, it is unlikely that Israeli settlers would spend even one day under the military regime that governs their Palestinian neighbors. They are an important enough constituency that a workaround will probably be found, one way or another. But the process would be chaotic enough that the government’s image, already tarnished, would suffer another heavy blow.

It is not only the right, however, that voted against its basic values. Even more distressed was the left-wing minority in the coalition from the Meretz and Labor parties, whose main political banner is fighting against the occupation. They are ardently against privileges for the settlers, yet cold calculation tells them that anything outside of this coalition would be much worse for them and their values — so they gritted their teeth and voted with the coalition.

There was one exception, Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawi Zoabi, who last month had bolted the coalition but returned after three days, and who voted “no” this time, against the coalition. Meretz MKs know that their constituency wants them to maintain the government as long as possible, but their voters are also asking themselves what the point of voting for a left-wing party is, when it is stuck in a coalition sworn to uphold the occupation. At least some might well switch to the majority-Arab Joint List, which refused to join the coalition, and thus voted against the bill with an absolutely clear conscience.

Perhaps the only more anguished group were the four MKs of the Arab and Islamist United Arab List, known by its Hebrew acronym, Ra’am, which, unprecedentedly for an Arab party, is part of the governing coalition. Three of them absented themselves and the fourth, like Zoabi, voted no. The final vote, including some genuine illnesses, was 52 for the bill and 58 against.

As noted, it is unlikely that this will change things at all for the settlers. Nor was it designated a vote of confidence, by which a loss might have brought down the government. But things can’t go on like this. The coalition was formed last year with 61 votes, but a right-wing MK from the PM’s own party defected in April, leaving the opposition unable to bring the government down, but the coalition unable to govern. Both blocs are desperately trying to encourage more defections — with no success so far. The general assumption is that there may have to be new elections by the end of the year, coming on the heels of four successive elections in less than two years, the first three of which were unable to produce a functional government

Of course that may not settle anything. Recent polls indicate that the country continues to tilt heavily toward the right, but that in a new election the current balance of pro- and anti-Netanyahu seats in the Knesset may well remain the same. Netanyahu’s ongoing trial for fraud and breach of trust is expected to last for at least another year, and he maintains his political power.

Were Netanyahu to disappear from the scene, a government of the mainstream right would almost certainly emerge, perhaps also including some of the “centrists” who dominate this one.

But the former PM is a vigorous 72 and no one is counting him out yet. So, paradoxically, though Netanyahu is loathed by the political left and the center, it is solely his continued presence in politics and his insistence on leading the Likud that has enabled their presence in the current government, unwieldy as it is, and their ability, such as it is, to block possible annexation of the West Bank, among other rightist policies.

 

Naftali Bennett from one crisis to another

Lately a cartoon described the condition being faced by Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, swimming in shark-filled waters, but he is not aware that there are more than a dozen sharks trailing him behind his back. 

The cartoon aptly illustrated where Bennett’s government stands right now, after resolving its coalition crisis with the Ra’am (United Arab List) Party.

That crisis was a reminder of how difficult it is to survive with a slim majority in the Knesset of 60 to 59 on a good day. It also demonstrated how sensitive the coalition is to any issue that could provoke controversy.

Mansour Abbas leading Ra’am into the coalition was celebrated worldwide as a historic breakthrough for Israel. Along with the Abraham Accords, an Arab party joining the coalition was seen internationally as Israel successfully entering a new era of mutually beneficial strategic cooperation with the Arab world despite the conflict with the Palestinians remaining unresolved.

Abbas enthusiastically and optimistically told The Jerusalem Post at an October 2021 press conference at the Knesset, where he presented the government’s massive new allocations to the Arab sector, that it would now become natural for Arab parties to join every Israeli governing coalition forever.

That historic breakthrough was nearly lost, due to Temple Mount violence and the lack of honest reporting about it. Like countless times in the past, violence on the Temple Mount that was exaggerated and fanned by fake news threatened to derail the sensitive fabric of life in the Holy Land.

Reports in the Arab world that made it look as though Israel was purposely trying to kill Muslims at prayer at the Aqsa Mosque nearly made it impossible for Abbas to climb down from the Mount and back into the coalition.

Even when Abbas was finally ready to end the crisis, another incident magnified in the international Arabic media around the world got in the way. Wednesday’s incident in Jenin in which Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead – and the bad press Israel got in its aftermath – could have forced Abbas to continue to freeze his party’s membership in the coalition, vote for a bill that would initiate an election and perhaps even torpedo Bennett’s government.

Abbas canceled a press conference he had scheduled in Kafr Kassem, called Abu Akleh a martyr and said he would insist on an international investigation of the incident. He would have carried on his protest of the incident longer and scored more points with his constituents, if he had had time.

But Abbas had to announce how his party would vote on the Likud’s Knesset dissolution bill in the afternoon and could not wait. His speech about “giving the coalition another chance” could have been written the day he began what was essentially a fake crisis that he initiated to look like the defender of al-Aqsa while the Knesset was on recess.

Abbas knows that he needs as much time as he can get in the coalition for his constituents to be able to see with their own eyes – or at least with their pocketbooks – the positive results of him joining.

What made it easier for Abbas to justify unfreezing Ra’am’s membership in the coalition was the foolishly unruly behavior of the opposition.

He spoke immediately after opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu blasted him in a speech in the Knesset plenum that was supposed to be about Theodor Herzl.

Netanyahu picked yet another fight with Abbas, even though Ra’am could be a very easy coalition partner for him in the future. Every time Netanyahu calls Abbas “a terror supporter” or pretends he did not negotiate Ra’am building a bond with the Likud, Bennett’s coalition gets stronger.

The most right-wing MK in the Knesset, Itamar Ben-Gvir, helped strengthen the coalition even more by crashing Abbas’s press conference in the Knesset. Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid said later that the public prefers Abbas in the coalition over Ben-Gvir.

Then there was the opposition’s most uncouth MK, David Amsalem, who shocked MKs in both the coalition and opposition three times on Wednesday.

First he started an unnecessary fight with Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy, threatening the former Jerusalem police chief. Then he insisted on responding in the plenum to a consensus bill proposed by deaf MK Shirley Pinto that would require government offices to speak to deaf people via text messages. The bill passed 40-0, but Amsalem still had to speak against it.

Finally, Amsalem left a live interview with Channel 12 to cast the deciding vote on a bill. Meretz MK Yair Golan was on the same program, and the two had paired off to leave the coalition and opposition with the same balance in the plenum. But Amsalem left Golan as he was speaking next to him and raced up to vote.

It was less noticed by the coalition, but another MK who embarrassed herself was former coalition chairwoman Idit Silman. She claimed in a TV interview that one of the reasons she defected to the opposition was that the government had built a “Reform Kotel.”

She knows full well that no progress has been made on implementing the Western Wall agreement, that the family prayer site is not intended only for Reform Jews, that Reform is not a slur, and that while Bennett did build what he called the “Ezrat Israel,” it was when he was Jerusalem affairs minister under Netanyahu in 2014.

Silman said in the Knesset cafeteria that she thinks her bolting the coalition will prevent the site’s renovation. She said that since she left, the coalition has had to go “rightward” – yamina in Hebrew. But the coalition’s cooperation with the Joint List that came as the result of her departure has proven that the opposite is true.

Now that the fight with Abbas is over, there are plenty of challenges that await the coalition.

The sharks approaching Bennett include Jerusalem Day celebrations in two weeks, next month’s visit of US President Joe Biden to Israel, attempts to pass next year’s state budget that will begin on June 16, wavering Yamina MK Nir Orbach’s demand to hook up unauthorized outposts to the national electricity grid, and the pregnancy of New Hope faction head Sharren Haskel.

Haskel is due at the end of July, around the same time the Knesset will leave for its next recess. If she gives birth early, she may have to bring her newborn into the plenum to vote, as Pinto did six days after the birth of her child in December.

Jerusalem Day will be the first challenge. Opposition officials said they intend to exploit the holiday to anger Ra’am again, but they said they do have limits.

“We won’t cause a security crisis to cause a political crisis with Ra’am, but we will call for people to go on the Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day, of course,” a Likud spokesman said.

The spokesman said he did not think Netanyahu would ascend the Temple Mount, but acknowledged that it would not be the first time such a controversial step was taken by the head of the opposition from the Likud.

“It’s clear to everyone that the next crisis with Ra’am is only a matter of time,” the spokesman said. “This past week was not ideal for the opposition, but we won’t give up. They have dozens of bills in the pipeline that we stopped. They aren’t even trying to pass them. Even some they put on the agenda they took back. This doesn’t look like a government that can last very long. It can last a few weeks, but it is bound to end soon.”

In the weeks ahead, the coalition intends to continue the strategy that worked this week. Uncontroversial socioeconomic legislation will be advanced. Bills that do not have a consensus will have to wait.

Coalition bills will be put on the agenda only if a majority is obtained for them well in advance. Opposition bills will be passed by the coalition if they make sense and do not cost money, as eight were on Wednesday.

De facto coalition chairman Boaz Toporovsky said he intends to proceed with caution, knowing full well that there are plenty of sharks ready to attack. But he was not afraid of exulting about the opposition backing down from bringing the Knesset dissolution bill to a vote.

“The opposition surrendered and pulled back the bill,” Toporovsky said. “Another political spin crashed. They are scared. They know they have no majority, neither in the Knesset nor in the public. I recommend that all our doubters wait patiently and watch our government be strong and function. The unified coalition will continue to come to the Knesset and work hard for the entire Israeli public.”

Courtesy: The Jerusalem Post

Iranian President issues stern warning to Israel

Iranian President Ayatollah Seyed Ebrahim Raisi has issued a strong warning against any Israeli move to harm Iran, making sure that his country is aware of Israel’s possible plans to take the battle into Iran. 

The timing and the venue from which the warning was issued could not be more meaningful. President Raisi made the remarks during a military parade held on the occasion of the Iranian Army Day. Flanked by Army generals in an elevated stand, Raisi told parading troops that Iran will respond to any Israeli aggression against Iran in Israel’s depth. 

Underlining that Iran will never start a war, but will face any aggression with a remorseful and decisive response; President Raisi announced the high readiness of the country's military forces and the high intelligence elite of these forces in the face of regional and international developments.

He asserted that the slightest movement of the enemy will not be hidden from the sharp eyes of Iran’s armed forces, noting, “The Zionist regime (Israel) that is seeking to normalize relations with some regional countries must know that the slightest move it makes will not be hidden from the sharp eyes and intelligence of the Armed Forces and intelligent forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Stressing that any movement of the Zionist regime against Iran will lead to a decisive response from the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Raisi warned the leaders of the regime, “Beware that the great and formidable power of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will not leave you as you are for a second.”

This is the highest-level warning after the Iranian missile strike in March against a “Mossad headquarters” in Erbil, northern Iraq, which was reportedly a response to a previously announced Israeli drone attack in the western Iranian province of Kermanshah.

Iran’s Al-Alam news television said the missile attack, launched by the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), came in response to a recent Israeli drone attack in the Mahidasht region in western Iran.

Little is known about the Mahidasht strike but it apparently marked a significant stage in what Israelis call the “Octopus doctrine,” which happens to be a brainchild of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.  

The doctrine means that Israel should take the battle to Iran instead of fighting Iran’s allies across the West Asia region. Bennett outlined the doctrine at the Herzliya Conference in May 2018 when he was education minister. 

“While we’re shedding blood fighting their tentacles, the octopus’s head is lounging in its chair enjoying itself,” he said of Iran, adding that it was time for Israel “to aim at the head of the octopus and not its tentacles.”

Bennett reiterated the doctrine when he became defense minister, saying in February 2020 that “when the tentacles of the octopus strike you, do not fight only against the tentacle, but suffocate its head, likewise with Iran.”

But Bennett has largely failed in carrying out his doctrine due to Iran’s vigilance. Israel was unable to mount a significant attack inside Iran. And the Mahidasht attack was so minor in its effect that Israel was unwilling to highlight it at the media level just as it does with the attacks that it does not claim responsibility for. 

Anyway, Iran seems more vigilant than ever vis-a-vis Israel’s moves. Iran has long said it is watching all the steps Israel makes in the region whether through its new allies or directly. And has the will to respond to any aggressive move, as Raisi said.

Can Naftali Bennett survive as Prime Minister of Israel?

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett stated that MK Idit Silman had been threatened by supporters of opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Religious Zionist head Betzalel Smotrich until she broke and left the coalition on Wednesday.

"Idit was persecuted for months, verbally abused by supporters of Bibi and Smotrich at the most horrific level," said Bennett on Wednesday evening. "She described to me the threats against her husband Shmulik's workplace and her children in Bnei Akiva. She broke in the end."

Bennett stressed that the main thing we need to deal with at the moment is stabilizing the faction and the coalition. He added that all the leaders in the coalition are interested in continuing the current government.

With the resignation of MK Idit Silman from the coalition, here are four possible scenarios of what will come next:

1. Domino effect

Another member of the Knesset quits the coalition and helps the opposition – led by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu – to pass a bill dispersing the Knesset and taking Israel to a new election.

In this event, immediately after the dispersion of the Knesset, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid would become prime minister until the formation of a new government.

For Silman, the ideal situation would be for another member of Yamina to break away from the party so that she can then – together with earlier Yamina rebel MK Amichai Chikli – form a new faction that would be able to merge with an existing party and run in a new election.

2. Gantz jumps ship

Before the Knesset dissolves, Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz decides to join the opposition and become Israel’s prime minister. This scenario is possible for a few reasons. The first is that Gantz, who currently serves as Defense Minister, has been unhappy with the current government since its inception. He was particularly bothered by Bennett – with six seats and now five – becoming Prime Minister while he, Gantz, had eight seats.

In addition, Gantz might prefer this option over the dispersion of the Knesset, which would see Lapid become Prime Minister. Remember that the two politicians split – with Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party leaving the Blue and White alliance – in 2020 when Gantz decided to join Netanyahu’s last government, which ultimately fell apart.

While Gantz has said that he learned the lesson from sitting with Netanyahu and that he would not make the same mistake again, he could argue that by joining Netanyahu he would not only be serving as Prime Minister but would also be preventing another election and further political instability.

3. A comeback for Netanyahu

Netanyahu somehow manages to form a government in the current Knesset or steps aside as Chairman of the Likud – highly unlikely – and allows a different Likud MK to do so. It is more likely that he would prefer crowning Gantz than someone from his own party, something he could have done before Bennett became prime minister last June.

4. Limping to the finish line

The government – now a lame duck and unable to pass legislation – manages to survive until the beginning of 2023, when it needs to pass a new budget. Although, it would not be able to pass any laws, this might be the best scenario right now for Bennett.

 

What is going on in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine?

Three days after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, the details are beginning to emerge. According to people who were privy to details about the meeting, the current situation is that Russia has offered a "final" version of its offer to end the crisis, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky needs to accept or decline.

The proposal was deemed difficult but not impossible, the sources said. It is worse than what Zelensky would have gotten before the invasion but the gaps between the sides are not great.

Putin ordered his forces to halt – and the command for a ceasefire to be enacted was given – in order to wait for Zelensky's decision, the sources said. 

If Ukraine's President rejects the proposal, French President Emmanuel Macron's assumption that the worst is before us is prone to happen. In that scenario, Putin will order his army to put the pedal to the metal and change the face of Ukraine. 

Zelensky is torn, the sources said. On the one hand, he is enjoying immense popularity and has become the perfect Che Guevara. On the other hand, he knows well what the Argentinean revolutionary and guerrilla leader's end was.

Zelensky can fortify Ukraine's independence but will have to pay a heavy price, the sources said. Assumptions are that he will be forced to give up the contested Donbas region, officially recognize the pro-Russian dissidents in Ukraine, and pledge that Ukraine will not join NATO, shrink his army and declare neutrality. If he declines the proposal, the outcome may be terrible, thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of Ukrainians will die and there is a high probability that his country will completely lose its independence.

According to the sources knowledgeable about the content of the talks, Bennett's trip to Moscow was not meant to mediate between the sides and no arbitration proposal was officially offered. Rather, the trip was meant to get a sense of what Putin's position was, what his state of mind was and what his redlines were, and report them to the West. 

The real negotiations, according to the sources, are happening directly between Russia and Ukraine and are much more serious than what the West has been saying. Kyiv has not shared with the West what has been going on in the negotiations since they do not want to damper the worldwide sense of emergency. 

In reality, the Ukrainians know well what Putin's demands are and they know they will have to make a dramatic decision in the coming days.

No one will pressure the Ukrainians, the sources said; the decision is Zelensky's.

One thing is certain, Putin is determined, and the growing complications since the invasion will not deter him. On the contrary, he cannot turn back, so the more the war becomes difficult and casualties mount, the more he will be pressured to show real achievements. 

The impression is that, despite the fact that the predictions of a quick victory over the Ukrainian army have been proven false, Putin is as determined as ever.

Israeli response to the US waiver for Iran

Over the weekend, the United States made stunning news giving Iran a sanctions waiver to return to the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal. Israel and critics of the JCPOA immediately took this as a bad sign of the emergence of a weaker deal, but how bad is it really?

The Iran nuclear deal that world powers are negotiating in Vienna will make it harder to stave off a nuclear Iran, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned at the opening of Sunday’s cabinet meeting.

“Foremost among the threats to the State of Israel is Iran,” Bennett said. “We, as the cabinet, are responsible for taking on the Iranian nuclear [threat], and are closely following what is happening in the talks in Vienna.”

Bennett said, “The agreement and what appears to be its conditions will damage the ability to take on the nuclear program.

“Whoever thinks an agreement will increase stability is wrong,” he added. “It will temporarily delay enrichment, but all of us in the region will pay a heavy, disproportionate price for it.”

According to The Jerusalem Post, it is a very clear sign that the United States is trying to close a return to the deal by mid-February when the IAEA issues its next report or by March 7, 2022, when the IAEA Board of Governors meets. These are opportunities that only come up once every three months to exercise additional pressure on the Islamic Republic.

Put simply, Washington's leverage to get the ayatollahs to return to the nuclear limits is the existing sanctions leverage. If the US starts to lift sanctions before Iran has given anything up, why should the Islamic Republic show any readiness to compromise?

This goes along with other recent signs, such as a split in the US negotiating team in which three members resigned over their view that the Biden administration's approach to the negotiations was too flexible and lenient toward Tehran.

For one, leaks to the Wall Street Journal last week indicated that those resigning were unhappy with a return to the JCPOA which would leave Iran closer to six months away from crossing the uranium enrichment threshold as opposed to the deal's original 12-month goal.

The waiver from this weekend covered the conversion of Iran’s Arak heavy water research reactor - which relates to its potential plutonium path to a nuclear weapon, delivering to it enriched uranium for its Tehran nuclear research reactor and facilitating the transfer of spent and scrap reactor fuel abroad.

None of these sanctions relief helps Iran's economy one iota. They also do not advance its nuclear program at all. Rather, all of these items were part of the JCPOA itself and were actions that either kept or maintained Iran's ability to have a civil nuclear program, while cutting it off from military options.

The truth is that the Trump administration's decision in May 2020, only a few months before the November 2020 presidential election, to cancel these sanctions waivers was bizarre. It served no purpose other than to remove an exit ramp for Iran to return to the nuclear deal if it wanted to.

Essentially, it was an attempt to preemptively sabotage the Biden administration from being able to return to the JCPOA given that Biden was leading Trump in the polls.

These items are all basically part of the machinery of how the JCPOA operates at a civil nuclear level completely within the nuclear limits.

For example, the provisions regarding the Arak reactor actually prevent Iran from advancing a plutonium path to a bomb, transferring spent and scrap reactor fuel abroad prevents Iran from using it at home, and even transferring a tiny amount of non-weaponized enriched uranium keeps Iran under the 300 kilogram and 3.67% enrichment level limits of the deal.   

Tactically, this is the Biden administration trying to show it is eager to facilitate the machinery of the JCPOA and it can box Tehran into needing to show good faith on its part, or risk being blamed for the failed negotiations.

Of course, this is not the result that the Israeli government wants , though a rising number of voices in the Israeli defense establishment want a deal if only to slow and freeze Iran's march to the 90% uranium weaponization level.

It does signal Washington's desperation for a deal and all other signs are that the new deal will be weaker than the JCPOA had been.

But of all of the recent signs pointing in this direction, this sanctions waiver was actually the least significant and the smallest concrete negative change from an Israeli government perspective.

Signs of an imminent full or partial deal would involve sanctions waivers to countries like China, India, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey and South Korea.

These were eight countries that even the Trump administration granted exemptions to from sanctions during May 2018 to May 2019.

Israel getting new laser defense system ready

Israel is getting itself surrounded with a defensive laser wall, with new missile interception technology, which will be ready within a year, announced Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

The IDF will begin using the laser interception system in the next year, first experimentally and later operationally, starting in the South.

“This will allow us, in the medium to long-term, to surround Israel with a laser wall that will defend us from missiles, rockets, UAVs and other threats that will essentially take away the strongest card our enemies have against us,” Bennett said.

The Defense Ministry successfully intercepted drones with the powerful airborne laser system installed on light aircraft in June last year. The system downed several UAVs at a range of one kilometer with a 100% success rate. The ministry intends to build a laser with a power of 100 kilowatts that will have an effective range of 20 km.

Bennett explained that today a terrorist in Gaza can launch a rocket into Israel that costs hundreds of dollars to make, while the Iron Dome battery shooting down the rocket costs tens of thousands of dollars.

“This equation doesn’t make sense,” the prime minister stated. “It allows [the terrorists] to launch more and more Kassams and for us to shed many millions on a ‘lightning strike’ and billions during a campaign. We decided to break the equation, and it will be broken in only a few years.”

At that point, Bennett said, Israel’s enemies “will invest a lot, and we will invest a little. If you can intercept a missile or rocket with an electric pulse that costs a few dollars, we are weakening the ring of fire that Iran has built on our borders.”

Israel will offer the laser technology to its regional allies that are also facing threats from Iran and its proxies, the prime minister said.

Bennett repeated his comparison of Iran to an octopus, sending its tentacles – proxies – to wreak havoc throughout the Middle East, and growing stronger all the time.

“The campaign to weaken Iran has begun,” he said. “This campaign is in all dimensions: nuclear, economic, cyber, open and secret actions, alone and in cooperation with others. The weaker Iran is, the weaker its proxies are. The hungrier the octopus is, the more its tentacles shrivel.”

Bennett expressed hope that the nuclear talks between world powers and Iran “will end without an agreement, because that agreement is bad for Israel.”

“Removing sanctions and flooding the Iranian regime with billions of dollars means more rockets, more UAVs, more terrorist cells, more cyber attacks and propaganda operations,” he said.

The prime minister pointed out that the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies have been actively attacking the United Arab Emirates and other countries while the Vienna talks are ongoing.

“That is the definition of negotiations under fire. That’s blackmail,” he said.

Israel’s strategy to fight back against Iran will stand regardless of the results in Vienna, because “even with an agreement, we think the Iranians will continue to be the Iranians,” he added.

“If an agreement is signed and the flow of dollars is renewed, we all understand Iranian aggression will only increase in the region.”

In addition, Bennett pointed out that the sunset clauses in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which the delegations in Vienna are seeking to revive, expires in a short time, at the end of 2030.

With US Ambassador Tom Nides in the audience, Bennett said that Washington’s interests and Jerusalem’s “do not always overlap.”

“Their interest in our region is lessening,” Bennett said of the Americans. “Their eyes are currently focused on the border of Russia and Ukraine, and in the long term, they are in a strategic conflict with China.”

There is “no longer one global policeman,” he said.

“There are no vacuums in the geopolitical arena,” Bennett stated. “Any place that is cleared is immediately taken. The United States’ place in the region can be filled – God forbid – by forces of terror and hate, and it could be filled by Israel.”

Israel’s allies in the region could be part of a “multidimensional alliance” against forces that seek to destabilize the Middle East, he said.

Israel war mania

Israel will do what is necessary to protect itself against the Iranian existential threat, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Thursday. His utterings came at a time when world powers are getting ready to hold talks in Vienna with Tehran on the renewal of the 2015 nuclear deal.

“We will not tire, we will be relentless, when we are talking about the very existence of the Jewish state, we will do what we need to do,” Bennett said in a virtual address to a United States-based virtual conference by the group ‘United against a Nuclear Iran’.

“Iran poses a strategic threat to the world and an existential threat to Israel, and they ought not to be allowed to get away with it.

“If Iran goes nuclear, you will get Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the whole Middle East will go nuclear. We have to keep up our pressure on Iran, and we have to stay united in our efforts to do so,” Bennett said.

Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who served under the Trump administration, said she believed the Iran deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was outdated. 

She accused Biden administration of abandoning US Middle East allies on Iran and in specific of sending Saudi Arabia into the arms of Tehran. 

"We should never go and give concessions to Iran and play on their terms," but there should be a conversation with the Arab countries and Israel, Haley said.

"Israel now is contemplating how to deal with Iran without us, that is an unbelievable scenario, and they are not wrong to do that. If I was advising Israel I would say do not count on the Biden administration to help you with Iran, because they are not going to be there," she said.

Republicans and Democrats alike want to stop a nuclear Iran, but the Biden administration lacks bi-partisan support for the revival of the 2015 deal, said Haley. Like Israel, she does not believe the 2015 deal would stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who is under personal US sanctions over allegations of human rights abuses in his past as a judge, said on Thursday that Iran seeks the “lifting of all US sanctions and neutralization of sanctions,” as he issued an uncompromising tone ahead of the Vienna discussions.

“The negotiations we are considering are result-oriented ones. We will not leave the negotiating table... but we will not retreat from the interests of our nation in any way,” Iranian state TV quoted Raisi as saying.

Under the 2015 deal between Iran and six world powers, Tehran curbed its uranium enrichment program, a possible pathway to nuclear arms, in return for the lifting of US, UN and European Union sanctions.

But former US president Donald Trump quit the deal in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors that have crippled its economy, prompting Tehran to breach limits set by the pact on its nuclear work.

In spite of six rounds of indirect talks, Tehran and Washington still disagree on which steps need to be taken and when with key issues being what nuclear limits Tehran will accept and what sanctions Washington will remove.

Separately, the chief commander of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, said US pressure on Iran had failed.

“The Americans have used all means, policies and strategies to surrender the Iranian nation... but the Islamic Republic has become stronger,” Salami said in a televised speech to mark the siege of the US embassy in Tehran after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Amateurish act of Israeli Defense Minister

US State Department spokesman Ned Price gave credence to American criticism of Israel’s decision to designate six Palestinian NGOs as terror organizations, saying Washington did not get a heads-up about the move.

According to a report, United States was not alone. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who signed the order, did not give Prime Minister Naftali Bennett or Foreign Minister Yair Lapid any advance warning either.

If the State Department was upset at being blindsided (defense officials were later cited as saying the US was in fact informed), diplomats at Foggy Bottom can only imagine how Bennett and Lapid must feel.

That Gantz took this decision without informing Bennett or Lapid – two men who now have to deal with diplomatic fallout from the move – bespeaks of a government not working as it should.

That is a serious problem, considering it’s the government’s calling card, “Even though we are ideologically diverse, the component parts work well together for the benefit of the country.”

Gantz’s failure to let others in on his NGO decision came just three weeks after Bennett dropped a bombshell announcement during his speech to the opening of the Knesset’s winter session that the Mossad recently carried out a daring operation to recover information about missing Airman Ron Arad.

Though, Bennett briefed Lapid beforehand on what he would say, he only informed Gantz moments before he began his speech, giving the defense minister no time to object. Gantz was miffed, as evident in the briefings defense officials gave reporters, saying that the mission was a failure.

Could it be that Gantz did not brief Bennett or Lapid in advance of the NGO announcement as a tit-for-tat? One shudders at the very thought.

But something is obviously amiss. This is not the way to run a government, or to instill confidence in a politically shell-shocked nation. That the prime minister and the foreign minister did not know of this move in advance is evidence of amateurism seeping into critical government decisions.

What message does it send that the prime minister does not know what the defense minister is up to, and vice versa?

This came up at a meeting of coalition heads before Sunday’s cabinet meeting, where Meretz head Nitzan Horowitz and Labor leader Meirav Michaeli reportedly demanded of Bennett that he stop being surprised by key decisions begin made by his ministers.

At the cabinet meeting itself, Bennett – in an apparent effort to lighten the mood – told how in the middle of his meeting on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Construction and Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin – who was acting as a translator between the leaders, turning Bennett’s Hebrew into Russian – dozed off, eliciting a wake-up elbow from the prime minister.

The Russian president, Bennett said, laughed and cracked a joke, as did – it is safe to assume – those around the cabinet table hearing the story for the first time.

But this is not very amusing. The Russian president is probably one of the canniest, shrewdest and cunningest leaders in the world, who thinks numerous steps ahead on the chessboard. Israelis officials meeting him on life-and-death issues like Syria and Iran need to be keenly alert, not drowsy.

To get tired is human, but to fall asleep while translating a key diplomatic meeting – one that could have serious ramifications for Israel’s security – is inexcusable. If Elkin was sleep-deprived going in and didn’t feel he could serve as a translator, someone else should have been sent to do the job.

This scene makes Israel look not like a world power but a shtetl, where tired senior officials fall asleep after a long journey to appeal to the czar.

The lack of coordination between Gantz, Bennett and Lapid also smacks of amateurism, something one might expect, say, when residents of an apartment building – some of whom are miffed and not talking to their neighbors – do not inform one another of key decisions affecting the whole building.

None of this makes the government look serious – and not the image it wants to project domestically or overseas.

Israel trying to buy out loyalty of Jordan

Israeli Channel 12 reported that Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has secretly met with King Abdullah of Jordan as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett embarked for New York where he was expected to meet with Bahraini and UAE ministers and speak at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). 

Bennett and President Isaac Herzog have also met with King Abdullah, in what is seen as a series of overtures to repair Israel's relationship with the Hashemite Kingdom that had become strained under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tenure.

Lapid and King Abdullah discussed the tensions in Jerusalem, including around the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif. The two men also spoke of ways to improve ties between Israel and Jordan, acceding to Channel 12.

It added that the Biden administration received a report of the visit.

Bennett's government has also signed a major water deal with the Hashemite Kingdom that almost doubled the amount of water Israel sends to Jordan. It also agreed to allow Jordan to increase its exports to Palestinian areas of the West Bank.

Israel's longest border is with Jordan and the stability of it is vital for Israel's security. 

The biggest change in Israel in the past year

The biggest change in Israel in the past year was the departure of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after 12 consecutive years remaining in power. The people who made it happen are Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, they did it as a team. 

There is no doubt that they have had a massive influence on Israel in the past year and the changes are likely to continue.

Bennett and Lapid have a history of getting Netanyahu to do things he doesn’t want to do. Back in 2013, the “brothers,” as they were nicknamed due to Bennett’s penchant for calling everyone that, banded together so that Bennett would get into the coalition, despite Netanyahu not wanting him there, and so the haredi parties would stay out, as Lapid insisted. That coalition was a rocky one – even Bennett and Lapid joked they were downgraded from brothers to cousins – and only lasted a year and a half.

Fast-forward to 2021, when Israel held an unprecedented fourth election in two years. Lapid was in the “Never Netanyahu” camp, and had been since Netanyahu fired him from the Finance Ministry in 2014. Bennett said he was leaving his options open; he didn’t think Netanyahu was disqualified, but he was open to other options if Netanyahu was not able to get majority backing.

Though a majority of the Knesset’s seats went to right-wing and religious parties, Netanyahu, once again, could not cobble together a coalition. Parties that once worked with him refused to do so again for myriad reasons: he was under indictment on multiple charges of corruption; he was beholden to the haredi parties; he had broken one promise too many. The parties that were willing to work with him weren’t all willing to work with each other, like the far-right Religious Zionist Party, which refused to be part of a coalition that was dependent on the Islamist Ra’am Party. Bennett and Netanyahu negotiated, but even if Yamina joined the coalition, the numbers just didn’t add up to 61.

Bennett shifted to talks with his former brother Lapid, head of Yesh Atid, the largest party in the anti-Netanyahu bloc. And since Lapid needed Bennett, as well Ra’am, to form a coalition, they were able to make big demands. In Bennett’s case, it was to be prime minister in a rotation agreement, and to go first. Lapid is due to take his place in mid 2023.

With Netanyahu out of the way, the duo got to the business of leading what they call the “change government.”

In many ways, one can look at this government and the one we had several months ago and sigh, “plus ça change.” The Delta variant has Israel in a state of pandemic deja vu – though the COVID-19 vaccine continues to be highly effective in preventing severe illness – and the prime minister and health minister are still constantly urging Israelis to get jabbed. Though, Lapid and Bennett have decided, unlike Netanyahu, to actually engage with the Biden administration on ways to counter Iran, the mullahs’ regime is still moving forward with its nuclear plan and the West is mostly undeterred from trying to negotiate with them despite their aggression across the Middle East, and there have been mysterious power outages and fires in Iran. The incendiary devices still fly in from Gaza and Hezbollah is still threatening us with its missile stockpiles to the north. The price of housing is on the rise and the cost of food has not gone down, etc.

Bennett and Lapid are undeniably different from what came before them. The most obvious change is, of course, in the name and face at the helm. But there’s also a change in attitude. While it’s true that it takes an incredible amount of hubris for someone who only won seven seats in the last election to even think he could be prime minister, this government is structurally immune to the kind of concentrated power that Netanyahu had cultivated. With such a diverse coalition and such a small party within it, Bennett can’t just do what he wants or amass more and more authority under the Prime Minister’s Office, because if he goes too far, if his policies become too partisan, it will threaten the government’s delicate fabric. The same goes for the ministers of Yesh Atid, Meretz, Labor, New Hope, and Blue and White. So far, Lapid and Bennett have handled this delicate dance with relative aplomb, seeming to be perfectly in sync, whether they are talking about Iran and Hezbollah or the pandemic. They thank one another and give each other – and other ministers – credit, something the previous government lacked, as ministers would anonymously grumble.

The government that Bennett and Lapid are leading has the potential to make changes, for better or for worse, far beyond its spirit of partnership. The Health Ministry received a major, desperately needed budget increase. Necessary reforms in the state-funded rabbinate are on the agenda again, with haredim out of the coalition. Climate change is getting more government attention than ever before. The finance minister has leaned into “nanny state” taxes meant to change individual behaviors.

No need to blame Bennett, whatever he got is Irony of fate

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett failed to stand up to pressure from US President Joe Biden on the Iranian issue, opposition representative Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud) said Tuesday in a special session of the Knesset during its summer recess.

Hanegbi, who is one of the longest-serving MKs, recounted the history of Israeli prime ministers resisting pressure from US presidents, from Menachem Begin to Benjamin Netanyahu. He said Bennett had failed to follow in their footsteps, but he should have learned from Netanyahu’s controversial 2015 speech to Congress on the Iran deal, which Hanegbi attended.

“It wasn’t easy or comfortable for them, but our prime ministers are not elected to receive compliments in the White House,” Hanegbi said. “Bennett collapsed when he should have said, “Mr. President, I respect your view that the Iran deal should be resumed, but we will not be obligated by the agreement, and we will not let Iran gain the power to wipe us off the map. We don’t need permission to defend ourselves.” That is what was not said in the White House, and because it

Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana (Yamina), a close confidant of Bennett, responded on his behalf that the government had inherited the situation with Iran from Netanyahu and was not party to the Iran deal.

“Israel reserves the right to decide for itself on the Iran issue,” he said. “On the Iranian issue, the opposition should give its support and not make it a tool for politics.”

Defense Minister Benny Gantz had asked on Monday to speak on the government’s behalf but was turned down by Bennett’s associates, who were angry at him for meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Opposition MKs mocked Bennett for sending the religious services minister to speak on Iran instead of the defense minister.

“I guess on the Iran issue, like other security matters, all we can do is pray, so they sent us the religious services minister to deal with that,” Religious Zionist Party MK Simcha Rothman said.

Bennett’s associates and right-wing ministers in the government continued to criticize Gantz on Tuesday for the meeting with Abbas. Gantz’s No. 2 in his Blue and White Party, Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, defended him.

“The cowards criticizing Defense Minister Gantz are narrow-minded politicians who are jealous of his leadership,” she told Army Radio. “They are jealous because he has earned the public’s trust on security issues and the fight against coronavirus.”

Bennett-Biden meeting postponed to Friday

On 25^th August 2021, I had posted a blog highlighting ill-timed visit of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to United States. I had also highlighted that he may not succeed in obtaining any favors from US President Joe Biden under the prevailing circumstances. The apprehensions came true with the blasts at Kabul airport.  

Bennett meeting with Biden was postponed to Friday in light of the suicide bombings in Afghanistan that killed at least 12 US Marines and soldiers.

“The President’s bilateral meeting with H.E. Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, has been rescheduled for tomorrow,” the White House announced Thursday evening.

The bombing took place an hour before the leaders were set to meet for the first time in the White House. Israeli journalists, who had already gathered in the Brady Press Room, were asked to leave the White House.

The meeting, which was expected to take place on Thursday at 6.00 pm, is now scheduled for Friday morning, according to Israeli media reports. However, a representative of the prime minister denied the report and said no new time had been set. The White House also denied the report.

Following the delay, Bennett and his delegation will remain in Washington until after Shabbat, likely departing on Saturday night or Sunday. Sunday’s cabinet meeting in Jerusalem was postponed.

Bennett’s visit to Washington was finalized days after the Afghanistan pullout crisis began. His staff and Biden administration officials said the timing was important due to developments on the Iranian nuclear front. However, the crisis in Kabul overshadowed the trip from its start on Tuesday.

Israeli media being sent back to our hotel! But Bennett staff insists meeting with Biden isn't canceled.

Two suicide bomb attacks killed and injuring dozens of people including the US Marines.

CIA head to meet Israeli Military Intelligence Chief

The head of the CIA, Bill Burns will meet with the head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Tamir Hayman during his visit to Israel on Tuesday. He will also meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and with the new Mossad Director David Barnea.

Burns is in Israel amid reports that the US is considering alternative ways to get Iran to stop advancing its nuclear program as negotiations to return to the 2015 Iran deal stall.

Israel considers Iran’s nuclear program as the number one concern. Though, Tehran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons, it is believed that they are continuing to develop the capabilities to produce a nuclear weapons arsenal as well as produce ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Last week Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that Israel was ready to strike Iran, saying that the Islamic Republic was a threat to the country, Middle East and the entire world.

“Iran is an international and regional problem. The world witnessed one example on Friday,” Gantz told Ynet, referring to the deadly attack against the Mercer Street tanker that was struck by a suicide drone. “This could happen to anyone,” he said.

With new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi taking over from moderate Hassan Rouhani on Thursday, Gantz said that he could lead Iran to even more extreme regional and security policies.

Between the long lull in negotiations and Raisi entering office, plus recent attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, including on the Mercer Street, in which a Romanian and a British national were killed, many in the State Department think a return to the JCPOA is unlikely, though there is still a faction that remains hopeful, according to an Israeli official involved in talks with the US on Iran.

Israel and the US have been working on preparing for that scenario, including when Bennett’s diplomatic adviser Shimrit Meir and National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata visited Washington last week.

Burns will also reportedly meet with Palestinian Authority intelligence chief Majed Faraj in Ramallah, as well as PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Is Bennett being trapped by non-state actors?

On last Sunday it appeared that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had just erased a 54-year policy banning Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. Had Bennett actually made such a policy change, it likely would have started a religious war between Jews and Muslims, due to vehement opposition to Jewish prayer at the site. 

Domestically it would have collapsed his coalition and set Israel hurtling back into another election cycle.

It’s a move that could have severed Israel’s ties with its neighbor Jordan and complicated relations between Amman and Washington on the eve of US President Joe Biden’s first meeting there with King Abdullah the next day, particularly given that the Hashemite Kingdom has a special custodial relationship to the Temple Mount.

At issue was a line in a tweet sent out by the Prime Minister’s Office in the aftermath of clashes at the Temple Mount, also known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif.

Initially it looked like a simple message, letting the public know that Bennett had spoken “with Public Security Minister Bar Lev and Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Shabtai and thanked them for managing the events on the Temple Mount with responsibility and consideration.”

This could have been termed the most innocuous statement in the world, the Prime Minister’s Office added that this was done “while maintaining freedom of worship for Jews on the Mount.”

The Prime Minister’s Office continued the Twitter thread, stating that Bennett had emphasized that “freedom of worship on the Temple Mount will be fully preserved for Muslims as well, who will soon be marking the fast of the Day of Arafah and the Eid al-Adha.”

Not exactly the type of notice one issues when setting a policy change. Except that a policy – known as the status quo – worked out in the aftermath of the Six Day War in 1967 between Israel and the Wakf Islamic religious trust allows members of all faiths to visit the site, while banning anyone but Muslims from praying there. Jews in particular are expected to pray at the nearby Western Wall.

Bennett backtracked, with his spokesman Matan Sidi clarifying that there was no change to the status quo. Sidi’s words appeared to extinguish potential sparks, but the timing could not have been worse.

Bennett must usher paradigm shift in foreign policy of Israel

Naftali Bennett government has been endowed a unique opportunity to bring positive changes in the foreign policy of Israel. A perception is being created that this government will be ineffective due to the ideological differences among its member parties. 

It is also believed that Israel’s foreign policy was distorted under Benjamin Netanyahu regime and his departure from office will create positive diplomatic momentum. This offers fertile ground for action on which the government could agree despite its diversity.

Despite Netanyahu achievements, Abraham Accords on top, his acts created deep antagonism, especially on the part of leaders of liberal democracies. He was regarded as challenging the fundamental principles of governance and democracy, supporting racist parties in Israel and abroad, and undermining prospects of a two-state solution.

Netanyahu’s credibility was questioned in Washington, Paris, Amman and perhaps in other capitals. His aggressive approach prompted loud clashes with critics of Israel, even with those inherently enjoying friendly relations. It also became evident that during the recent political crisis Netanyahu’s actions were driven, first and foremost, by his desire to remain in power.

This criticism was generally voiced behind the closed doors, but it surfaced occasionally and created much-publicized crises. Netanyahu’s oust enable the new government to improve diplomatic relations with the many countries, particularly the Muslim world.

However, the foreign policy potential of the new coalition does not stem only from Netanyahu’s absence. Yair Lapid serving as foreign minister has long been preparing himself for the job. He has entered the office with experience, contacts and plans to revamp Israeli diplomacy.

Most notably, he clearly has a strong desire to strengthen the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and its public standing. The approval of appointment of 35 ambassadors could be the biggest achievements, which Netanyahu has been holding up for over six months.

The participation of the Labor and Meretz parties in the new government will also contribute to restoring diplomacy to its rightful place in Israeli decision-making. Members of Knesset from both parties have challenged Netanyahu’s foreign policy approach repeatedly and sought to advance new paradigms and guiding principles shaping a pro-peace, multi-regional, internationalist, modern and inclusive Israeli foreign policy.

Labor and Meretz will be in charge of the Ministry of Regional Cooperation and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs in the new government, both with distinct diplomacy components, as well as the Ministries of Health and Environmental Protection, both of which deal with issues high on the global diplomatic agenda to which Israel has much to contribute.

Their voices are also expected to be heard and exert influence regarding the Palestinian issue. In addition, the election of Israel’s new President Isaac Herzog – a pro-peace, liberal democratic leader with extensive diplomatic experience and who enjoys international respect – will bolster the assets of the new Israeli leadership and its capabilities in the international arena.

There are reasons to believe that the coalition parties can reach agreement on a series of urgent foreign policy goals that include: 1) rebuilding trust with the Jordanian monarch and restoring Israel’s strategically important ties with the kingdom; 2) deepening ties with the US Democratic Party to restore bipartisan support for Israel; 3) leveraging the normalization agreements with Arab states to forge bilateral and regional cooperation; 4) improving relations with European Union and renewing the high-level dialogue (Association Council) which has not convened since 2012; 5) leveraging opportunities in the Eastern Mediterranean, including restoring relations with Turkey and advancing maritime border negotiations with Lebanon and 6) strengthening the moderate Palestinian leadership, along with restoring Israeli-Palestinian dialogue channels to advance mutual interests.

Although, the new government is not likely to achieve a final-status peace agreement with the Palestinians, which should be a top foreign policy and national security for Israel, it could be instrumental in mending and healing Israeli foreign policy and leaving a significant diplomatic legacy that will better position Israel in the region and internationally.

Bennett defeats first motions of no-confidence

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday successfully defeated the opposition’s first motions of no-confidence by votes of 60-49 and 59-50. Former Likud minister Ophir Akunis introduced the motions, calling the new government illegitimate because its ruling party, Yamina, has only six loyal MKs.

The government’s liaison to the Knesset, Ze’ev Elkin (New Hope), responded that opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu had offered a rotation as prime minister to Bennett and to New Hope leader Gideon Sa’ar, indicating that it was legitimate for Netanyahu.

By contrast, Netanyahu did not offer such a rotation to anyone else in Likud, despite his own party winning 30 seats, indicating that it was not legitimate for the former prime minister, he said.

“I understand your frustration with losing power, which was unnecessary because Likud could have formed a government if Netanyahu would have agreed to stand aside,” Elkin told former Likud ministers.

In response, Shas leader Arye Deri said at Sa’ar’s request, Netanyahu had agreed to key Likud figures becoming prime minister, including MKs Yariv Levin, Yuval Steinitz and Avi Dichter, and Netanyahu agreed to obtain the approval of the Likud central committee, but Bennett did not agree.

“The cat is out of the bag,” he said. “Naftali Bennett torpedoed it.”

Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana (Yamina) responded: “That is a lie.”

Elkin accused Netanyahu of spending the Likud’s funds to pay protesters to come to his home late at night and frighten his five-year-old daughter.

“In your eyes, whatever serves you is always legitimate, and what removes you from power is always illegitimate,” he told Netanyahu.

Netanyahu responded to his former close confidant sarcastically by saying, “Everyone knows how much the previous speaker cares about the state and how much he takes care of himself.”

The new “government is dangerous, and that is why we will topple it faster than people think,” he said.

Another test of the government is set to take place next week when votes will be held on extending an ordinance that prevents family reunification of Palestinians and Arab-Israelis.

Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich on Monday said his party would not be voting with the coalition to extend the ordinance.

“We won’t be the ones plugging holes for this coalition or those who save it from itself,” he said.

The coalition needs the support of right-wing opposition MKs to pass the ordinance because it is opposed by the Ra’am (United Arab List) Party, as well as Regional Cooperation Minister Esawi Frej and Mossi Raz of Meretz.

Bennett was set to join a meeting of Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) and Ra’am head Mansour Abbas late Monday in an effort to solve the problem.

At a Likud faction meeting on Monday, it was decided that Likud MKs would vote against the law preventing the unification of Palestinian families.

Two non confidence moves filed against new Israeli government

Two separate non confidence moves have been filed against the new Israeli government headed by Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett. One was filed by Likud faction chairman Miki Zohar and another by Shas and United Torah Judaism.

The Likud wrote in its no-confidence motion, “The government was formed with lies and tricking the public, and has no mandate from the public.” The motion was filed by Likud faction chairman Miki Zohar and will be presented on Monday by MK Ofir Akunis.

A separate no-confidence motion, filed by Shas and United Torah Judaism, relates to matters of religion and state.

“For the first time in the history of Israel, a government was founded that sees Judaism as an obstacle, as superfluous and redundant weight that needs to be removed,” it said.

Zohar announced that there would be no pairing off of coalition and opposition MKs that enables MKs to miss votes in the Knesset.

“If you treat us disrespectfully, we will treat you disrespectfully,” Zohar told coalition MKs at a meeting of the Knesset Arrangements Committee on Wednesday.

The opposition also did not help the coalition pass the extension of an ordinance preventing family reunification of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.

One can recall that instead of a gracious reception and an orderly transfer of power, Bennett was met with a malicious, preplanned verbal attack of chaos and venom directed at him and the new coalition.

The speech of outgoing Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu was antagonistic and aggressive. There was no sign of goodwill, no acknowledgment of stepping down, and no indication that he’s going to sit quietly in the opposition.

He declared not to leave politics. He expressed intention to remain opposition leader, head of the Likud and the party’s candidate for prime minister in the next election.

Netanyahu told his supporters they should keep their heads held high despite losing power. “We will continue to work together,” he said.

“I will lead you in a daily struggle against this dangerous left wing government to topple it, and with God’s help, it will happen much faster than you think.”

Netanyahu said, “Bennett always does the opposite of what he says.” The new government is unfit to lead the country for even a single day, he said.

Had Bennett told Israelis he would form a government with Lapid, he would not have gotten elected at all, Netanyahu said, calling him “Fake Right.”