BY RON JAGER—
Nuclear threats are growing as the Obama administration tacitly approves unsupervised nuclear enrichment, while missiles are being launched daily from the Gaza Strip on cities in Southern Israel.
From the east, Israel faces an existential threat from Iran. From the north, Israel faces a strategic threat from Syria and from Iran’s proxy, Hizbullah, with its more than 40,000 missiles. From the west, Hamas is re-arming and openly declaring its dedication to the destruction of Israel. From the South, Egypt’s leading candidate for the Presidency, Abu Moussa, is publicly calling for abrogating the peace treaty with Israel.
The Palestinian Authority is not showing any serious signs of willingness to accept Israel as a Jewish state.
Despite all these threats representing a clear and present danger for Israel, it seems as though the elected government of Israel is being dragged into calling for elections against the better judgment of Prime Minister Netanyahu for one reason alone; petty politics.
The current balance between the governing right wing party bloc and the opposition left wing party bloc is threatened. The left wing parties, those that claim to represent the “social democratic” and “liberal humanistic” ideologies, smell an opportunity, and as always they don’t give a damn about what’s best for Israel.
The left wing party bloc, will never accept the democratic rule of right wing parties and will do what ever is necessary to take control of the country. They did it by sinking the Altalena, they did it during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, they did it at Oslo, they did it during the years of the suicide bombers, and they are doing it today. They, who claim to speak in the name of humanism and social justice, have consistently and exclusively been responsible for the greatest calamities in the brief history of the State of Israel, and the bloody price has always been paid by the people of Israel.
For an outsider, it is somewhat perplexing to understand. In Israel, the elected government is not based on choosing between 2 parties like in the United States. The political system in Israel forces the largest political party to create a coalition of parties that gives them a majority of 61 Knesset members (out of the 120) who support the largest bloc of parties. Usually, the blocs are divided into left and right wing blocs.
Over the past few weeks a number of political events have transpired that have given the left the audacity to ignore all the existential threats facing Israel and force an election on the duly elected government of Israel.
All Israel’s left wing parties have come out this past week against attacking Iran, claiming that the world has to solve the problem of Iran’s nuclear arsenal and not Israel. Interestingly enough, this logic sounds very much in line with the Obama administration’s appeasement policy towards Iran. This effort has been augmented by two former senior security officials recently retired who have spent the past weeks attacking and slandering the Netanyahu government for even contemplating an attack on Iran.
The truth is that Prime Minister Netanyahu has single handedly succeeded in alerting the Western World to the need to restrain Iran without even firing a single shot. Yet, Israel’s left wing parties, in an effort to weaken the Netanyahu government for their own political gain, are coordinating their political messages concerning Iran.
President Obama has signaled that he will appreciate their cooperation by adopting the re-election strategy of preventing Israel from attacking Iran. However, Netanyahu understands that those who are unwilling to contain Iran today when they don’t have nuclear capability, will ultimately cave in when they attain nuclear weapons.
It is amazing how Obama, in cahoots with Israel’s left wing parties, is always in a state of denial, refusing to acknowledge that a nuclear Iran is much more dangerous to Israel and the world than attacking a non-nuclear Iran would be.
Since Obama spent much of his first term seeking to undermine Netanyahu and remove him from office so as to procure a more pliant Israeli negotiating partner, the timing of the September elections in Israel is no coincidence for Netanyahu either.
Obama, who will be fighting hard to hold onto Jewish votes by positioning himself as Israel’s best friend, won’t dare to take a swipe at Netanyahu during the interim period prior to the elections in September in Israel, and even more so prior to the November elections in the United States.
Fortunately, this cooperation between the Obama administration and Israel’s left wing parties has backfired.
Those who think that Prime Minsiter Netanyahu is calling for early elections out of a sense of political weakness have it all wrong. Netanyahu is, in fact, calling for early elections in order to consolidate and strengthen his political base of support. The polls show him way ahead of other possible contenders.
In the coming months, Israel will have to make some touch decisions concerning Iran, so what better way to make the Israeli threat that much more credible by garnering an impressive showing at the polls, proving that the Israeli public is behind Netanyahu and his position concerning Iran.
In this way, even if Obama is re-elected to a second-term, God forbid, Netanyahu having been re-elected with a wide majority of the Israeli public and a large ruling coalition of center-right political parties will be able to hold-back expected pressure that Obama will put on Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has never concealed his intention to strike Iran’s nuclear sites before they go underground and become immune to attack by Israel. This threat will be more credible than ever by Netanyahu having being re-elected.
The writer, a 25-year veteran of the I.D.F., served as a field mental health officer. Prior to retiring in 2005, served as Commander of the Central Psychiatric Military Clinic for Reserve Soldiers at Tel-Hashomer Hospital. Since retiring from active duty, Ron provides consultancy services to NGO’s implementing Psycho trauma and Psycho education programs to communities in the North and South of Israel. Today Ron has a weekly column at 5TJT.com To contact: medconf@netvision.net.il
Excellent and right on!!
“Altalena… 1973 Yom Kippur War… Oslo” – please fill this out – the story of the left’s destructive history in Israel, because…
Secular humanism is and will be the greatest threat inside Israel – it will be an important part of why Israel receives the antichrist. The link between humanism and the antichrist is confirmed as we see humanistic / Greek thinking battling for the hearts & minds of Israelis during the time of the Maccabees, when Antiochus was a type of the antichrist.
And if you think that the Greek worldview forms the basis of our Western culture, I believe that understanding the difference between the Greek and Jewish mindset, can be a source of great victory for each of us in our personal lives.
I wrote to Jerusalem Connection about this a few months ago but didn’t get any reply. Even since then, the voice of anti-zionist, secular Jews has grown immensely. This is important. You may think to nitpick Israel is to weaken their image to the world, but this issue is important to understand for us and for Jews.
For a bit more on the overarching theme of Greek vs Jew check out: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Articles/Hellenism/hellenism.html