Moving to Israel

As we approach Yom Kippur, the holy day of the Jewish year when we all hope to be written in for a successful year by Hashem, the talk of the Jewish world has been Binyamin Netanyahu’s (some would say “historic”) speech given in the UN on Thursday. For the most part, it has been accepted with a rare wall-to-wall praise both in Israel and abroad.

With a few exceptions, most noted the persuasiveness of the speech and how it will linger long in the minds of the international community who saw Netanyahu powerfully display the photograph of him with the plans for Auschwitz and took criticism for encouraging Israel to leave Gaza, and then condemning Israel in the Goldstone Report when it responded to the rocket attacks that resulted.

As we move towards the holiest time of the year for Jews, let’s hope the prime minister will keep up his strong and effective defense of Israel and hope that, with G-d’s help, our tiny country will prosper and thrive in the year ahead.

Ari

With election of Israel’s Knesset falling deeper into the past and the process continuing with a government being formed, you continue to hear stories of the behind the scenes developments of Binyamin Netanyahu and his attempts to put together a coalition. Some stories, such as this one about Netanyahu giving in to all of the demands made by Yisrael Beiteinu chief Avigdor Lieberman regarding various cabinet positions, are typical examples of these pieces.

While the forming of the government and who will be serving what position are certainly important, critical issues I can’t help but read them with a sense of “are you kidding me” attitude. The discussions and political maneuverings just seem to pale in comparison to things like the attack by a deranged Arab tractor driver last Thursday — the third of its kind in Jerusalem in a single year. A big part of me just wants to shout at these politicians about how we have enough to worry about with an unending amount of Arabs surrounding our tiny little country swearing to drive us into the sea. This should be the only issue when forming a government. The security and survival of the Jewish people needs to come first. 

Let’s hope that these are some of the behind the scene stories that we are not hearing about. The ones where the brave politicians forming the government are talking about nothing but how best to defend the nation and to make sure our enemies torment us no more.

Ari

Now that the dust has settled (somewhat) from the dramatic elections for Israel’s Knesset a couple of weeks ago we start to wonder where we go from here.

As President Shimon Peres has asked Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu to form Israel’s coming government we seem to have a number of schools of thought. One is the “here we go again” thinking focusing on how Netanyahu was our Prime Minister not too long ago and, as things have grown increasingly worse in Israel over the years, the (reasonable) questioning is why this time will be any different.

There is, however, another school of thought. It seems that some people are subscribing to the theory that Netanyahu has learned from past mistakes and that we have therefore witnessed a historic decision that could save the civilized world. These pundits point to the fact that in his first statements as prime minister-presumptive “to the shock of many, he pointedly refused even to mention the Palestinian peace process, which has been going nowhere of late. Nor was there, again clearly deliberately, any reference made to the so-called two-state solution, which those negotiations had been aiming to find.” This quote comes from an article in the U.S. paper Investor’s Business Daily and echoes the sentiments of many people.

While it is impossible to know how the situation will play itself out I, for one, hope that the projections in the above article are accurate. We have very dangerous enemies facing Israel and the entire civlized world and a leader who sees this threat and is ready to act on it is one that Israel and the world sorely needs more than ever.

Ari

As the process moves forward after Israel’s Election Day votes have been tallied and counted, a common question seems to be on the minds of both Israelis and outsiders alike: what exactly just happened?

To recap: Kadima, led by Tzipi Livni, came out on top with the most votes in the election barely edging Binyamin Netanyahu and Likud. However, due to the uniqueness of Israel’s election system, Likud has pretty much come out on top due to the right wing’s stronger showing than the left and, therefore, their being better positioned to form a coalition in the Knesset.

As the wrangling and positioning of the various parties continues to shake out, I continue to ask myself if this whole process needs to be changed or, at the very least, seriously reconsidered. The people have voted and they expect results. They want their decisions to have a bearing on the leadership of the country (as does any democracy) and, after taking time out of their busy schedules, expect immediate results from their voting. The long, drawn out process that will now take place only further delays the implementation of a new government and, Israel of all places, has little time to waste. There are important, life and death issues that need to be tackled immediately and we need (hopefully strong) leaders to move into their new roles right away and get to the business of - among other things - protecting our country.

Let’s hope the matter is settled as soon as possible and that the new leaders will have the strength and faith in Hashem to grab the country and lead her through all of our current challenges.

Ari