Moving to Israel

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