8 April 18 • 2019
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A
fter the smoke clears from this
contentious Israeli election,
which amounted to a refer-
endum on Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’
s tenure, it appears that
Netanyahu will again be asked by Israeli
President Rivlin to form
the next government.
How did he win
again?
As Israel’
s former U.S.
Ambassador Michael
Oren said, “Our econ-
omy is excellent, our
foreign relations were
never better and we’
re
secure … we know him, the world
knows him — even our enemies know
him.
”
Unlike American voters, most Israelis
choose security and stability over the
unknown. In this election that was Gen.
Benny Gantz and his new Blue and
White party, which featured sterling
security credentials among those head-
lining the ticket.
Gantz’
s strategy highlighted
Netanyahu’
s corruption scandals, which
apparently resonated with enough vot-
ers that his party received more than 1
million votes, the most ever by a Israeli
political party — except for Likud, also
in this election.
However, the nation — and particu-
larly its youngest voters — have moved
sharply to the right following the sec-
ond intifada in the early to mid-2000s,
prioritizing security over domestic
concerns. Paradoxically, compared to
Americans, young Israelis lean more to
the right than older generations because
they came of age during and after the
violent Palestinian uprising.
This is what enabled Netanyahu to
keep his job. The prime minister is
perceived as a steady hand in turbulent
waters: Israel is surrounded on all sides
by growing threats of radical jihadism
— Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and the
Muslim Brotherhood. Netanyahu is
trusted on what he considers the No. 1
threat to the survival of Israel, the revo-
lutionary theocracy of Iran.
Netanyahu has also been a very prag-
matic leader, successfully managing
Israel’
s many conflicts. He has skillfully
avoided a war with Hezbollah and Iran
despite targeting hundreds of Iranian
and Hezbollah positions in Syria and
Lebanon over the past few years.
And even with pressure from his own
base to be more aggressive with Hamas,
Netanyahu has avoided undertaking
a major operation to overthrow the
terrorist group that controls the Gaza
Strip. He knows it would be a disaster
if Israel conquered the coastal strip and
became responsible for the lives of its 2
million residents.
Under his unprecedentedly long
tenure, Israel has become more secure,
with significant economic advance-
ments and diplomatic achievements,
especially in forging relations with the
Arab world and Africa. Many observers
said that couldn’
t happen unless there
was peace first between the Palestinians
and Israel.
Netanyahu was the first Israeli prime
minister in 24 years to visit Oman. Last
year he met with an Emirati ambassa-
dor — a meeting that Business Insider
said “sheds light on one of the worst-
kept secrets in the Arab world: the quiet
ties between Israel and some of its Arab
neighbors that are increasingly coming
out in the open as they find common
cause against mutual foe Iran.
”
But what may be the most import-
ant legacy of this election may be the
annexation debate over the West Bank.
Will Netanyahu really annex some
or all of the disputed territories? Was
his promise to the faithful just more
hyperbole or was it a signal that the
window of opportunity to act is now, as
President Donald Trump may be gone
from the scene in less than two years?
The annexation debate is complex,
and it is legitimate for Israel’
s security
establishment to discuss which disput-
ed territory beyond the Green Line is
indispensable for Israel’
s security inter-
ests. Proponents of the status quo and
those for disengagement should join the
debate.
American Jewry, which is as liberal
as Israeli Jewry is conservative, has
legitimate criticisms of Netanyahu. He
reneged on his promise to expand the
egalitarian space at Robinson’
s Arch
next to the Western Wall, and the Israeli
government has failed to recognize
Conservative and Reform Judaism —
the movements that the majority of
American Jews belong to — as equally
legitimate to Orthodoxy.
However, the hyperpolarized pol-
itics of America have blinded many
American Jews, who don’
t realize the
real harm they do to Israel and them-
selves in siding with those whose criti-
cism veers into delegitimization of the
state.
After the euphoria and depression of
the 2019 Israeli election results subside,
we’
ll be left with something extraordi-
nary to be celebrated by all Israelis and
Americans: Israel’
s vibrant democracy
again elected new national leadership
in a peaceful vote. Israel is a beacon of
Western democratic and Jewish values
— and whether you love or hate Bibi
Netanyahu, Israel is still a miracle at 71.
Eric R. Mandel is the director of MEPIN, the
Middle East Political Information Network.
commentary
In Re-Electing Netanyahu
Israelis Chose Stability
Eric R. Mandel
JTA.org
Prime Minster of Israel Benjamin
Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, greet
supporters during his victory speech
in Tel Aviv, April 10, 2019.
S
everal people commented
digitally about the JN’
s story
on Republicans’
plans to target
Jewish voters in Michigan in 2020.
Sean D. Fleming: I love the fact
that Trump said he moved the
embassy to Jerusalem when there
was already a satellite office within
the consulate’
s office. It is evident
Trump has no education and
understanding of how embassies
and consulates work, etc. …that
we actually did something that
we didn’
t do. Just like saying car
companies are building new plants
in Michigan when they are really
just changing the cars assembled at
that plant.
Hugh Goldsmith: So, does the
RJC issue their own Haggadahs?
I could see how that “for we were
strangers” idea might not jibe with
current Republican policies.
Tammy Betel: I love Israel but I
am an American! I am concerned
about what (Trump) is doing to this
country. Don’
t come knocking on
my door.
Stewart Sternberg: Jewish
Republicans? Really? How
disappointing.
David Blatt: Something tells me,
as an old-fashioned Robert Taft
progressive Conservative, that
nothing will come of this.
Nancy Besser: The Jewish people
need to wake up and open their
eyes. Look at your candidates
for 2020. Which anti-Semite are
you going to endorse? Which
Democratic candidate has the
backs of Jews and Israel? What a
shame Jewish voters are so stupid.
Republicans are the ones that stand
for and with Israel and the Jewish
people … Did you like Obama and
his anti-Semitism?
Michael Davidson: Plan on Donald
J. Trump being your president until
January 2025 whether you like it or
not. #MAGA
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