8 April 18 • 2019
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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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