Yom Chanishee
Thursday
23 Sivan 5781
June 3 2021
Quote of the Day
“This looks to me like a car with four different wheels, and every wheel is going in a different direction. The only thing today which they agree upon is the need to get rid of Netanyahu. This objective will be achieved in the first minute of this government. So what will keep it together in the second minute?”
Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Mordechai Kedar, senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies commenting on the new coalition government.
The News on the Israeli Street
On the Palestinian front . . .
Who is this man and why has he been declared persona non grata in Gaza?
The man is Matthias Schmale, UNRWA’s director in Gaza–or I should say UNRWA’s former director in Gaza.
On May 23 following the recent war with Gaza, Schmale gave an interview on Israeli television 12 in which he declared:
“I’m not a military expert but I would not dispute that. I also have the impression that there is a huge sophistication in the way the Israeli military struck over the last 11 days . . . There is no shortage of food, medicine and Gaza.”
As you can imagine, this statement did not fit in with the Palestinian narrative at all particularly as the terrorist organizations were attempting to get billions in humanitarian aid.
It was also shocking come from an UNRWA official–because UNRWA usually never misses an opportunity to fraudulently accuse Israel of everything under the sun.
In any case, UNRWA announced yesterday that Schmale will be leaving on a long vacation and not coming back.
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TODAY’S BLOG:
A New Day Dawns In Israel
The faces of the new coalition government.
As of next week the government will look like this:
Prime Minister: Naftali Bennett (for 2 years)– Yamina (R)
Foreign Minister: Yair Lapid (for 2 years)– Yesh Atid (C-L)
(after two years Bennett and Lapid will switch positions)
Minister of Justice: Gideon Sa’ar— New Hope (R)
Minister of Defense: Benny Gantz–Blue and White (C-L)
Minister of Finance: Avigdor Liberman–Yisrael Beiteinu (R)
Minister of the Interior: Ayelet Shaked–Yamina (R)
Minister of Health: Nitzan Horowitz–Meretz (L)
Minister of Transportation: Merav Michaeli–Labor (L)
Minister of Education: Yifat Shasha-Biton–New Hope (R)
Minister of Housing: Ze’ev Elkin–New Hope (R)
Minister of Religion: Matan Kahana–Yamina (R)
R: Right
C-L: Center left
L: Left
You might look at today as the culmination of a decade long media attack on Benjamin Netanyahu and his family, or you might see it as the result of Benjamin Netanyahu’s obsessive attempt to hang on to power, or you might see it as what happens when the Israeli public simply grows weary from a dysfunctional temporary government and endless elections.
However you may look at it, it is a momentous day here in Israel. After sitting on his throne for the last 11 years, Bibi will now find himself leading the opposition. How long the new government survives may depend on just that–how long Netanyahu leads the opposition. After all, the only glue binding Yamina, Yesh Atid, Blue and White, New Hope, Labor, Meretz, and Raam together is a visceral hatred of Netanyahu.
To put it another way, in a situation in which one could easily expect that this new government will fall apart overnight, it may surprise us all by staying together–simply because it has finally wrestled power away from PM Netanyahu and doesn’t want to take a chance on giving it back.
Why might it fall apart overnight?
Simply because there will be no agreement on any major issue such as: construction in Judea and Samaria, the Bedouin illegal takeover of the Negev, Sheikh Jarrah, drafting yeshiva students into the IDF, conversion, and marriage to name a few.
More than these items, who’s in charge? Benny Gantz has already thrown down the gauntlet by going to Washington and agreeing with the Biden Administration about a freeze of construction in Judea and Samaria. Do you think that Bennett and Sa’ar will go along with this preemptive Gantz strike?
Some of these questions may be answered when the final agreements between all the parties are published. Perhaps most important will be finding out who has a veto over what?
Finally your humble servant feels a general relief in the country–not because this “change” government is taking control, but because at last Israel seems to be moving forward out of its political malaise of the last two years.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.