Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 2, 2020

OpEds

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1.Twenty-eight years ago, Israel underwent aleft-wing political upsetthat dethroned the Yitzchak Shamir governmentand set upa government headed by Yitzchak Rabin in its place. This happened despite a majority of votes for the Right. The Tchiya party and the party of Rav Levinger did not pass the electoral threshold (which was relatively low at the time), wasting thousands of votes and thereby allowing the Left to set up a government and sign the Oslo accords, enabled by the non-Zionist Arab parties.

For a brief while,on thesad night during whichthe results became known, we hoped that Rabin, as a former Chief of Staff and a security expert, would be cognizant ofthe security needs of the state, even if he followeda different ideology. Very quickly we found out that Yossi Beilin, who was very far from being security minded, was running the show. The Oslo Accords, in fulldetail, were placed on Rabins desk almost against his will. But Rabin was roped in and supported this policy in publicdespite its irrationalityand despite the many terror victims who piled up from the start of negotiations, before the agreement was even signed.

In penning these lines I want to convince the tired Right to find the strength to go our and vote on Election Dayand perhaps even to serveas volunteers before and during Election day.I have no interest in discussing Gantz, despite the possibly criminal investigationof the Fifth Dimension company of which he was CEO. The man leaves an impression of someone not very strong and without any firm ideology. This may sometimes have advantages. Yet behind him there is a man who is very determined and clever, a good politician, who knows exactlywhere he wants to go. I fearthat Rabins Beilin will be in Gantzs case Ofer Shelach, a clear-cut man of the Left, whose love of Torah or of the Land are clearly questionable. Avi Nissenkorn, as well, is a labor union politician whose path is clear to himin the economic sphere. These two have many sympathizers in the Blue and White party, even if those regularly presented for us to vieware the more mainstream Yoaz Hendel, Tzvi Hauser, Hili Tropper and Elazar Stern. Those four'sability to influence matters will be like that of Motta Gur in Rabins government: weak to non-existent. Shelach and his friends are stronger than they. The Arabs in Judea and Samaria have proven in the last generation that they understandNetanyahus messagevery well. That is why terror attacks were fewand their shockwaves subsided rapidly. There is a strong chance that they also understand the message communicated byShelach and his friends, and that we will feel the results on ourflesh as we did during the Oslo period.

2.I dont think I amable to convince dyed in the wool Blue and White voters. They are locked-in on the need to push out Netanyahu, and wont listen to other arguments. The entire Left is mobilized to bring down Netanyahu, and the Right is tired, indifferent and ready for any candidate for Prime Minister who will save them from another round of elections. I see the tired Right in the communities of Judea and Samaria and in other places. They mayfall victim to Oslo III or worse.

In penning these lines I want to convince the tired Right to find the strength to go our and vote on Election Dayand perhaps even to serveas volunteers before and during Election day. If each one of us calls five people such as a neighbor, a relative, a friend from synagogue, and a friend from work and urges them to vote, well gain another seat. This can be critical. I remember how our unbounded volunteeringcontributed 24 years ago to changing an election result by a margin of just a few votes. Thats when Netanyahu was born as Prime Minister.

3.In theright at present, religious Zionism is struggling for its place among thousands of members of its former institutions, who are running after the Likud. We will briefly mention three points. First, Netanyahu is a good prime minister when it comes to foreign policy, security and the economy. Corporate affairs and domestic needs are of no interest to him, and he willingly hands them to his coalition partners. If the haredi partiesreceive these ministries, religious Zionism will have to settle for crumbs from the coalition table, and that is howsociety in Israel will look. It is our responsibility - and it is in our hands.

Secondly, withouta strong religious Zionism, non-harediIsraeli society may be left with no connection to Torah. It may be left with a Jewish democratic state whose Judaism will be pallidand powerless, unable to cope with the pressures of the general culture. It could cause the Judaism that we leave for our sons to be devoid of any attractive elements.

Third, the rift and intolerance between liberal religious Zionism and Torani religious Zionism may lead us to a situation in which there will be no political representation of religious Zionism, neither the Torani group nor its liberal sister. The existing alliance today and the ability to work together in harmony, after hard and bitter struggles, between Naftali Bennett and his friends and Bezalel Smotritz and his friends, are not to be taken lightly, and can be called a real miracle.

Let us not forget that the two religious Zionist factions still pray in one synagogue and serve together in the IDF's field units.

The differences are great, but you can join them hand in hand. On election day, let us not allow the miracle to slip away throughindifference or by voting for parties with other agendas.

Translated from the Hebrew, appeared inMakor Rishon February 28th2020

Read more:
Three key observations on the Israeli elections - Arutz Sheva

Category: Zionism
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