We have felt for a few years now that it was time for a new face to lead Israel — but didn’t know who that face could be. We welcome Naftali Bennett as the new prime minister of Israel, even as we register our distress over the disdain he has shown over the years for any political agreement at all with Palestinians, and in the name of Judaism no less. But now he is the prime minister and we hope that the responsibilities of power will temper him.
Others will welcome an Arab party in Israel’s government for the first time, and we would too if it were clear that this party is committed to the State of Israel and the defense of its citizens from attacks from within and without its borders. From what we saw during the recent war with Hamas, we’re not so sure. Merely to join an Israeli government as a different tactic from that of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority is nothing to rejoice over, to say the least. Time will tell.
Oddly enough, it may be the visceral repudiation of Benjamin Netanyahu that unites the otherwise radically, ideologically divided parties in the new government from bringing the government down.
Was Netanyahu all that bad? Clearly, he achieved more than any other prime minister in Israel’s history on at least two fronts, the economic and the diplomatic. During his tenure as Minister of Finance he dismantled the socialist economy of Israel’s left-wing founders and thus paved the way for Startup Nation. As prime minister he nurtured and indeed propelled Israel’s astounding economic success and technological innovation, which is felt worldwide. On the diplomatic front he established relations with four Muslim countries, something no other Israeli leader even imagined possible; and he countered the Iranian threat in creative ways, some of which we know, some of which we shall never know.
What Netanyahu did not do is mentor successord. He stayed too long (though he may be back). It became something of an embarrassing irony to watch him tout Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East while he never contemplated not leading it. That said, the idea of the new government passing laws to render it illegal for one person, namely Netanyahu, to return to power in a future election is just as tawdry.
The complexities of Israeli politics and the idiosyncrasies of Israeli politicians notwithstanding, we wish the new government all success. Its challenges are clear: defending Israel against its enemies, nurturing greater cohesion at home, countering anti-Israel animus abroad, sustaining Israel’s phenomenal streak of technology success, and nurturing Israel’s critical relations with the US. They need some repair.
Copyright © 2021 by the Intermountain Jewish News
