Truthfully, the primary concern at issue in this Israeli election, above all, is Israel’s survival. Without that, there is nothing else, except perhaps pyrrhic victory.
Who is most likely to fight tooth and nail to protect and preserve Israel in this horribly antagonistic and anti-Semitic world? Who is most likely to be able to sit down with Arab neighbors from a position of strength and cobble together some pathway to a future without mutual destruction on the menu?
We are now facing a US Government that is openly antagonistic to Israel (do not believe anything you hear from any member of this Biden administration, the extent of its dislike of Israel is evidenced by the “President’s” appointment of Hady Amr, a rabid anti-Semite (“I was inspired by the Palestinian Intifada”) as the new Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel-Palestine, and Biden has shown the clear and unmistaken inability to actually make any decision himself (including when to get out of bed, how to get out of bed, and which foot to put on the floor first)). We have not yet learned who is making decisions at the White House, but Kamala Harris is just as likely as Biden to cater to the rabidly anti-Semitic left and she will become President when Biden is removed shortly. The “Squad” is virulently anti-Israel and anti-Semitic, has Harris’ ear, and there is little hope that any positive moves would be made regarding Israel in the next 4 years. It is Obama 2.0, or worse, and that means appeasing (or “Oppeasement”) of Iran, Hamas and the Palestinians at every possible turn.
This being the case, an Israeli leader is needed who can chart a course that does not require appeasing those who would destroy Israel, and can be vigilant and prepared, and, unfortunately necessary, evoke fear in enemies.
There is almost nothing that can be done with Palestinians. President Trump was successful in helping reach 4 agreements between Israel and its neighbors because he took away the Palestinians’ veto over every peace process. When Israel’s neighbors realized the Palestinians are not the only issue at hand, and that the US would not require immediate resolution of an unsolvable conundrum as a condition of peace, the dam broke and peace was at hand (in other words, first peace, then a solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, not the other way around).
Now it was up to the Palestinians to decide if they want a future or they wished to continue being fodder for extremists, and sacrifice another three generations of their children to poverty, lack of education, tyranny under Hamas and endless whining (remember, it is said that Golda Meir said “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us”). Their decision. I see no reason to hope for any change after 70 years of Hamas and brainwashing, indoctrination of Palestinian youth to hate Jews, and propaganda).
But Biden’s regime is not dedicated to peace, it is dedicated to the ultra-liberal trope that Israel is evil and the Palestinians are being oppressed, as if a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth. With no useful leadership in America’s White House, Israel will need its own strength and experience to continue on its path to normalization and peace with its neighbors. Of course, that is not new, and there was open hostility to Israel under the 8-year Obama administration.
I hope Israel does not fall down the “vote by mail” rabbit hole like the US did. One real person, verified, one real vote. Our election was a debacle. There are more than a hundred million people here who fervently believe after the next four years, there will never be a real Presidential election again.
Sorry for the darkness. It is a daily fight in America to find the light in this massively depraved and utterly insane new American culture we are facing (our Grammys are the paradigmatic example of the extent of the depravity at play here), not to mention open borders, more than ten thousand children in cages (after all that hoopla about that in the prior administration, the cages in fact left over from Obama’s tenure) and a horribly race-war agenda by the left which has no potential positive outcome and offers no solutions to any of the day’s major issues. Israel enjoys massive support in the US Congress, no matter who is in the White House. I fully expect Biden to act as though there is no Congress.
For Israel, the mission is continuing its success with Coronavirus, maintaining strong and unbreakable security, continuing to improve relations with neighbors and defend against enemies near and far, and continuing to improve the daily lives of millions of its citizens in the coming days of a world which more and more sounds like a confusion of sounds and voices, an awful lot like like Babel.
Peace be upon you, Israel. שלום עליכם
Strait Talk by Lee Longhwa 