Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s fragile governing coalition may have just doomed itself. They were unable to renew a law that has been automatic ever since the Six Day War. The statute simply applies Israeli law to Israeli citizens in Judea and Samaria. It is an essential law, and failure to pass it creates a major problem. Many observers see it as the last straw that will bring down the present coalition.
Writing for Newsweek in April, Israeli columnist Caroline Glick said, “The glue that formed the basis of the Bennett-Lapid government, which is comprised of three small right-wing parties, two moderate-left parties, two radical-left parties and the Muslim Brotherhood-aligned Islamic party Ra’am, is a common hatred for Netanyahu…. Ousting Netanyahu required them to form a government with the Muslim Brotherhood and the radical Left.”
As the leader of Israel’s New Right Party, Prime Minister Bennett bills himself as a conservative. But as you can see from Caroline Glick’s comments, the coalition he put together in order to form a government is anything but conservative. Bennett only won seven seats in the last election. That’s 5 percent of the seats. But he was able to maneuver his way into the job of Prime Minister.
During the campaign, he promised not to form a government with the extreme left or with an Arab party aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood. After the election, he promptly did both of those things.
Despite Bennett’s conservative past, his government has repeatedly acceded to the agenda of the left-wing. That’s despite the fact that, as a nation, Israel remains largely conservative. At the time of the last election, former Prime Minister Netanyahu was being charged with major crimes. But the case against him is now falling apart.
Without that unique circumstance, there is no way people aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood and extreme leftists would be running Israel’s government. But for the moment, that seems to be what’s happening. This government has not stood up to the latest wave of Palestinian terrorism. But they have ceded more and more of Israel’s sovereignty to the Palestinians. And the Israeli people seem fed up.
In a bid to keep his power, Bennett recently invoked the Bible. According to Israel Today, “Bennett stated that if his government falls, Israel will return to a state of ‘tohu va’vohu,’ the two words from Genesis 1:2 that are typically translated as ‘without form and void.’”
It is a stunning thing for a political leader to say that he does for his nation what God did when He created the world. It does not bode well for him or his coalition.
Keep your eyes on Israel, folks. Amazing things are afoot.
RECOMMENDED READ — Hal Lindsey: Benjamin Netanyahu – A Friendly Assessment:
For the first time in 12 years, Benjamin Netanyahu is not the Prime Minister of Israel. He served in that position from 1996 to 1999, and then from 2009 to 2021. During those years, he accumulated enemies every step of the way — enemies from Washington to Tehran to Tel Aviv. But despite the widespread, organized opposition, he stayed in power longer than any other Prime Minister in Israel’s history.
When I interviewed Mr. Netanyahu in November of 2005, I asked what he would do if elected Prime Minister again. His answer reflected his tough, pragmatic, and well-reasoned approach to governing. “I’d stop the policy of unilateral withdrawals in the face of terror,” he said. He went on to give specific instances where Israel won on the battlefield, then gave away those gains at the negotiating table. This gave Palestinians the impression that terrorism works.
I asked about the danger of Iran gaining nuclear weapons. You can see in his answer why he made the prevention of a nuclear Iran a cornerstone of his foreign policy. He said, “They openly declare their intention to destroy Israel…. They have an equal animosity to you [Americans] because, remember again, we’re ‘the little Satan.’ You’re ‘the big Satan.’… They hate us because of you, because we represent this hated western civilization that they so abhor.”
He said to imagine the Iranian regime “with its furnaces of fanaticism” acquiring nuclear weapons. It would “be a tremendous shield for terror, and they might also use the weapon itself…. Once a country has nuclear weapons, all the calculations for dealing with it, or acting against it, are different. So, I would say that the imperative for the United States and for the free world is to make sure that the Ayatollah regime does not develop and possess atomic weapons.”
The western world did not heed his warnings, but his Arab neighbors did. Shared concern over Iranian aggression helped bring about the Abraham Accords. Even so, getting these Muslim nations to work together in peace with their former enemy was not easy. Mr. Netanyahu showed diplomatic genius in shepherding the Accords along. And, as much as people hate giving President Trump credit for anything, no one can deny his administration’s key role in the Accords.
We do not yet know the policies or tenor of Israel’s new leadership. The new government coalition is remarkably broad, but because of that, it is extremely fragile. It brings together elements from across Israel’s political spectrum. Their unity seems to be based on a mutual disdain for Benjamin Netanyahu. To thrive, they will need more than that.
Naftali Bennett, Israel’s new Prime Minister, remains something of a mystery. He describes himself as “more right wing” than Netanyahu. That may be true. We will see. Before becoming a political rival, he worked for Mr. Netanyahu in several positions, including Chief of Staff.
Israel’s rebirth was a miracle, and so is the nation’s continued existence. It has continued because God miraculously intervened again and again. Benjamin Netanyahu was one of those miracles. His leadership came at a crucial time. But miracles are God’s work. They do not depend on any one person. Despite changes in leadership, God will continue to do what He said He would do regarding the State of Israel in the end times.
He gave us His word.
