Bayit Yehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett has a canned answer for when he’s asked which ministry he wants: It depends on how many seats his party gets.
When pushed further, he says that all three senior ministries – defense, finance and foreign – are important, and he has a “clear vision” for what he could do in all of them.
Despite his politically expedient responses, the current economy minister couldn’t hide the fire in his eyes when he talked about defense issues Thursday, in his Tel Aviv office. His passion for and emphasis on security matters was apparent, backing up what sources in his inner circle have been saying for months: Naftali Bennett wants to be the next defense minister.
Bennett called for “a deep change” in the defense establishment’s approach, starting with making sure that battles take place mostly in enemy territory and military operations are short, as opposed to last summer’s 50-day Operation Protective Edge.
“We have to go from the defensive to the offensive. We fell in love with the Iron Dome [missile defense system] too much, and it gave us a feeling that it’s okay for a war to continue for 50 days. It isn’t,” he said, calling it “unacceptable for Hamas to shoot at us for 50 days. That harms our deterrence.”
Bennett repeated his claim, which is a point of contention with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, that he was the first to bring a plan to destroy Hamas’s terrorist tunnels to the security cabinet – which he did on June 30, with the IDF implementing it three weeks later. Ya’alon says the Defense Ministry and the IDF already knew about the tunnels, and had prepared strategies for eliminating them.
Bennett also brought up defense in describing his battle with the Likud over right-wing votes, saying a large Bayit Yehudi is necessary to bolster Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ensure he is faithful to the Right, which will have voted him in if he is reelected.
The Bayit Yehudi leader took a wider view of the Middle East, saying the entire region is “disintegrating” and pointing to Jabhat al-Nusra, Hezbollah and Hamas as threats flanking Israel on almost all of its borders.
“This can go on for five years, or 150; no one knows. The question is what we do in this environment. I’m optimistic and I think Israel can continue thriving, but what we have to do is never give up one centimeter to Arabs, make sure the IDF is stronger than all of our enemies, and restore our Jewish identity, values and spirit of optimism and pride in being Jewish. With these three together, we’ll be able to prevent as many wars as possible, because it won’t be worthwhile for our enemies to fight us,” he maintained.
To implement his plan, a large Bayit Yehudi is necessary, Bennett posited, warning that if it isn’t, “it will be a disaster.
There won’t be anyone strong around Netanyahu to make sure we’re heading in the right direction.”
“Netanyahu needs us to be strong next to him. He’s a good guy; I respect him. His heart is in the right place, but we need a strong nationalist government to ensure he doesn’t steer us to the Left, because of international pressure and domestic pressure from the media and economy,” he explained.
Bennett said he is sure Netanyahu will form the next government, but expressed doubt as to whether the prime minister will keep to the public commitments he made to include Bayit Yehudi in it. He was cautiously optimistic about his party’s improvement in the polls, pointing to this week’s Jerusalem Post-Ma’ariv poll giving his party 13 seats, as opposed to 11 last week.
Bennett went on to recount how Netanyahu has brought left-wing parties into his last two governments – Labor in 2009 and Hatnua in 2013 – and how he does not want him to do the same thing again.
The Bayit Yehudi chief said that with 12 seats in the last government, the party played a critical role in putting an end to the release of Palestinian terrorists in exchange for peace talks.
Bennett also combated the perception that terrorists were being released in the first place, because he chose that option over a settlement freeze as a necessary concession to condwuct talks with the Palestinians.
“We opposed a settlement freeze and a terrorist release. We voted against it, while all the other parties supported it – including the Likud and Yisrael Beytenu,” he said – though in both parties, some ministers voted for and some against.
“But it still passed, and we decided not to leave the government. When it came to releasing Israeli-Arab terrorists, we said enough is enough,” he added.
He further credited Bayit Yehudi MK Ayelet Shaked’s law severely limiting the possibility to release terrorists convicted after its passage with “bringing an end to the paradigm of releasing terrorists… We changed the approach.”
When asked what kind of concessions he would be able to accept without leaving the next coalition, Bennett responded: “It’s a mistake that there’s always an assumption we have to concede something.”
According to Bennett, his party’s message is starting to resonate: “For the past 20 years, Israel covered itself with a veil that pushed us in the wrong direction – toward land concessions and post-Zionist views in the legal system – and we are the only ones who can lift it. We’re going back to basics; we’re proud of loving our country, people and Torah.”
Though Bennett unequivocally opposes territorial concessions, he doesn’t think the Palestinians should be ignored, and proposed what he called a Marshall Plan for the region.
“I don’t hate Palestinians. I want them to have a good life; that’s in our interest, too.
Just because we won’t have a peace agreement with them doesn’t mean we can’t improve their quality of life through tourism, industry, imports and exports. No one is building what they need on the ground, because they want there to be a state first,” he explained.
As for the Israeli economy, Bennett saw his last two years as economy minister as another example of why the Left regaining power would be dangerous, saying he worked to open markets in cement and agriculture and lowered food prices by 5 percent – but that the Zionist Union is a slave to the Histadrut labor federation and agriculture lobbies.
“The right direction on the economy is an open one, where competition reduces prices,” he said. “My rivals, [Yesh Atid leader Yair] Lapid and [the Zionist Union’s Amir] Peretz, want to set prices for 300 products. That would be a huge mistake; it would prevent competition. We need a free and open, competitive economy.”
Bennett also said he was proud of eliminating many import regulations – just last week he canceled one that made it illegal to sell soy milk unless it is called “soy drink,” not milk, which was put in at the prodding of major dairy manufacturer Tnuva – and enacting regulatory impact assessment as a necessary step for passing any new ones.
As for the housing crisis, Bennett said the solution is to build tens of thousands of homes a year, as Construction Minister Uri Ariel has done in the last two years.
It takes time and a lot of work, not populism – like that employed by Lapid’s zero value-added tax proposal for new homes, he added.
Bennett would love for more homes to be built in the West Bank, pointing to the area near Rosh Ha’ayin and Ariel as promising in that it is near the Center and has many open spaces, but said his party was limited in what it could do – and that the government doesn’t allow for it out of fear.
“We need to stop being scared; the fear makes them threaten us more. This is a tough neighborhood and the world smells fear,” he contended.
The economy minister also touted his successes in connecting Israel to Asian markets, especially China, India and Japan.
“If we want to grow our commerce, we have to diversify and we have to lower our dependence on any specific market, like Europe,” he stated.
Bennett looked toward Europe with consternation while wearing his other hat – of Diaspora affairs minister.
“Israel has a strategic challenge with some countries in Europe. It has nothing to do with Judea and Samaria, it has to do with the Islamization of some states – which are undergoing consistent radicalization, both demographically and in public opinion,” he said.
Bennett said Israel welcomes any Jew who wants to come to Israel for any reason, but he also respects that it is their decision and called on the governments in Western Europe to take the steps necessary to fight anti-Semitism and the violence it engenders.
“I’m very concerned about the future of Jews in Western Europe,” he declared.
“I see that in some countries, political correctness took over the media and the government and… they won’t say that it’s Islamic terrorism. They just say ‘terror,’ like it’s something general. If you won’t define the problem, you can’t fight it.”
According to Bennett, Israel can be “a light unto nations” when it comes to fighting terrorism, and if Europe does not wake up and fight soon, it will not be able to reverse its impact.
Meanwhile, Bennett would like the next government to prepare to accept waves of immigration from Europe, and said he will condition Bayit Yehudi joining the next coalition on the formation of an “emergency aliya cabinet.”
Such a cabinet, which Bennett said he would like to lead but will not demand, would include the ministers whose portfolios create red tape – including Health, Education and Justice – which do not always recognize new immigrants’ credentials.
“This is an emergency situation and a historic opportunity, because many Jews are leaving Europe. We can’t blow it. It can enrich us the way Russian aliya did 20 years ago,” he added.
BENNETT’S CONVERSATION with The Jerusalem Post took place three days after senior citizens minister Uri Orbach died of a blood disease from which he had been suffering for over two years.
The Bayit Yehudi leader credited Orbach with inviting him in to the party, and having the vision to expand Bayit Yehudi from “a lobby for religious interests” to one that is “for all the people of Israel.”
Bennett, who is now taking up the vacant post of senior citizens minister, said Orbach “was the first to care after years of no one doing anything, bringing back senior citizens’ dignity.
“Orbach looked at pensioners as an opportunity, not as charity cases. He has a lot of legacies that we will continue, but the first is to deal with senior citizens as one of Bayit Yehudi’s flagships,” Bennett vowed.
Anybody with 2 remaining functioning brain cells agrees that Livni is more than problematic, for herself and a loser. Why after bad experience get her in the next Gvt?
@ ArnoldHarris:
Your Friends???? 🙂
+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon( 23 Feb.’15:”Russia Offers Iran New Missiles
despite Sanctions”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Russia offers Iran missiles
QUOTE:”(Russia-Iran) military cooperation agreement touted as a joint
response to U.S.interference’ “
FULL TEXT: Russia has offered Iran advanced surface-to-air missiles after
scrapping a similar deal in 2010 because of U.N. sanctions over Tehran’s
nuclear program, the state defense company said Monday[23 Feb.].
Any such a deal is likely to go down badly in Washington as Western
countries seek to keep up the pressure on Iran to agree a comprehensive deal
on its nuclear activities.
Sergei Chemezov, head of the Rostec corporation which manages Russia’s
defence industry, said Moscow has offered to supply Antey-2500 missiles, an
upgraded version of the S-300 air defence system that figured in the
previous contract.
“We have offered them the Antey-2500,” Chemezov was quoted as saying by
RIA-Novosti news agency.
But he added: “The decision has not been made yet.”
Moscow signed a contract in 2007 to deliver S-300 missiles to Iran worth $800 million. The deal was intensely criticized by the United States and Israel, and Moscow later dropped it as being in breach of U.N. sanctions.
A U.N. resolution adopted in 2010 bans the supply, sale or transfer to Iran of missiles or missiles systems.
Chemezov said the Antey-2500 is a more modern version of the S-300, which Russia no longer makes. The same surface-to-air missiles were reportedly delivered to Venezuela in 2013.
Now under Western sanctions itself over the conflict in Ukraine, Russia — a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council — has strengthened its alliance with Iran.
During a visit to Tehran by Russia’s defense minister last month, the two
countries signed a military cooperation agreement touted as a joint response
to U.S. “interference”.
SourceAgence France Presse
ArnoldHarris Said:
I will chit chat with you too, but you must lighten up a tiny bit. Maybe it’s all that cold Yankee weather. Today is a very solemn day , no chit-chat Darlin. It is today in 1835 that the Mexicans attacked the Alamo. We fast all day and eschew all Mexican food until the Anniversary of the ” Battle of San Jacinto”, After that Happy Day it’s back to mescal and 2 stepping.
@ bernard ross:
My reply to you was botted to the spam dump
@ bernard ross:
I think he has made a deal even if verbal with Labor becuse he believes he is on thin ice electorally. 2ndly because he wants them in his government just as he did with Barak and later under Labor when Shelly A headed the party she refused on principle and paid the price she was booted out in place of herzog, herzog must be in the government and provide ministerial portfolios to his minions or he is finished politically. With Labor BB can have a broad coalition including the haredim and Shas, Kahlon and lieberman. that totals near 70 mandates without any of the ideological right included. The world will be happier Obama will be in heaven and the negotiations with the palis back on the table.
Lapid is not right with 19 mandates and all the religious parties were excluded because Lapid objected. Shas with 11 and the haredi parties equaled lapid and he would have lost Livni with 6. he would have had a narrow majority but one non threatening stability unless he turned left either territorially or by agreements etc.
Point is if he reamined to to the likud platform ideologically he would have had no static from a coalition made up of BY, Shas, Lieberman and the Haredim. History: In 1996 after squeaking out a razor thin majority over labor and Peres he cobbled together such a coalition, survived implementing OSLO and gave away Hebron, armed and trained Arafats militias Police cum army gave away more territory on paper at least and when finally the coalition partners said enough he thumbed his nose at them and whent to Whye Plantation and agreed to give away another 6-8% of territory to Arafat. That’s when Clinton promised him Pollard and reneged at the last second leaving BB out to dry. As soon as BB came home his coalition partners forced new elections which he lost big to Barak with Clintons help.
Lesson BB took asway from that is never to place his political fortunes in the hands of true ideologues right or left. He is also controlled it seems by his true advisor and dominatrix his wife and there is bad blood between Bennett and Sarah Netanyahu. Sarah does not want to see Bennett in BB’s coalition if possible that’s a given and BB always listens to Sarah. Pathetic but apparently true.
Bingo!!! You get the cupi doll, the brass ring. If he could have gotten away with it politically at home he would have by now given the store away. He still needs his party and their support unlike Sharon he can’t quit and start a new party. He doesn’t have Sharon’s killer instincts either, he is a wuss.
Simple sans a deaol like he had with Lapid there is no reason BB would want to tie his own hands and flexibility with Bennett unless he has no choice. Bennett with 11-13 mandates can be by passed for centrist and even left of center parties. In order for BB to get the madate from the president to form a coalition he need the individual recommendation by each individual party leaders that they are willing to join a coalition under BB. The party with the most support will get based on norms here the firt nod by the president to form a coalition if he can’t within I think 21-30 day he will ask for and get an extension for 2 weeks to form a coalition failing that the next in line with most support gets to try form a coalition.
If BB needs Bennett to get to form a coalition then that’s the tome to make max demands with iron clad guarantees.
Social issues effect most Israelis and security like with Iran for most is an abstraction…. It’s not a matter of capitalism vs socialism it’s a matter of jobs high taxes, prices for housing shortages of housing for young and growing families, crime, corruption infrastructure investment The Usual concerns of my people and everyone here has their pet beefs or beef. Without a prssing security issue it remains only social and economic issues people want addressed and redressed. By most objective standards the likud and BB have to be considered failures based on performance or the lack of performance satisfactory to most Israelis. Even security is controversial as most Israelis unhappy with how BB and Likud coalition performed in last years Gaza war and the one bfore 2 1/2 years ago. Lack of decisiveness over Iran and the spate of terror attacks we’ve experienced lately.
Notice this campaign like the last is not being fought over most important issues but personalities and lots of mud slinging.
yamit82 Said:
what do you base this upon? His past relations with Livni would not be enough as they appear to squabble now, unless that is a false flag, but then why would they need a false flag?
yamit82 Said:
I thought he was leading a narrow right wing coalition, the right wing coalition appears small, fragmented, and unable to agree… unlike the left….. so I cannot see ANY right wing homogeneous coalition, only a right wing fragmented coalition. Remember Bennet made a deal with Lapid, although I dont think he could pull that off again. As for zionist I think that begins with BY and moves right. BB is not for keeping much land, only “security”.
yamit82 Said:
this is an interesting point, so why do you think he called them.
A usual reason is losing support within gov and going back to the people for more support. Or, expecting to implement a program requiring a more left support base than the right. The only reason I see for BB to chose the left over Bennet would be that he would be seeking to implement an agenda further left and needs an agreeable coalition to that agenda. Other than that I see no advantage, personal or otherwise for choosing left. He may see that the right is a losing battle in Israel in terms of zionism, that the center successful electoral position is further left of where he is now. Who he chooses for coalition and ministries, if elected, will give a more realistic indication of his true position.
yamit82 Said:
I dont understand this comment.
Why do you believe he does not want to form with Bennet?
If peace, land and the palis are a minor issue then economics is usually the issue. In that regard I would expect Israel to be further left of BB.
@ bernard ross:
If BB can form a coalition without Labor they will drop such a demand. Being in government is the all in Israeli politics and being in the opposition 2 cycles in a row is the political kiss of death for all opposition leaders and even for many backbenchers….. They would join a Likud led coalition no matter what, period.
In the past in order to quickly form a government BB succumbed to max demands mostly at the expense of Likud MK. They griped but never threaten or rocked BB’s boat. No reason for any change this time.
The only way BB can avoid being at the mercy of two or three smaller parties is bringing in Labor. That should hold up for 2-3 years but theoretically BB can have those parties not included held in reserve if Labor bolts. That’s Israeli politics. The carrot is being included and the stick is not being included.
I have said before the hardball for Bennett should be for recommending BB and Likud not after.
@ bernard ross:
If BB gets the nod to form a coalition and that is a big if at this point he will either need to bring in 4-5 small parties or a big one and fewer small parties.
I think he has a deal with Labor. Both Herzog and Livni served as ministers under BB and Sharon when he was Likud and later when he formed kadima.
BB grew up with Livni whose father was a biggie in the Irgum under Begin and it was BB who brought Livni into politics in charge of selling off Government corporations and then she formally ran and won a solid place on the Likud list backed by BB.
Hertzok is finished politically if he loses and is not part of the coalition as are several other key members of Labor and that goes double for Livni. Kachlon left the Likud because of BB and he was the most popular MK and minister in the Likud. BB kept him down and now is payback time. Lieberman double. If he believes he can make a better deal with his truncated party with Labor he will take it. He claims he hasn’t spoken with BB in over a year outside of ministerial duty and even then I have my doubts. Lieberman has been one of the more vocal critics of BB for the past 2 years and that weas when they were still on a joint list with likud. He is also the most vocal critic of BB’s handling of 50 day Gaza war last summer. He is paying the price now for being in the same government running that fiasco. Now he is leading the charge against BB and his handling of the war. The haredi and Shas will sit in any government and may prefer the Likud but have sat with labor successfully in the past and will again if they will pay the price. Yishai’s party may or may not recommend the Likud because of the Otzma faction of Baruch Marzel they will demand a commitment not to destroy settlements and homes in Y&S. Do you see BB making such a commitment? Lapid picking up in the polls will probably go with Labor as most of his list fit nicely with Labor and there is also bad blood between Lapid and BB.
All of the smaller so called centrist parties can go either way and i don’t consider any of them in likud(BB’s pocket except Bennett and I think if BB can jettison Bennett it opens the way to a broad centrist dominated coalition.
A coalition with the so called centrist parties, Labor kachlon and lapid with Shas and the haredi party will ease the pressure of the EU and Obama by presenting a moderate face to the outside world.
BB could have had a narrow homogenous right wing coalition at any time in the past 6years and opted against why should he change now?
He didn’t have to call elections now there was no major crisis or pressure to have elections now. The general public didn’t want and still don’t want elections and it looks from here at best nothing will change and at worst it will be a much worse result after the current elections with a strong chance BB will be outvoted by the Israeli public and end his political career.
I have learned to never overestimate the Israeli voter any more than I do the American voter.
If there is not a perceived imminent security threat by election time people might vote according to their personal interests and with their pet grievances. That would be bad for Likud and BB. BB I think is making the election issues based on his personality against all others but that can come back t haunt him because few like him personally and too many blame him for personal gripes….. The current undecided will determine this election because it’s still large like arounf 15-20% maybe even larger because peple here lie to pollsters and they know it and try to include how they think that undeceided will vote based mostly on speculation.
I can’t say that BB won’t get the nod and try to form a coalition but he might not then it’s a new ball game. I reject popular wisdom it’s his to lose. He is much weaker than the polls indicate.
@ ArnoldHarris:
I just looked at your Jeremy source and noticed 2 things.
A- in none of the polls were the % of undecided mentioned
B- How many intended to vote for certain.
c- BB may be investigated by the police based on revelations by past employee who was given immunity to divulge dirt on BB that may lead to indictments.
D-Reading the comments I found this which I quote:
I have not been wrong in any of my political assessments of pre-elections in the last 3-4 election cycles in Israel or the States.
If you doubt check Israpundit archives and in each case I assure you I only used my own prescient view of the situation. I never follow talking heads pundits or popular polls until a week before elections. Israelis have a tendency to lie to pollsters and so far in this cycle there is a very high % of the public who intend to vote still undecided or not firm in their commitment to party. Nobodies base is large enough to carry any major or minor party this election cycle and I repeat everyone hates BB even those who might vote for him in the end. There is little ideological incentives in this election and the only ones that do have any are on the far left and right few of those will vote Likud or labor.
Few Israelis I think will watch BB’s speech because it will air late here and will be in English. If he manages to piss obama off too much he can lose moderate support. I don’t think he will choose to put Obama down and might even water down his message. If he does then it’s obvious a political gimmick to get votes and if he doesn’t hit hard he can lose votes on the right….
He speech can be a 2 edged sword. If he were running for election in the states he might be popular here in Israel speeches never carry the day we are too cynical and know BB the weasel all too well to take him too seriously.
Sorry not to have Humor you miss here but I’m not sure you’d recognize humor if it hit you on the head. So far I have not confirmed any of your opinions cited on this blog ever having panned out as correct past or present.
@ ArnoldHarris:
Arnold,
Is it true that Bibi, post-election, is planning a trip to Vlad?
It really seems now that Putin, and not Obama, is the proverbial Kingmaker in the Middle East.
That has its good points and bad points for Israel.
My question is, “How, in terms of party politics, could Bennett make a path to Prime Minister?”
It seems one of the following would have to happen:
a) Jewish Home grows to the point where it is bigger than Likud.
b) Jewish Home and Likud merge, and post-Bibi, he becomes the leader of the merged party.
I assume in both cases, he has to wait until Bibi steps aside; he cannot force Bibi out.
Which would it be?
@ yamit82:
Yamit:
Like every other researcher of political campaigns, I tend to rely on two key indicators:
Indicator #1 are changes, if any, in pre-election polls. For Israel’s March 2015 Knesset election, I have been consulting Jeremy’s Knesset Insider polling analyses on a daily basis. What these show me is that Likud and other parties that have not announced they would not join a Netanyahu-led coalition are slated to win 66-72 Knesset seats, while Herzog+Livni and other parties that have announced they would not join a Netanyahu-led coalition are slated to win 48-54 Knesset seats. Of the total of 120 Knesset seats to be filled, 12 seats — 10 percent of the total — is the Arab coalition that no Israeli government since Ben-Gurion’s time ever has included in a ruling coalition, for reasons which need no further explanation. Under that arithmetic, the campaign is Netanyahu’s to lose, and Herzog’s+Livni’s to win.
Indicator #2 is either an unplanned and unknowable event that might reverse a pre-election political trend. These rarely occur on cue. But in this election, what is shaping up as the biggest Israeli political event in the country’s electoral history will be Netanyahu’s scheduled address in Washington to the two house of the Congress of the United States, at the direct invitation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Obama and his backroom backstabbers have been unsuccessfully attempting to organize a boycott of that event. But Frontpage Magazine a few days ago, after counting congressional heads, announced that Obama’s would be boycott was collapsing; only 2 of 100 US Senators and 12 of 435 US Representatives have agreed to boycott this spectacularly pre-advertised event. All of them are Democrats Some of them could well backpedal, and the rest who do boycott almost certainly will have their eyes and ears glued to television sets or will be present and hiding in the corridors within earshot. With the publicity given to the coming event by US Senator Marco Rubio and former governor Rudy Giuliani, just about the whole of America will be watching Netanyahu tearing Barack Hussein Obama about a half-dozen new foreign policy assholes, while one of the largest audiences in American broadcast history will be watching and listening in real time. The camera will be panning and identifying American Jews such as Elie Wiesel, who will be there as an honored guest. I venture to predict that few people in Israel will not also be watching their prime minister stand tall in that majestic building. And I venture to predict that Netanyahu will gain a significant number of undecided voters in the election just two weeks later. In US politics, they call this sort of happening an “October surprise”. But there is absolutely no surprise in store in this event nine days from now, and certainly no surprise that would benefit Labor+Livni+Meretz.
You can write whatever you wish about this or anything else, Yamit. But your comments would have much greater standing among readers if your predictions were based on measurable data, rather than merely your own personal preferences.
Chances are you might win more blogsite arguments confining yourself to Chit-Chat back-and-forths with Texas Honeybee. She, at least, has a well-tuned sense of humor.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
yamit82 Said:
I dont buy this. I think BB would want to preserve his control which he could not do in a coalition with labor, they would demand too much. He knows Bennett and probably figures that he can separate Bennett out from the rest of the portfolios and have him still under his control or in a place where he cannot do much harm. I think his main motivation will be to be PM and to maintain his control the entire term. What would motivate him to the left where he would lose control? The only thing that could motivate him there would be if he had an agenda or understanding to promote an actual peace deal. BB’s relation with Livni is interesting. He gave her those important positions but he remained in control and she was unsuccessful to finalize a deal, but he also never promoted a zionist agenda. Hence, he remained in control at the expense of movement in any direction.
yamit82 Said:
but if he forms with labor then he would have to rotate the PM seat; do you think he would accept that? If he forms with Bennet he will be PM the whole term
yamit82 Said:
If BB forms a coalition to his left without Bennett then I would expect him to follow through on a negotiated peace deal on the left side of his prior platforms. No E1, no annexing of non major blocks, swaps, giving parts of jerusalem, etc.
Bennett is a very good guy, very capable guy with very good ideas. Israel needs Him as PM.
@ Ted Belman:
@ ArnoldHarris:
You are counting your chickens too early.
The Israeli public is fickle and their reasoning and interests do not align with either of yours.
The voters who think along the lines of you two will split their votes among 3-4 parties and probably not be determinative in these elections.
Y&S and the Palis are almost a non issue in this election. Social and economic ones are and BB and the Likud have the worst possible record to stand on. They have not fixed or corrected any of the issues dear to the heart of the vast majority of Israelis. Strong Likud constituencies in Ashdod, Ashkellon, Netivot, Beersheba and other border towns have not forgotton that BB allowed them to be rocketted twice in the past few years without moving in a timely way to stop it. BB can spin his failures but those who where most affected will not forget come election day nor will the thousands of reservists used as fodder to clean up the mess BB was responsible for.
Half the Likud votes come from these cities and towns. Hard core likudniks rather than vote for non likud parties might sit this election out in significant numbers.
BB is almost 100% to blame for the shortage of housing and skyrocketing prices and he will lose a significant number of voters especially in the under 35 group who can’t afford housing and rentals.
Not sure where past likud voters in Y&S and Jerusalem will vote this time.
BB has taken the election campaign on to himself and has shut out everyone else in the party from participating in the campaign. My opinion is he is doing a shitty job but has such a poor record he can’t run on it so it’s who is best suited to be PM. The vast majority of Israelis don’t think he is best suited only according to polls low 30’s in %.
Instead of BB trying to keep and pull voters from lapid and Haredi parties like Shas and those from Kahlon and Lieberman he is again targeting Bennett.
Only Bennett has he gained any significant voter movement.
If likud comes in second to Labor I predict Labor can cobble together a coalition. Shas will go with labor as will the haredi parties, Lapid, kahlon and Lieberman will as well.
The only two parties that will not join Labor are the two parties to the right of LIkud.
Bennett and Yeshai will not join Labor and they are the only ones. Do the math.
All I am sayin is that before you choose the DM of Israel you need to win the election first and If BB can avoid it assuming the Likud gets to form the next government he will try to do it without Bennett.
Likud MK will not be happy if the portfolio goes to non Likud MK even more so than when Barak was made DM with only 6 mandates of power in the coalition. At least Barak could claim a Military career in his CV.
Bennett is making every mistake in the book and his party is paying the price.
Turnout will probably determine margins….
Il needs more incisiveness ad decisiveness from Bibi. Neither the West nor the Muslims will give anything. Il must take what is hers and based on laws. Levy report first! What is the purpose of it if it not to be used?
IL needs to finish off Hamas and Hezbollah and deal with Iran since the West cowardly, gives in.
Where is the US congress?
Bennett will do well as defense minister of Israel, and I think his day will come as prime minister. But both such posts — now and later — will depend upon his ongoing working relationship with Binyamin Netanyahu, whom, for now and later, is likely to be both king and kingmaker.
Think about it and figure it out for yourselves. The nice thing about objective reality is that it provides you a handle on how to change it.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Ted Belman Said:
The real question is “How long until he becomes PRIME Minister?”
And it does seem for Bennett, that is a question of “when” and not “if”.
I really like what Bennett has to say. I hope he becomes our next Defense Minister.