Bennett: The Likud Cannot Be Counted On When it Counts
:“We voted for Likud once before, and they gave away Hevron,” Bennett said, referring to the 1998 Wye River Agreement which gave the Palestinian Authority control over most of that city.
“We voted for Likud again and we got the disengagement,” as Ariel Sharon did not call new elections before throwing 10,000 Jews out of Gaza and northern Samaria.
“We voted for Likud yet again, and we got a speech at Bar-Ilan University,” in which Netanyahu said that he was committed to establishing a Palestinian state
Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi warns: by rejecting Netanyahu’s willingness to cooperate, Jewish Home is hurting Religious Zionism.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s brother-in-law, Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi, believes that the decline in the polls of the Jewish Home party is not accidental, he told Arutz Sheva Wednesday.
“I would give advice to the Jewish Home; in recent weeks they broadcast bluntly they do not believe the prime minister,” he noted. “Netanyahu says continuously and consistently that he will include Jewish Home in the coalition; he has learned his mistakes [from previous elections]. And for this reason, I do not like so much what they have been stating publicly recently, that they do not believe he will include them in the government.”
“This line is a problem, and it’s better for them to publish a different line: that we do believe the prime minister, but it would be great if we can have more influence,” he added.
Ben-Artzi further opined that Jewish Home should declare that they want the defense portfolio.
“The Defense Minister is actually the prime minister of Judea and Samaria, and is the manager over the Civil Administration, which is the sovereign power there,” he stated. “What is important for Religious Zionism is the settlementmovement, and so if we win the defense portfolio we can revolutionize the current situation.”
“All of the defense ministers, including Bogie [Moshe Ya’alon – ed.] disappointed the religious community and therefore it’s natural to want this portfolio,” he added. “To get it, we will have to be larger than we were last year.” Recent polls suggest that Jewish Home will garner 12 seats in the Knesset, the same number as the 19th Knesset.
Ben Artzi think the visits of Netanyahu to holy sites, including the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron, are positive.
“Now, he projects that he wants to go the other way [in contrast to the 2013 elections – ed.] and ally with the Jewish Home, and he sees the religious Zionist movement as a major partner, and it should welcome him,” he said. “[Netanyahu] should gladly visit Judea and Samaria, and [leaders] should encourage him to visit the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron, and not to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
@ yamit82:
Yamit:
I think the political analysis shown below, which I copied from one of the most recent posts to Israpundit, accurately explains the Netanyahu’s relationships with Bennett. Some of the opinions you express seem to be based more on your anger of any particular moment than on logical analysis. But, of course, everyone is entitled to his or her personal opinion.
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“The similarities between Netanyahu and Bennett may explain their complicated relationship. Bennett is Netanyahu’s political rival-partner and onetime bureau chief who is competing for the support of Israel’s rightist camp. It’s possible that Netanyahu first perceived Bennett as a reflection of his younger self.
Unlike for Netanyahu, the upcoming elections are a win-win for Bennett. If he joins a Netanyahu-led coalition as a senior minister, his base will certainly grow at Netanyahu’s expense. If Netanyahu snubs Bennett – his natural partner – and forges a unity government with the Zionist Union’s Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, Bennett will ambush the coalition from the right, billing himself as the true leader of Israel’s right wing and paving the way for his run for premiership in the next elections. That’s exactly what Netanyahu would do if he were in Bennett’s shoes.”
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Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ ArnoldHarris:
Yamit:
I think the two journalists who wrote this, and is in today’s Israpundit, have a better analysis of the political relationship of Netanyahu and Bennett than you do:
“Unlike for Netanyahu, the upcoming elections are a win-win for Bennett. If he joins a Netanyahu-led coalition as a senior minister, his base will certainly grow at Netanyahu’s expense. If Netanyahu snubs Bennett – his natural partner – and forges a unity government with the Zionist Union’s Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, Bennett will ambush the coalition from the right, billing himself as the true leader of Israel’s right wing and paving the way for his run for premiership in the next elections. That’s exactly what Netanyahu would do if he were in Bennett’s shoes.”
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
ArnoldHarris Said:
Which means that now is the time to play hardball with BB the liar backstabbing Weasel. later it will be too late when Bb takes in Labor at the expense of Bennett. BB only needs Bennett’s support to form a coalition but once BB has the nod from president Rivlin then BB is free to include who ever he wants and is willing. In Israel nobody wants to be in opposition it’s the same as being in Siberia for 2-4 years. There is no reason to believe BB won’t pull the same scam of the Israeli right after the election results. BB has had 3 chances to form a homogeneous right wing government and each time his attempted to kill of the right by keeping them out of his governments.. What did Einstein say about Insanity. Bennett is right and BB’s crazy brother in law is wrong. Ben Arzi went year without speaking to BB because he was against his policies and actions in Y&S. Don’t know if they are on speaking terms today.
At least according to the election polls monitored daily by Jeremy’s Knesset Insider, HaLikud cannot get a majority in the coming Knesset election without HaBeit HaYehudi. Which means that the leaders of the two parties must maintain cordial relationships, avoiding political blood feuds that might otherwise preclude their cooperation in forming and maintaining the ruling coalition that Israel so strongly needs.
The prime minister’s brother in law is presently correct in telling Naftali Bennett that the Israel Defense Ministry is the de facto ruling body of Yesha. However, as soon as feasible, Yesha and its 400,000 Jewish residents should be accorded Israeli civil status, leaving Zahal units in place and in charge of the Jordan River security defense line and in inland locations close to urban Arab flashpoints in case of trouble arising there. Civil rather than military rule becomes de facto sovereignty over time, and matters being what they are, de facto sovereignty is about all Israel will have in terms of borders, for a long and indefinite period of time. So the time may come when the choice seat of power in the government is whichever ministry controls housing allocations and community infrastructural planning and construction.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI