Israel must pick its battles

By Ted Belman

In Behind the Scenes of Netanyahu’s Flip-flop on the Temple Mount we learn that both the Shin Bet and the IDF were against installing the detectors, whereas the police were for it. Notwithstanding that, the Cabinet voted in favour except for Housing Minister Yoav Galant (Kulanu) and National Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz who voted against.

A week later, the cabinet reversed itself. The mounting rage both locally and abroad gave impetus to the warnings of the IDF and Shin Bet. They feared massive attacks both in Israel and around the world. Think of the reactions to the Mohammed cartoons. Think of the reactions to Sharon visiting the Temple Mount or Netanyahu opening up the tunnels beneath the Kotel.  Things could easily get out of hand at our Embassies around the world and in Israel.

Discretion was the better part of valour.

We have learnt from bitter experience any suggestion about Judaization of the Temple Mount, true or trumped up, can result massive protests and loss of life. I understand that the Cabinet was intimidated and rightly so.

But more must be said. During the Gaza wars and the last Lebanon war, Israel preferred to restore calm rather than seek victory. Also our policies in Judea and Samaria are designed to maintain the status quo rather than to put facts on the ground to better our position.

Netanyahu always reminds us that he is Mr Security and resists making concession that lessen our security. But he never fights for the land or argues that the settlement are legal or the land belongs to us.

We have to pick our battles. Our government should destroy all illegal Arab construction and promote Jewish construction. That’s a battle we can win if we had a government committed to it.

It is the job of the IDF and the Shin Bet to keep us safe. It is the job of the government to secure our rights and enforce our sovereignty.  The need to do so should be part of every debate.

July 30, 2017 | 7 Comments »

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7 Comments / 7 Comments

  2. Ted Belman Said:

    Do you agree with this?

    No!!

    Fear of dire consequences is at best debilitating and at worst destructive to our existence. There is no evidence that the feared outcomes would materialize and historically when Israel held firm and projected determination it was the Arabs and world opinion that conceded our strong positions…. We have the power to enforce any decision to assert our national sovereignty and it’s a matter of political will and belief in our cause……PeePee Netan Yahoo has only weakened our position and demoralized a large segment of Israelis…… There is absolutely no evidence that the dire assumptions and predictions of too many of Israel’s leaders (political and security) would in fact be-actualized… They have to our great sorrow seldom been correct in the past why give them undeserved credit now?.

  3. The Shin Bet and the army high command, not to mention the regular police, the Attorney General’s Office, the government’s legal departments, the Civil Administration, and the judiciary, are all dominated by leftists who are more interested in “justice” for the Palestinians than they are in the safety of Israel and its citizens. Until and unless there is a thorough draining of Israel’s bureaucratic swamp, the appeasement of the Palestinian-Arab aggressors will continue, with predictable results.

  4. @ Ted Belman:
    Clearly all the Israeli governments did not want to expand Jewish rights and in fact have retreated more than anything else. Now to the extend that they security is reactionary and not pro active. Meaning it has holes in it. This leaves the Pals hope that the Jews will be driven out of Jerusalem and all of Israel eventually.

  5. INSS just published an article on the Temple Mount crises in which it said,

    “Beyond the recognition of Jordan’s standing on Islam’s holy sites, it is important to acknowledge that concepts such as “complete control” or “full sovereignty” of the Temple Mount are fairly elusive, and that any attempt to apply them in practice, even if successful, will exact a steep political toll – a much higher toll than Israel either can or wants to pay. Israeli governments of the past understood this and therefore avoided attempts to impose new arrangements, even if it appeared that Israel had less than full sovereignty over this site. “

    Do you agree with this?

  6. Looks like there are 2many liberals in the IDF and Shin Bet!
    Long-term liberalism is fatal as I indicated on another page.

  7. Ted, What will you write when numerous more people are gunned down by terrorists smuggling weapons on the Temple Mount and in lieu of throwing rocks at the people at the Kotel start spraying automatic fire?

    Backing down, promotes more violence. Those who show weakness get tested violently in the middle east.

    Israel needs a new strong Prime Minister not one just looks for the easy route to stay in office.