T. Belman. Shmuel Rosner wrote in the NYT about the power sharing arrangement between Bennett and Lapid, “In reality, neither can do anything without the consent of the other because of a law that in practice gives each veto power.”
Alternate prime minister lays out foreign policy agenda, improving relations with Jordan and the US Democratic Party.
By LAHAV HARKOV, JPOST JUNE 14, 2021 21:20
Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett
Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid is expected to take a leading role in Israel’s international relations, unlike the past 12 years in which the prime minister did so.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett plans to focus on his domestic agenda, at least at first, a source close to the new premier said. Any diplomatic decision or statement Bennett makes will have to be coordinated in advance with Lapid because of the delicate rotation government they formed on Sunday.
Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu led Israel’s foreign policy throughout his time in office, often keeping key information from the Foreign Ministry. He also served as foreign minister at the same time as prime minister in 2012 and 2015-2019.
In his transition ceremony with former foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi on Monday, Lapid said the Foreign Ministry would be in charge of normalizing relations between Israel and Arab states, following last year’s Abraham Accords.
“Great things have happened this past year,” he said. “We need to continue the development that started with the Abraham Accords, to work to strengthen the peace with the Gulf States, with Egypt and with Jordan. We will work to sign agreements with more countries in the region and beyond. It’s a process; it won’t happen in a day. But the Foreign Ministry will coordinate those efforts.”
Netanyahu did not inform Ashkenazi until moments before the announcement that Israel had made peace with the United Arab Emirates last August. But after that, Ashkenazi met with his Emirati and Bahraini counterparts, and the Foreign Ministry worked on cultivating the relations.
“Jordan is an important strategic ally,” Lapid said. “King Abdullah is an important regional leader and a strategic ally. We will work with him and strengthen the relationship between our countries.”
He referred to “recent reports” about Jordan, likely a Washington Post report that claimed Netanyahu was involved in attempts to weaken Abdullah because he and former US president Donald Trump preferred to get closer with Saudi Arabia.
Lapid said he and Bennett would work together to “do whatever it takes to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.” With the US and Iran indirectly negotiating a return to the 2015 nuclear agreement, Israel must “prepare quickly,” he said.
“It was a bad deal,” he added. “I opposed it. I still oppose it. Israel could have, with a different approach, influenced it far more.”
Referring to the recent fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Lapid said: “The world doesn’t always understand the conditions in which Israel operates. We’ll try to change that… Faced with the disgraceful propaganda against us, we will need to make clear to the world that we are fighting a sick terrorist organization that has no problem firing rockets from kindergartens and schools.”
Israel will respond forcefully to any rocket attack, Lapid said.
“Hamas is the only one responsible for the death of innocent civilians,” he said. “And still, it is not weakness to admit that our hearts break for every child who dies in conflict. Children don’t need to die in the wars of adults.”
The first foreign-policy issue Lapid addressed in his remarks was restoring relations between Israel and the Democratic Party in the US. Democrats are in the White House and control the Senate and House of Representatives, he said.
“I’ve warned against it more than once, but the outgoing government took a terrible gamble, reckless and dangerous, to focus exclusively on the Republican Party and abandon Israel’s bipartisan standing,” he said. “The Republicans are important to us. Their friendship is important to us, but not only the friendship of the Republican Party.”
Lapid said he spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and they both think it is imperative to have US-Israel ties be based on mutual respect and improved dialogue.
He also called for strengthening ties with Diaspora Jewry.
“The support of Christian evangelicals and other groups is important and heartwarming,” he said. “But the Jewish people are more than allies; they are family. Jews from all streams – Reform, Conservative and Orthodox – are our family. And family is always the most important relationship and the one that needs to be worked on more than any other.”
Regarding relations with Europe, Lapid, who once called Sweden’s foreign minister an antisemite at a rally in Stockholm, quipped: “Shouting that everyone is antisemitic isn’t a policy or a work plan, even if it sometimes feels right.”
Lapid said he and French President Emmanuel Macron, with whom he has had a years-long friendship, exchanged text messages and that he spoke with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, and they agreed to deepen Israel-Europe ties.
Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll will lead the process of integrating the Strategic Affairs Ministry back into the Foreign Ministry, which will manage the fight against BDS and the delegitimization of Israel, he said.
Smiling warmly, Lapid told Foreign Ministry officials he really wanted his new job, and he made every effort to get it.
“I believe we will do great things together… I’m happy to be here with you,” Lapid said. “I’ve waited for this a long time.”
This wiki page lists all the ministers and I think 7 Deputy Ministers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-sixth_government_of_Israel
Smotrich, et al. are following Netanuahu’s orders to destroy the new government [emphasis mine]:
Now we can expect a slew of dirty tricks AKA “adroit maneuvers” from the opposition, such as this, for example:
The Right will not support this gov’t from the outside to ease Bennett’s difficulties with his partners. They were clearly indicating this in their outrage on this past Sunday. And they might have a change of thought on this as more level headed considerations take hold, but the boiling kettle of Sunday’s ire is too recent to allow a cooler thought process to take hold, if it ever will(and I am not sure it will). But such things should be held off til a later date if possible to preserve a reasonable rapproachment between these warring groups could be gained under a less stressful timing, I would think.
I find it interesting that the calls of intolerance that Kahana notes fairly in Smotrich’s unwillingness to support the Bennett gov’t was the very characteristic of all of Bennet’s many intolerant partners that prevented Netanyahu from forming at minimum a dominantly Right wing gov’t for 2 years. The irony of this fact can not be unseen by either side of this family quarrel. Kahana’s historical reference to Israel’s continued inability to mend its troubling divisions based on issues well beyond any consideration of the national welfare is a plague that has infected the Israeli political elites for over two years now since Lieberman first seemed to make this unwise trend fashionable. I would note that it is a dangerous and unwise practice, then, last week and now. Personalities and political quarrels are too capricious to carry such weight upon the nations fate. This fact was true, but unaddressed, in the historical period Kahana references to the ruin of all.
So the Likud plus Smotrich and his little band of pirates would rather hurt the state of Israel than vote for a bill that they actually are in favor just to try hurt the new government. What irresponsible members of Parliament.
@Peloni something’s getting negotiated later. Savlanoot (patience).
Positions get filled later.
@Bear, I agree that it is not believable that a minister has been named and hidden from view and I never referenced this line in my statement of concern that you seem to have ignored. I try to be specific when supporting claims made by others and I was no less specific in my statement here and the reference that I found and find alarming. My concerns in this matter here are not spurious nor are they non-specific, but they are also not addressed by your response. Here is what I referenced, clearly, by quoting it directly:
So, is it normal for such details as have been yet to be disclosed to be withheld? In truth it has the appearance that the negotiations are still ongoing. If this seems to you that such concerns as are presented in this article are just as sand being randomly tossed in the air, I would only state that it feels as if the sands of the foundation are still settling when we were given to believe the foundation had already been set with only the lesser components being left to be constructed.
But, let us set aside the metaphors for a moment as the rhetoric for the moment, as it will not address the concerns that hold such worries for me, Adam and other members of the Right. You appear to be not too distant from some part of Bennett’s group or at least you seem a healthy advocate for their actions, to whatever degree this is true, I will ask you an earnest question – and your input might offer the benefit of some assurance to more than myself.
Is this normal? Would so little be known of such details as are now shrouded should Bennett/Saar made a gov’t with Netanyahu? Would so much still be questionable about the many deputy ministers? I would have little concern in that scenario, but we do not look upon a scenario that would likely offer little concern for the affairs of state that this current situation has yet to disclose. Is it possible that this Abbas might be named to such a role as this – surely this would be a point of concern regardless of what trusts you could place in anyone..
Seeing that there has been no access to the detailed arrangements between these many serious players following Bennett’s assurances that all would be made clear by last weekend and now we are mid-week into the next, those of us who are less given to trusting politicians as would seem normal could generate a bit of trust in exchange for such details as were to be disclosed. In fairness, I believe such disclosures are a reasonable expectation given the upsetting prospect that such details provide as are depicted in the article you see posted below. I understand you trust Bennett and I am happy for your comfort in such trust, but this is a revolutionary step he has taken in empowering this many Leftists into the gov’t, and it would reasonably afford considerable comfort to his many prospective supporters such as myself should it be better known as to the specifics of the promised roles of authority beyond the few that have been released thus far.
Implication that the government would try to hide the names of people appointed to government ministerial positions is ludicrous and actually not possible under the Israeli system. That this basic ignorance gets applauded means any shade no matter ignorant thrown at the new Israeli government by some actually does not look good on their behalf.
If you are going to throw shade I am sure things of substance will come out. When one spends there time throwing sand in the air basically when they have something of substance to say perhaps no one will be listening.
@Peloni, what should have happened is Bibi should have have led to Likud to a new Primary, stepped down and elected a new leader. Then there would have been a large right wing government led by the Likud. However, Bibi failed in putting Israel first!
Then all this discussion of Raam in the coalition would have been mute.
Bibi could NOT form a right-wing government four times. He had lost 20% of the Likud vote as many Likud members were now voting for other parties. Yes, I know he still had the largest plurality of those who liked him but he also had a clear consistent majority of Knesset parties who would NOT agree to join a coalition with him the helm (making too many enemies over time did backfire to his ouster). So reality says he should have stepped aside.
So Bennett, had to make a choice let Israel keeping spinning its wheels and losing time and money or try and lead even though he knew it would be unpopular with many in the right. He chose to lead. We will find out if it works.
@Bear Klein
The numbers don’t make sense, unless you are suggesting that the Right should have allied with the Brotherhood. I find this was a very bad policy from its very conception. I am glad that the “reckless” Smotrich was able to block such a move from the Right, and I am only regretful that there was not a similarly “reckless” member on the right to have done the same.
@Adam
Adam is correct. Thank you as always, Adam, for your stalwart vigilance to details and research as well as revealing some very enlightening, though concerning perspectives.
Among the many facts about the new Israel government that have not been made available to the Israeli public is the identity of at least six of the deputy ministers (said to number seven in all) and the identity of the “minister in the Prime Minister’s office.” The name of a “deputy minister in the prime minister’s office” has been disclosed. He is a Yamina member who has taken strong pro-sttlement and anti-Hamas and PLO positions. However, the identity of the full “minister in the prime minister office has not been disclosed. Has this office been abolished? Or is it being filled by Mansour Abbas, as the Jewish Press’s David Israel has claimed. The people of Israel and Jews throughout the world have a right to know the identity of these individuals.
This lead article in the Jerusalem Post also speaks about the importance of “strengthening the Foreign Service,” which in Israel has for many years been dominated by leftist “peaceniks.” Probably the strengthening of the foreign service will aim at making it independent of the foreign minister, so that if a nationalist government ever returns to power, it will be unable to influence foreign policy, which will be permanently controlled by unelected peaceniks with guaranteed lifetime tenure.
” Yair Lapid, who will serve as foreign minister until his scheduled entry into the Prime Minister’s Office in two years, has long been preparing himself for the job. He enters this office with experience, contacts and plans to revamp Israeli diplomacy. Most notably, he clearly has a strong desire to strengthen the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and its public standing.
Other Yesh Atid members, too, have already been acting toward this goal in recent years, establishing a Knesset caucus to strengthen the Foreign Service, advancing efforts to legislate a Foreign Service Law, and initiating discussions about the MFA’s performance at Knesset committees. Symbolically, one of the new government’s first expected decisions will be the approval of 35 ambassadorial appointments, which Netanyahu has been holding up for over six months.”
Smotrich as ever is full of himself and acts verbally recklessly. Small in stature completely unbalanced by his over grown mouth. Bibi made a lot of mistakes and Smotrich was one of them. Yamina might have been larger and then Bennett would have been PM first in rotation with Bibi. Bibi offered that to him also. Though the Likud has been saying among their many hysterical it is not legitimate for a man from such a small party to be PM.
This lead column in the Jerusalem Post indicates the probable “pro-peace” (i.e. pro-appeasement) policies of the new Israeli government.
There is still an enormous amount of vital information about the new government which has been withheld from the public. At least, this appears to be the case.
The coalition agreements were supposed to be made available to th epublic before Sunday’s vote, but as far as I can find out from English-language sources, they were not. If any Isrpundit readers have found them in Hebree language newspapers, or the Hebrew language version of the Israel government’s website, could please give us a summary of them? Not just the “general principles” agreed upon that have been published, but the specific agreements between the parties.
If they have not been published, then Israeli law has been broken. If that is the case, why isn’t the opposition screaming protests?
This seems too fantastic to be believed. I like Smotrich’s wise intransignece to dealing with the Brotherhood, but I also don’t believe he would have not voiced his opposition earlier to such moves as Bennett’s plan of allying with the Left had he been aware of it during the election.
From Today’s Jewish Press, by Dvid Israel,
Doesn’t sound encouraging to me. IfIsrael does what the Democrats want, its survival chances are bleak.