Lapid to take lead over Bennett on foreign ties, peace with Arab states

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.

JUNE 14, 2021 21:20

Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett (photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)

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.”

June 15, 2021 | 18 Comments »

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  1. Smotrich, et al. are following Netanuahu’s orders to destroy the new government [emphasis mine]:

    Transfer of powerNetanyahu to opposition leaders: ‘We will bring them down’
    After very brief handover to Bennett, Netanyahu vows to ‘rescue Israel’ from him
    Outgoing PM skips traditional photo of handover with successor, tells opposition bloc he’ll topple new government based on ‘fraud, hate and power-seeking’
    By TOI staff 14 June 2021, 5:36 pm
    …………………………………………………………………………………………………..
    Addressing the heads of the parties, Netanyahu demanded discipline and cohesion in order to make life harder on the coalition and “rescue the people and State of Israel.”

    Throughout his address, the former premier did not mention Bennett by name, nor refer to his successor as prime minister. Instead, he said the new government was based on “fraud, hate and power-seeking” and too fractured to succeed.

    “It can be overthrown on the condition that we act together and with iron discipline. If we squabble, we will not achieve it,” he said.

    “My request is to shoot [politically] from the armored vehicle outwards, and to hit,” he added, paraphrasing an Israeli idiom. “If we concentrate our effort outwards, we will bring them down.”

    “If we work toward that goal we will succeed, but if we clash with each other we won’t,” he said, in possible implicit criticism of Likud MK David Bitan, who earlier Monday blamed the Religious Zionism party chief, Bezalel Smotrich, for Netanyahu’s ouster.

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-very-brief-handover-to-bennett-netanyahu-vows-to-rescue-israel-from-him/

    Now we can expect a slew of dirty tricks AKA “adroit maneuvers” from the opposition, such as this, for example:

    Likud files no-confidence motion against ‘government established on lies’
    Vote against PM Naftali Bennett’s new coalition to be held Monday, but is unlikely to muster the required 61 votes to pass and topple the nascent coalition
    By TOI staff Today, 5:58 pm [06-16-21]

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/likud-files-no-confidence-motion-against-government-established-on-lies/

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

    Minister Kahana: Smotrich continues scorched earth policy
    Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana says Bezalel Smotrich willing to destroy everything if he doesn’t get his way.

    Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana (Yamina) criticized Religious Zionism party chairman Bezalel Smotrich Wednesday evening.

    “Smotrich continues to scorch the earth. If it isn’t exactly as he wants, everything will drown. These sentiments caused the destruction and 2,000-year exile. It cannot happen again,” Kahana said.

    Kahana’s remarks come after the government failed to pass today (Wednesday) the law banning the unification of families of Palestinian Authority Arabs and Israeli Arabs. The United Arab List objected to the law, but the Likud and Religious Zionism parties, which support the law, refused to support its extension this time so as not to help the coalition

  4. @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:

    The people of Israel and Jews throughout the world have a right to know the identity of these individuals.

    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.

  5. 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.

  6. @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.

  7. @Bear Klein

    Yamina might have been larger and then Bennett would have been PM first in rotation with Bibi.

    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.

  8. @Adam

    The people of Israel and Jews throughout the world have a right to know the identity of these individuals.

    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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.”

  11. 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.

  12. This lead column in the Jerusalem Post indicates the probable “pro-peace” (i.e. pro-appeasement) policies of the new Israeli government.

    THE MEMBERSHIP of the Labor and Meretz parties in the new government will also contribute to restoring diplomacy to its rightful place in Israeli decision-making. Members of Knesset from both parties have challenged Netanyahu’s foreign policy approach repeatedly and sought to advance new paradigms and guiding principles shaping a pro-peace, multi-regional, internationalist, modern and inclusive Israeli foreign policy.
    Labor and Meretz will be in charge of the Ministry of Regional Cooperation and the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs in the new government, both with distinct diplomacy components
    , as well as the Ministries of Health and Environmental Protection, both of which deal with issues high on the global diplomatic agenda to which Israel has much to contribute. Their voices are also expected to be heard and exert influence regarding the Palestinian issue. In addition, the election of Israel’s new President Isaac Herzog – a pro-peace, liberal democratic leader with extensive diplomatic experience and who enjoys international respect – will bolster the assets of the new Israeli leadership and its capabilities in the international arena.
    Other members of the new coalition could also be part of the effort to improve Israeli foreign policy. The Blue and White Party, for example, has already played a role in this during Gabi Ashkenazi’s term as foreign minister in the outgoing government. Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman served as foreign minister in the past, and his fellow party MK Eli Avidar is the only lawmaker to have served in the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Ahead of the March elections, the New Hope party addressed the need to restart relations with the US and undo Netanyahu’s exclusive reliance on the Republican Party.
    There is every reason to believe that the Left, Center and Right coalition parties can reach agreement on a series of urgent foreign policy goals: Rebuilding trust with the Jordanian monarchy and restoring Israel’s strategically important ties with the kingdom; deepening ties with the US Democratic Party to restore bipartisan support for Israel; leveraging the normalization agreements with Arab states to forge bilateral and regional cooperation; improving relations with European Union and renewing the high-level dialogue (Association Council) which has not convened since 2012; leveraging opportunities for Israel in the Eastern Mediterranean, including restoring relations with Turkey to ambassadorial level and advancing maritime border negotiations with Lebanon; and strengthening the moderate Palestinian leadership at the expense of Hamas, while restoring Israeli-Palestinian dialogue channels to advance mutual interests.
    Although the new government is unlikely to achieve a final-status peace agreement with the Palestinians, which should be a top foreign policy and national security for Israel, it could be instrumental to mending and healing Israeli foreign policy and leaving a significant diplomatic legacy that will better position Israel in the region and on the global stage.
    The writer is the president and founder of Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Polices and a lecturer on Middle East Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

  13. 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?

  14. Bennett planned in advance and even before the election his alliance with the left to overthrow Netanyahu …I was familiar with his plans before the election

    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.

  15. From Today’s Jewish Press, by Dvid Israel,

    Bennett Consolidates Power, Purging his Opposition Within Yamina
    David Israel5 Tammuz 5781 – June 15, 2021
    Photo Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

    Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, June 14, 2021.
    Those who described Prime Minister Naftali Bennett as sitting on a precarious throne, with only five allies in his own Knesset faction, found out Tuesday morning that the Yamina chairman has been taking steps to repair the situation. Although he cannot legally remove the stubborn MK Amichai Chikli who vowed to honor the campaign promises he was voted in on, torpedo this government, and has been voting with the opposition, Bennett managed to dislodge a different threat.

    Shai Maimon, the number 9 candidate on Yamina’s Knesset slate, on Tuesday informed Knesset Speaker Mikey Levy that he was taking his name off the list. Maimon expressed his objection to the new coalition government, mostly because it embraces the Ra’am party “which objects to Zionism, and does not accept the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.”

    Advertisement
    No one knows at this point why Maimon chose to quit his party’s list rather than make life difficult for his party chairman. But his resignation came at the most opportune time for Bennett. It’s all about the “Norwegian Law.”

    The Norwegian Law is intended to allow the resignation of most government ministers and deputy ministers from the Knesset to allow the next candidates on their election lists to enter the Knesset. In situations where coalition governments sport 28 ministers and half a dozen deputy ministers, the Knesset quickly runs out of rank and file MKs to man the various legislative committees – and the missing members come from the coalition. It also means that ministers would be otherwise occupied with running to the Knesset all the time to vote rather than running their ministries and going to cabinet meetings. I would be remiss in not pointing out that this was a law that Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) and most of the current coalition members strongly opposed until they took over the seats of power.

    In homogeneous parties like Meretz and Labor, and even Yesh Atid for the most part, all the party chairmen have to do is give the order and the minister or the deputy resign from the Knesset, to be replaced by the next loyal party member on the list.

    Not so in a party like Yamina, which has been ripped apart by internal strife over its participation in this government, to the point where Alon Davidi, originally number 3 on the Yamina list, quit the Knesset before even being sworn in, and then fought against this coalition during the negotiations.

    Once the government was formed, the first step went fine – the replacement number 3 on the Yamina slate, Minister of Religious Services Matan Kahana, resigned dutifully from the Knesset, to be replaced by number 8 on the slate, Shirley Pinto – also the first deaf MK in the history of the House (Ruderman Family Foundation Applauds First Deaf MK, Yamina’s Shirley Pinto), and of course a Bennett loyalist.

    But for Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked to free up her Knesset seat, something had to be done about Maimon in number 9, who chose to quit rather than fight for the values he expressed in his resignation letter.

    The next candidate is another Bennett loyalist, an attorney for the Tel Aviv firm of Goldfarb Seligman named Yomtob Kalfon. Once Maimon’s departure is secured, Kalfon should be the next Yamina MK.

    Incidentally, MK Chikli, Yamina’s enfant terrible, on Tuesday sounded his first conciliatory note, possibly because without reconciliation with his party boss he would be barred from participating in any Knesset committees like all the rogue MKs of the past, more driftwood than a lawmaker, though still a thorn in his former boss’s side.

    Chikli told the Knesset TV Channel: “I don’t think this government will hand over territories, I don’t think the fall of the third Temple is imminent, and I don’t think this government endangers the Jewish identity of the state.”

    However, he continued, “I do think that in the end, this move meant turning our back on a huge public, on the vast majority of the national camp.”

    So maybe the rebel MK and the new PM can find a way to work together over the next four years, or maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part. After all, Chikli represents the 61st vote that Bennett’s coalition is still lacking (less, if his Islamic coalition partner doesn’t get their members in line). They were able to squeak by a no-confidence situation on Sunday because it only required a majority. But to pass a budget in the fall they’ll need 61 hands.

    But Bennett continues to be bombarded by criticism from within and without, mostly from his past comrades, like Religious Zionism chairman Bezalel Smotrich, who on Tuesday issued a huge manifesto explaining why he chose to obliterate Netanyahu’s chances to forge a coalition government that would have been supported by the same Arab party as Bennett’s coalition.

    Smotrich does not direct his treatise at Bennett nor Netanyahu. His audience are the Haredi parties whose leaders have been grumbling about his inflexibility that stuck them in the opposition, so far from the budget plate, they can’t even smell it. First, the Haredim argue, Smotrich, with zealous aid from Netanyahu, took away at least one of their Knesset seats in the past election, and then he gave away their government because of some Arab.

    Smotrich devotes one out of eight segments (number 5) to Bennett, and his argument is cogent:

    “Factually, our agreement to sit with Ra’am would not have led to the formation of a right-wing government,” Smotrich writes. “It would only make it easier for Bennett to form a left-wing government that relies on the supporters of terrorism, as he did in practice, and hang onto our legitimizing [of the Islamist Arab party] to moderate public criticism of his move.”

    As he has said many times before, Smotrich asserts that:

    “Bennett planned in advance and even before the election his alliance with the left to overthrow Netanyahu and become prime minister at all costs, and he would have found all the excuses in the world not to reach agreements with Netanyahu and join the left. I was familiar with his plans before the election and against this background, we parted ways. His conduct throughout the election campaign and in the two months that followed was one big act of deception and fraud. He had finalized a deal with Lapid and Sa’ar well before the election and would not have entered a right-wing government under Netanyahu.”

  16. Doesn’t sound encouraging to me. IfIsrael does what the Democrats want, its survival chances are bleak.